[Talon 1]

I have had a Nyger Feeder up for 1 month and not a touch? My general bird seed is waffed up and my sunflower seed is just slightly pecked at.
It seems to be just General birdseed all the time which the sparrows waffed down and the Starlings have a Permanant round the Clock gestapo guard on the bird Table. They do well with peanut cake, suet pudding and Apples and a huge drinking and splashing time in my big bath.

But No Nyger? Not a Touch! It is in a proper feeder just side by side to the worm cage and other feeder.
Infact the Peanut feeder i have given up on . Maybe Winter is best for that.

I tried the Nyger on its own but with no luck either.

Any ideas?

[robski]

Hi Free

Do you have Gold finches in your area ?

It took a couple of months before I noticed any movement on the Nyger level. Now I get daily visits from Gold Finches. During the colder period I had 3 or 4 pairs turn up. At the moment it seems to be just the one pair with their 2 young ones. The young ones don't have the red face yet. Sometimes the Greenfinches will feed from the Nyger. During the warmer months I find the feeder activity drops right off. I would of closed the feeders down by now but a lot of birds are bringing their young so when this batch of feed runs out I will do so then.

Just be patient, you may have have to wait until autumn.


Robert

[songbird6666]

It took months before anything touched my niger. In fact, it wasn't till the goldfinches turned up last year. But now, the siskins and the greenfinches are constantly on my three feeders, and have to refill them every other day. What swung it for me was I actually stuck some teasels in a flower bed (just stems, not actual plants) and I had goldfinches arrive within a few weeks. However, I will post a photo later, because my teasel stems seeded, and I now have something similar to Day of the Triffids growing! One of them is about 6 feet tall!

[Mary]

It's strange how birds in different areas take to different foods. Round here, fat/suet is hardly touched, even in winter. But the goldfinches took to niger straight away, with occasional greenfinches taking some. Now, even the male bullfinch spends ages on the tray which catches the seed, the female still prefers sunflower hearts.

[Talon 1]

No Goldfinches , So there may lay the Answer but Greenfinches and Chaffinches and they have no interest.
I shall just leave it there i am sure they will turn up!

[robski]

Free - What part of Kent are you in ?

Chaffinches only fed from the ground - They have mainly returned to the woodland, Hardly see them at the feeder at the moment.

Greenfinches went for peanuts and mixed seed mainly - Again their numbers have drop at the feeder.

Most of the birds come from the local woodland about 1/4 mile away during the colder months when food is not so plentyful. You know things are bad when the long tailed tits turn up.

Robert

[Talon 1]

Originally Posted by robski

Free - What part of Kent are you in ?

Chaffinches only fed from the ground - They have mainly returned to the woodland, Hardly see them at the feeder at the moment.

Greenfinches went for peanuts and mixed seed mainly - Again their numbers have drop at the feeder.

Most of the birds come from the local woodland about 1/4 mile away during the colder months when food is not so plentyful. You know things are bad when the long tailed tits turn up.

Robert

I have just sent you a PM

[magpieman]

I had Greenfinches on my Nyger feeder within a couple of weeks but no Goldfinches yet although there are some in the area.

[Marmot]

It took a while for our Goldies to use it but we also have sunflower hearts alongside it, which seems to give them a choice of starter and main course. Some go for one and some for the other so it might be worth a try.

Why not fill your peanut feeder with Cheerios(Yes the breakfast cereal). Our peanut feeder was totally ignored. I had already been sprinkling some Cheerios on the ground and found that the Sparrows and Blackies love them. So I tred them in the peanut feeder,they are eating over 1/2 the capacity of the feeder a day!

[Pertinax]

Is there good nutrition for the birds in the cheerios? I've never eaten them myself.

[Talon 1]

I tried Sugar puffs once , it then rained and they still did not touch it so i went to check. The puffs where rock hard and glued together.

I did not like the look of that, maybe if i had left them longer then they might of liked them but its just starlings and sparrows mainly feeding nd they are quite happy with seed and cake so i will stick to that

[Marmot]

Originally Posted by Pertinax

Is there good nutrition for the birds in the cheerios? I've never eaten them myself.

-

Just been and got the box, it has cereal grains of wheat, oats, maize and barley. Some sugar and syrup and vitamins in.

Whatever it is they keep eating them up, I presently have 3 Sparrows on the ex peanut feeder eating them and the ones I sprinkled on the lawn have all gone. This year is the most Sparrows that I have seen visting our garden and I think if they didn't like them I would have mouldy Cheerios by now.

[Talon 1]

I left no Seed out last night and low and behold all the sparrows are on the Nyger seed this morning?
They have almost finished the lot?
Nyger seed for sparrows is this common. If so it could be a good way to get rid of a ton of it as Goldfinches are extinct round here.

[Kiscokid]

There are a load of goldfinches around here in Bucks - but I mostly see them feeding on cornflower heads and thistle heads out in the meadows. Having said that they descend en masse into the garden when my own cornflowers die off. I've thought about a nyger seed feeder - but I dont have loads of space and would be gutted if it just sat there going uneaten!

[g-winger]

I have a tube feeder for sunflower/safflower and millet mix. Get lots of different birds on that. I put a sock feeder up for nyger several days ago, with no interest in it at all. I have been spreading nyger seed on the driveway and the doves, sparrows are all over it. Probably get more action on the sock if I stopped distributing it on the ground. I do have house finches here.
Chris

[robski]

Taken a few days ago - A pair of Goldfinches have returned and Juv Blue tits have started to show an interest.

Robert

[Jos Stratford]

Originally Posted by Marmot

Why not fill your peanut feeder with Cheerios(Yes the breakfast cereal). Our peanut feeder was totally ignored. I had already been sprinkling some Cheerios on the ground and found that the Sparrows and Blackies love them. So I tred them in the peanut feeder,they are eating over 1/2 the capacity of the feeder a day!

I'm quite fond of Cheerios myself! Wanna post up your address, next time I'm in the UK, you'll get an extra garden visitor!

[Gus Horsley]

On the subject of breakfast cereals, I don't recommend putting out half-eaten porridge. The only thing it attracted to my garden were slugs. When we put out nyger feed we got a mass of squabbling greenfinches within an hour. Goldfinches appeared a couple of days later. We get the odd blue tit and young starlings on the peanuts.

Gus

[Marmot]

Originally Posted by Jos Stratford

I'm quite fond of Cheerios myself! Wanna post up your address, next time I'm in the UK, you'll get an extra garden visitor!

Already stood out in the garden waiting for your arrival complete with Cheerios, if you fly into Salthome & Dormans Pools and then come down the road for about another 2 miles you will find me

But don't use the map on page 6 of this months Birdwatching Magazine to show you the location, as they have them somewhere near Berwick on the England/Scotland border

[Talon 1]

Originally Posted by robski

Taken a few days ago - A pair of Goldfinches have returned and Juv Blue tits have started to show an interest.

Robert

Robski,
You lucky bugger , where in west kent are you?
I did not think there where any in kent?

regards

[robski]

Originally Posted by Free

Robski,
You lucky bugger , where in west kent are you?
I did not think there where any in kent?

regards

Free

I am about 25 miles due south of you down the A21. We see plenty of warblers, tits (Great, blue, long tail and Coal ) and finches (Green, Bull and Gold) in the area.

Robert

[david2004]

Free, there are plenty of Goldfinches in Kent. I tried for almost a year with a Nyjer feeder and didn't get any Goldfinches. But a few months later I saw two in the garden, and they eventually found the seed feeders (Nyjer had been taken down).

It may take them a while to discover you. Mine have left again now, but I expect they'll be back in winter.

[romancitizen]

Originally Posted by g-winger

I have a tube feeder for sunflower/safflower and millet mix. Get lots of different birds on that. I put a sock feeder up for nyger several days ago, with no interest in it at all. I have been spreading nyger seed on the driveway and the doves, sparrows are all over it. Probably get more action on the sock if I stopped distributing it on the ground. I do have house finches here.
Chris

Chris, what do you mean by a sock feeder ?

My wife bought some nyger seed, then realised she needed a specialist feeder: as she bought the seed in England, but lives in Budapest, I am reluctant to shell out a tenner on a feeder if there is a cheap alternative, in case she can't get more seed in Hungary.

However, even after several goes in the washing machine I cannot imagine any bird being stupid enough to approach one of my socks !!

[Marmot]

Here is a link to an old BF thread that shows a picture of the sock feeder.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=28304

[romancitizen]

Ok, I now understand what is meant by a sock feeder: does anyone know where one can obtain a nyger seed sock in the UK ? found plenty in the Land of the Free, but none in the UK - thus far.