Leaving seed in feeders? (1 Viewer)

I was just curious... if I put seed into a feeder and it goes untouched for awhile -- how long should I wait before I throw it out and refill it? Or will it be okay just sitting in the feeder?

Thanks!!!

It should all go if the birds are hungry. In hot conditions it could ferment causing all manner of problems. Tip it out after say a week?
This does depend on weather conditions.
If the birds are not touching the seed think about the sighting of the feeder is it in the wrong place?
In the Uk as I am sure in the USA you have to be carefull that the cats do not get to it.
CJ (UK)

I agree with JacobC on this one.
One question though are birds otherwise visiting the garden and using other feeders ?
If they are then I would consider replacing your peanut supply as they may be detecting something wrong with the nuts.
If you are getting only a few birds in the garden, then I'd continue using the seed. Come January when the weather worsens and the natural supply of food in the countyside becomes scarce, then I'm sure the birds will visit your feeders more. They do over here.

Thank you Jacob and Ian for the responses. I see birds there but the seed and the peanuts are not going away... I think I'm going to dump what is there and clean them out and replace it all. I take it for granted that the seed is fresh when I buy it, because the store sells lots of different varieties and many times I see the bins are empty.

On the cat issue -- we have a cat that is outside in our yard constantly. She has never bothered the birds! It's funny to watch because she likes to nap sorta close to the feeders and and birds totally ignore her. However, if she walks around the trees where I believe most of them have nests, they dive-bomb her!

I know what you mean, Finzzup. I get a bit worried about leaving seed too long . . . I've got seven feeders up and a "table". For the past few weeks only a few were being used, but today nearly every feeder had a bird on it! Mind, you, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it's getting a bit chillier!

It's a difficult one, but if anything looks like it's going off, my advice is to bin it. Don't forget that in the wild not everything comes neatly packaged for them with a sell-by date on it! Just use common sense!

B

When seed gets wet it will become wonky in short order and this will actually kill a bird case in point.. wet niger seed will cause salmonella in Pine Siskins...If it is contained and dry, hulled seed should be just fine almost indefinitely.
Once wet though it needs to be dumped and the feeders washed really well and dried prior to re-filled.
Suet balls or Fat balls become quite disgusting in heat and will actually attract the wrong kind of feeders!
Hope this is helpful..

In the States, I change the feeders as I see problems. Birds are usually wise to bad seed (at least here).

Gaye Horn mentioned niger. I had a plastic feeder, but water got into the eating slits and spoiled the seed whenever we had rain and wind. I solved the problem by getting a niger sock. It is a sock that when filled, allows the birds to cling to it to eat. Because it is so porous, it dries out quickly preventing rot.

My peanut feeder is fairly long and the birds tend to eat from the top, so I don't change the entire contents often.

Finally, I guess the birds seem to know best, so if the feeder is not being frequented, it's time to change.

Hope this is of help, and not an intrusion I am really enjoying all of your posts.

Tim