Recommended feeders

[smallblueplanet]

Hi all,

well I've got all the catologues out and the credit card primed, I'm just not sure what to buy.....so far I've got a peanut-feeder and a suet feeder (for all-comers).

so, do the "nuttery" squirrel-resistant cage-type feeders keep squiffs and bigger birds out?

what is the best food bang-for-bucks? I'm edging for sunflower hearts (no mess, :t: ) but should I add anything to them?

has anyone tried dried mealworms (not personally, of course! :eat: ) and should I get one of those feeders with a lowerable "roof" so only robby robin and the little 'uns will be able to get 'em?

Thanks.

[Elizabeth Bigg]

Hi sbp - I have several of the supposedly squirrel proof feeders ( the type with a sort of cage round them) with a plastic tube for seed or a mesh tube for peanuts. Generally the squirrels ignore them, probably because they can get easier pickings from the ground feeder tables. My bird table is squirrel proof (still true after many years) and I also have a thing we call the "monstrosity" - three long tubes for mixed seeds and black sunflower seed, with a squirrel baffle above and below.

We have a couple of window feeders for mealworms (live) which the squirrels cannot reach, once we moved them higher up the window, but I don't know anything about the lowerable roof feeders.

My robins come when I call, after I have put out mealworms, and bluetits also visit. If you look at our website and go to April 24 this year you will see a picture of the feeder.

I make my own fat-ball type mixture, and press this down into a small dish (ex-hamster food bowl) to put onto the bird table. This recipe includes sunflower hearts, raisins, chopped peanuts, mixed seed and porridge oats in melted lard - I reckon the commercially produced ones are a rip-off, and it doesn't take long to DIY.

One more point - it is important to buy peanuts that are guaranteed "aflotoxin free". This probably rules out most petshops and supermarkets, unfortunately. I buy mine via mail order companies whose peanuts are guaranteed "Safe Nuts" - this inevitably means they cost more, and there is also a carriage charge. At leat my 25kg sack lasts a fair while.

Good luck with your garden birds - mine give me lots of pleasure, Elizabeth