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Fat Balls (1 Viewer)

cuppa72

New member
Hello

Just wondering if anyone knows why the birds in my garden never seem interested in the fat/ suet balls that I put out for them. They just hang and rot there, while all my other offering are demolished.

At work the birds go wild for the fat balls.

Are home made better than the ones you find in the shop?

cuppa72
 
Dont know, I have the same problem. Bought a load of the fat/seed balls some time ago, and although Starlings take an interest when first put out, they then leave them alone.
 
In my garden the Starlings finish off the fat balls before the afternoon usually. But there's never less than 12 Starlings, sometimes more than 20.

I make my own from lard, I mix in seed, and bits of apple, and a few bits of crumbled bread. I just mix it well and roll it into balls, then put the balls in a fat feeder.

Sometimes the Great Spotted Woodpecker digs in as well.
 
They are definitely the least-preferred foodstuff available in my garden - I've seen a couple of great tits get stuck in now and again, but all the birds who visit me are seemingly hooked on sunflower hearts, the crack-cocaine of the woodland bird world, it seems.

I'm hoping as the weather gets colder more birds will realise that fat balls are precisely what they need - they do tend to attack them when the hearts run out, so maybe it's a case of withdrawing other feed to 'encourage' them ? Even peanuts, which used to be liberally attacked by blue and great tits play second fiddle to sunflower hearts these days.

I don't have the benefit of ravenous hordes of starlings...
 
In my garden the Starlings finish off the fat balls before the afternoon usually. But there's never less than 12 Starlings, sometimes more than 20.

I make my own from lard, I mix in seed, and bits of apple, and a few bits of crumbled bread. I just mix it well and roll it into balls, then put the balls in a fat feeder.

Sometimes the Great Spotted Woodpecker digs in as well.

I regularly get Robin on by fat balls container and have lately even had a Magpie having a go. Long tailed tits love the fat balls as do Blue tits and even my resident Dunnocks manage to hang onto the container long enough to get a bite. All in all they are very popular. Luckily Starling are not that regular in my garden but when they arrive the fat balls get a hammering.

Mick
Leeds
 
I've found that in all the years I've been feeding the birds It's generally only Tits that will eat the fat balls. Can't really ever remember Finches on them. The odd Nuthatch and Great Spot Wood but never Finches.
 
Cheap is cheerful

I buy mine from pound land and the 2 familys of resident Dunnocks love them, also wood pidgeon, robin and blue tits all have a nibble now and again

So cheap can be cheerful;)
 
I tend to get the tubs of 50 fatballs out of Wilko's for about £8 or £9. Absolute good quality fatballs.

Tip is to look at the balls first, if they look anaemic avoid getting them, as the birds usually tend to steer clear of them if they can. Also look at the amount of seed ingrediants that can be seen, the more, the greater the appeal to the birds they are.

Pretty much all my feed comes from Wilko's. 2kg Wild Bird Seed £1.75ish or stock up when they have offers on. 99p for suet blocks with Insect, Berries or Grapes ingredients.

I get the sacks of peanuts 7litre bags? from ASDA for about £9odd.

I have yet to find an alternitive source of seed mix, which is better than the Wilkos Wild Bird Mix, mentioned above. Most other mixes have more of the wheat/ corn in their mix, but Wilko's is a well rich blend of seeds.
 
Some garden centres stock the Gardman multi-packs of suet blocks-10 blocks for £9.99, in a variety of 'flavours'. I got through about 15 packs last winter! Blackcaps & song thrushes were queueing up for them!
 
Strange one this, I can't get the birds in my garden interested either, except Jackdaws. A while back a friend gave me some fat balls that he said were very popular in his garden,but in mine they just rotted despite plenty of Tits being present.I have tried making my own, to no avail.
 
I get my fat balls from Food4wildbirds. The local tit population around here get through 3 in as many days.
 
Could the problem be the feeder rather than the food?
We leave the fat balls in the mesh holder and simply hang them from various branches/posts etc. and they go (too) quickly. It is the same for Wilkos or (expensive) gardening centre's type

For the peanuts we have tried various holders and some of them the birds are just not interested in e.g. the globe type-they won't touch it.
Just thought it could be a similar problem.
 
Could the problem be the feeder rather than the food?
We leave the fat balls in the mesh holder and simply hang them from various branches/posts etc. and they go (too) quickly. It is the same for Wilkos or (expensive) gardening centre's type

For the peanuts we have tried various holders and some of them the birds are just not interested in e.g. the globe type-they won't touch it.
Just thought it could be a similar problem.

I use a peanut feeder for my fat balls and I find they last a lot longer and the larger birds i.e. Jackdaws and Magpies can't get at it.

All I do is remove the balls from their string package then stuff them into the peanut feeder. I can usually get 4 in and they form a large solid lump of fat if you squeeze them tightly into the feeder.
 
Hello cuppa72

Sorry to hear of your problem. I have found that my home made fat balls seem far more acceptable to the birds than the shop bought ones which often tend to be ignored.

I buy bird cake mix from CJ Wildbird Foods which I mix with lard from the local supermarket.

I melt the lard and pour into a mixing bowl, add some of the cake mix, allow to set in the fridge then make up apple sized balls which I then place in a cage type feeder or, as someone else has suggested, you could use a peanut feeder. I usually put 4 balls in the feeder.

Follow this procedure and I feel sure you'll have some success. I hope so!

Here's the link to the CJ web page ...

http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_details.php?area_id=2&group_id=12&nav_id=26&prd_id=346

Good Luck

Mike
 
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I use a peanut feeder for my fat balls and I find they last a lot longer and the larger birds i.e. Jackdaws and Magpies can't get at it.

All I do is remove the balls from their string package then stuff them into the peanut feeder. I can usually get 4 in and they form a large solid lump of fat if you squeeze them tightly into the feeder.

On a slightly different tack - I too remove the balls from their mesh as it is quite unnecessary when you use a specialised fat ball feeder. So I suggested to one of the manufacturers (by email and can't recall which one*, just one of the big names) that they market an alternative with no mesh wrapping. These would be cheaper to produce (and for us to buy) and save the hassle of removing the mesh. I still await a reply.:C

Adrian

* It was Chapelwood Wildlife Care
 
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I find that they won't be touched in the summer (maybe the heat makes the fat go a little rancid?) but in the winter they are a lot more popular.

The fat balls I make are definitely preferred to the bought ones too.
 
What recipe of ingredients do people use to get the most success when making their own fatballs (that word never fails to make my wife laugh).I quite fancy having a go at making some but wasn't sure what to put in.
 
The fat balls I'm putting out - some from Orfords and ones from Wilkinson (regular seed and peanut balls) - are hung from a branch and also in a feeder and they get attention from starlings, blue tits and house sparrows so far that I've seen. They are pretty popular, the ones in the feeder are especially loved by the starlings, who prefer them to the food I put out in the feeder tray just below.
 
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