what I feed my birds... (1 Viewer)

Thoses who have read my post of birds I have visitng my garden. May want to know what I feed my birds and visiting squrriels.

Fatballs, peanuts and wildbird seed.
Just lots of it.

The more I buy the faster it goes when I put it out side.

Vicky

Sounds good to me.

We also provide sunflower kernels and niger seed, both of which the Goldfinches love and sultanas for the Blackbirds !

I give black oiled sunflower seed and striped sunflower seed. I tried wild seed mixes and never had any luck with them. The birds never cared for it. I also have out 2 suet feeders and various seed bells that are all quite popular.

I had spent a lot of time and mess making my own suet for the birds. You know what a mess that can be! Anyway, after I put it up, the squirrel came along and hogged the whole thing. To heck with this, I said. So I just went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff for the squirrels (corn, nuts, and a squirrel feeder), several packages of store bought suet, and a specialized 50 lb. bag of seed for the birds. I swear, I spend more money on the birds than I do on DH and me.

we must be daft !

We must be daft to feed the birds all this food.

Do you think we have helped the population of any particular bird species that must of doubled in size as they have us humans to feed them all this food.

I feed them when I remember and when I look out on the birdfeeders and birdtable and see them empty.

I counted up yesterday I have 7 different feeders out at the moment. And that does not include the shallow dish on the floor for ground feeding birds and 2 bird baths.

Vicky o

Last year, it finally got to the point that I had to put some feeders away because it was just getting too expensive to keep them all filled. At that time, I counted and I had 13 feeders up!!Going a little too far for my budget! I only have half as many now and it's much more reasonable, budget-wise!

I ALSO TRIED SEED MIXES AND FOUND IT A BIG WASTE I USE PREMEUM FINCH SALECT AND THISEL SEED OIL SUNFLOUWER SEED !! I USE PENUT SUET AND BUGBITE SUET I MAKE A PENUTBUTTER AND GROUND BEEF MIXTER TO PUT IN A LOG DRILLED FULL OF HOLES I ALSO FEED ALL MY SCRAP BREAD ROLLES CACKE WRENS LOVE CORNBREAD AND MY FAVE LOL PUMPKEN BREAD LOL I ALSO USE HEATED BIRDBATH

PS. CRACKED CORN FOR THE MORNING DOVES AND BLUE JAYS AND PNUTS SHELD AND UNSHELD

Hey, oldbird, your birds feed better than I do myself !

Tony

TONY tell me about it thay eat good lol no one can say i dont try lol

I am feeding Black Oil Sunflower Seed, Grey-Stripe Sunflower Seed, Thistle (Niger), Blue Seal 'Concerto' seed mix containing White Millet seed, Black Oil Sunflower, Safflower, peanut hearts, and sunflower kernals. A Woodpecker Mix containing peanut pieces, various seeds, dried berries, dried fruit, and pumpkin seeds. "Real" beef suet and C&S brand suet cakes. Fresh fruit .. apples, tangerine halves, Grape Jelly. Peanut butter stuffed into log holes and spread on tree bark. Purina 20% Chick Starter groundfeed.

BirdWatcher

I've started making up 'cakes' for the birds, which consist of a fatty base of lard, suet or dripping, with various seed, dried fruit and nut ingredients mixed in. But I'd like to get better at it. For example the fat base must be attractive and beneficial to the birds, but must also cope with temperature variation - ie doesn't get too hard in very cold weather, or too runny when it's warmer. Now what is best for that - lard (what make?), beef dripping, or suet (Atora?)?
And is there anything in the way of a tasty blend of nuts, seeds and dried fruit that anyone can recommend?

I know what you mean about the suet mixture getting very hard. I'm new to this and have only made two suet batches. Could we be getting too much lard in the mixture and that makes it harder?

I have tried three types of seed here in East Tennessee: mixed wild bird seed, regular white striped sunflower seed, and black oil sunflower seed. I noticed there was a lot of waste with the mixed seed-the birds would kick out the small seed. The birds ate the striped sunflower seed fairly well but it did not attract a wide variety of birds. However, the black oil sunflower seed became the main attraction so I fed that, exclusively.

I noticed in a small bird book the various types of seed they recommended so I decided to experiment. There is a local feed mill here that stocks a wide variety of seeds for their own blend of feed products for livestock. I bought five pounds each of safflour seed, wheat, millet, cracked corn, and milo. The owner explained to me the reason why the birds were kicking out the small millet seed in the store bought mixed seed was because it contained the wrong kind of millet. The type used in that commercial variety is very bitter. He said they would love the kind of millet that he had, and you know what, he was right!

I have two sections of metal channel from a four foot long florescent light (they are about 4 inches wide and a half-inch deep - they were the protective coverings for the ballasts). I placed both four foot sections on my deck railing and grouped the five different seeds together with black oil sunflower to see what happened. Ha, an eight foot long bird feeder! The results really surprised me:

Many birds now only sparingly went to the black oil seed. The safflour seed is a favorite for cardinals, they love it. Black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, and house sparrows like it also. A variety of birds like the small millet seed with some eating the milo. Wheat does not last long either as doves and many other birds readily eat it. What really surprised me was the attraction of blue jays to the cracked corn. I had no blue jays until the cracked corn was made available. It is not unusual to see four at one time now feeding on it - they love it! I have observed titmice, chickadees, and cardinals eating cracked corn as well. I think if you could get these varieties of seed you will be surprised at what you might see at your house.

I have made a three foot long hopper-style birdfeeder with five compartments. This is to hold the different types of seed used from my little experiment. It will be a lot of fun noticing the attraction that the different seed varieties provides.