I live in Weaverville, North Carolina, and I am new at trying to attract Goldfinches into my yard. I have seen them around the area so I figured I would try to get them to come to a feeder. I just put one up on April 14th 2014. I have not seen any activity yet. Any ideas?
They're nomadic in lots of places. This means they may or may not be in your area now. For example in my area they come in from February till mid-may then leave, a few miles down they come in April till late summer then leave.
Best to have a small cheap tube feeder kept up all the time with Nyjer to see when they start coming in. Change the seed every few months.
They also love Sunflower in the shell from a mesh feeder, they can easily cling to the sides. This will be the first feeder you should notice them as the sunflower in the shell lasts along time and should have other birds using it. They also really love sunflower out of the shell but this is more costly to you, if you buy this then buy it at a feed store for the best pricing.
Once they do come in buy another feeder after you know how many you're getting at once, no point in putting out a feeder that gets emptied in a day. but don't worry about this until you see them in your yard.
When they do come in if they are eating more Sunflower than Nyjer then your Nyjer is bad. Best places to buy are feed stores that move their inventory quickly but only worry about it until you have them coming in your yard.
If you're having a problem with other birds wiping out the Nyjer then buy the Metal Droll Yankee upside down feeder, only goldies can eat from it. if you buy a cheaper upside down feeder the other birds may stretch and eat from it upright because on the cheaper feeders the tube is not wide enough. Even the upright Droll Yankee thistle feeders are great because of the small ports means less waste and they're the best made on the market...super easy to clean with a life time warranty.
Prefilled Thistle socks are a great way to see if you have them in your area but the Nyjer won't last as long in these. A nice one is the Kaytee Ultimate finch sock/mix.