Netting on suet balls

[dave97]

When I put out suet balls in a wire container for the birds I always remove the netting that is around the balls. When the birds eat the suet balls a lot of waste falls to the ground. I have read that some people leave the netting on the balls. If I leave the netting on I am afraid that the birds could be harmed. Can anyone advise me if the netting should be taken off or left on?
Thanks
Dave

[Kezza]

Yes they could be harmed, best to take it off. I have heard of birds getting their tongue or legs caught in the netting. In trying to free themselves they can break a leg or rip their tongue out.

The fat balls can be messy can't they, I have the same problem using a wire holder. Sorry I don't know what the answer to that is.

[Pam_m]

I always take the netting off the fat balls and usually the Starlings gobble up the bits that fall to the ground so no waste really!!

[dave97]

Thanks for the advice we'll continue to take the netting off.

Dave


Yes they could be harmed, best to take it off. I have heard of birds getting their tongue or legs caught in the netting. In trying to free themselves they can break a leg or rip their tongue out.

The fat balls can be messy can't they, I have the same problem using a wire holder. Sorry I don't know what the answer to that is.

[dave97]

Thanks Pam we will continue to take the netting off.
Our starlings disappeared for a while but now they are starting to return perhaps they'll start to pick up the mess.
Dave

I always take the netting off the fat balls and usually the Starlings gobble up the bits that fall to the ground so no waste really!!

[Cathy H]

Hi Dave,

I'm sure that there will be plenty of birds only too willing to 'hoover up' whatever is dropped. We have ft balls on one of our feeders too, and we have crows, pigeons, chaffinches and dunnocks only too willing to gobble any leftovers on the ground. You never know, you may see some new birds!!!

[mike from ebbw]

you could always take the netting off and just place the ball on the birdtable.you never know you could have a soccer match between starlings and sparrows etc!only joking.i always take the nets off.the dunnocks,robins and chaffinches always clean up.

[dave97]

Hi Cathy,

We used to have a lot of starlings and they probably would have hoovered up the droppins. However the majority of our birds now are Blue and Great tits and sparrows. We have a maurading cat in our garden so we have had to put the balls up high on a tree. We have 6 hanging feeders with about 8 balls in each and the birds gobble them up but also leave a lot of droppings on the lawn.
We do get magpies and crows and the occasional pigeon and this week there was a sparrow hawk in the tree.

Dave


Hi Dave,

I'm sure that there will be plenty of birds only too willing to 'hoover up' whatever is dropped. We have ft balls on one of our feeders too, and we have crows, pigeons, chaffinches and dunnocks only too willing to gobble any leftovers on the ground. You never know, you may see some new birds!!!

[Mickymouse]

I still hang mine out in the netting supplied about 4 a week for the last 3 years and so far haven't had any nasty accidents that I am aware of anyway, obviously it can happen but it is rare. I read a report a while ago of some one who used one of those fat ball feeders that take about 4 balls, well she came home one day to find a dead sparrow at the feeder it had managed to trap it's head under the top 3 balls as it pecked at the bottom one. I am looking for a wire alternative that only takes one ball and/or the mesh is smaller enough not to get their head in. Although these accidents are rare I would rather they never happened at all.

Mick

[Sue Wright]

Thanks for that Mick, I'm glad I read your post as we'd intended buying one next time we go to town. It seems sometimes as though you just can't win for the poor little mites.

Little else one can do really aside from putting a nail into an upright piece of 2" x 2" and pushing the fat ball down over it, you risk larger Birds eating them too but at least it's safer. We do that with half apples and it works out fine, attracts a lot too, especially Blackcaps.

Good luck all, but I'm glad I read about Mick's awful event.

Sue.

[Kezza]

...... I am looking for a wire alternative that only takes one ball and/or the mesh is smaller enough not to get their head in. Mick

Mick, There is a holder for one ball on the link below that may be what you're looking for? Second item down, a pack of three individual holders for £4.99.

I've not tried them myself as I've never had a problem with the multi holder I use. The incident you mention is a worry though. I just stopped using the netting last year when I heard of some horrible incidents. As Mike/Sue says putting them on a bird table or spikes is probably the only 'accident proof' way of feeding them. Unfortunately if I did that, the Magpies would run off with the whole ball in one go!

http://www.simplybirdfood.co.uk/prodtype.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=189&numRecordPosition=1

[Greendove]

I only heard about the problem recently on another messageboard. "My" birds - mainly tits (sometimes crested tit as well as long tailed) and nuthatches- have never had any accidents in my presence. However, now this has been drawn to my attention I will be looking for a better solution. Thank you for drawing it to my attention. The last thing I want to do is to harm the birds I love so much.

[Transformer]

Here in the US we mostly use cakes of suet. Are those available to you? I find very little waste with cakes, which are placed in coated wire holders and hang upright.

[Mickymouse]

Mick, There is a holder for one ball on the link below that may be what you're looking for? Second item down, a pack of three individual holders for £4.99.
http://www.simplybirdfood.co.uk/prodtype.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=189&numRecordPosition=1
They look like the business, I have bookmarked the link and if I can't find them locally I shall buy some from them, thanks.

Mick

[Judo]

I read a report a while ago of some one who used one of those fat ball feeders that take about 4 balls, well she came home one day to find a dead sparrow at the feeder it had managed to trap it's head under the top 3 balls as it pecked at the bottom one.

Mick
Oh gosh!! I use one of these feeders and I fixed a tray under it to save the mess below! But it looks as if I too will now have to look into different methods for feeding the fat balls! I certainly dont want to harm the birds I feed!
Oh by the way, I always remove the netting for that very same reason.
I have also crumbled the fat balls up, and placed that on the tables, which always seems to go down a treat!
All the Best to All,

[super songbird]

We have a maurading cat in our garden so we have had to put the balls up high on a tree. Dave

Can I add a big word of warning here. If you have a marauding cat, don't hang the feeders where there are other trees/bushes around that a cat can hide behind. I have a marauder and I've seen him lurking behind a bush where I hang fat balls on a tree. I would watch the birds on the ground eating the droppings from the fat balls and I was worried that they were in danger. And then it happened, I found a small headless bird, which I think was a bluetit, but with all this nasty weather it was soaked and I was so upset I couldn't look for long to find out exactly what it was.

I have taken the fat balls away now and have bought a pole to hang the feeders from which I shall place in the middle of the lawn, well away from bushes. But if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.

PS The RSPB recommend the string is taken off fat balls because of the danger of birds getting their feet caught up.

[Martok]

I woulc suggest taking the netting off. I do this and break the balls up and place them on my table. The House Sparrows,Blue tits & Dunnocks in my garden love them.

[Coltech]

I always take the netting off after watching Jackdaws picking up the fat ball by the netting and carting them off. Cheeky blighters!

[Cathy H]

Hi Super Songbird,

We use a pole to put the fat balls on and it works a treat! At the moment we've got the small balls out as the large ones weren't about. When one of them gets small it falls to the side away from the others and is promptly eaten by chaffies. As to the problem with cats, our pole is in the middle of the grass away from shrubs and bushes but near a tree where the birds can fly for cover. We do have a cat that tries to hide so we shoot a water pistol near it and it runs away. With the super dooper water shooters out there, distance is no problem!!! ;) ;)

[Cathyinedinburgh]

I use the large 1 litre starling food bars in a metal feeder which the birds can perch on. I get large numbers of starlings, but the bars are also eaten by the blue/great/coal tits, the robin, three jackdaws and a pair of magpies. Some bits are dropped, but soon eaten by the starlings which are waiting their turn on the feeder. This link shows the various bars available:
http://www.birdfood.co.uk/products.php?area_id=2&group_id=8&nav_id=26


This picture shows some starlings enjoying their lunch:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/cathyaitken/Starlings_1.jpg