What to do with peanuts? (1 Viewer)

gthang · Mar 22, 2004

OK, so I bought a bag of unshelled peanuts.

I broke a bunch of them open and got the inside pieces, and took the red coating off the kernels. I still have a bunch of unshelled ones in the bag.

How should peanuts be served to birds?

Since the birds at our regular feeder have disappeared, there is no action right now at the peanut feeder (essentially a dinner plate sprinkled with shelled peanuts). How long does it normally take for birds to appear at the peanut feeders?

Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Grant

Ruby · Mar 22, 2004

Not sure if this is particularly good advice.... but here's what I do.....

The birds pretty much ignore whole peanuts in mesh feeders, so I mash them up in the food-processer and use them as a constituent of home-made bird cakes.

This seems to go down pretty well - particularly with Starlings, Coal Tits and my resident Blackcap.

Ruby · Mar 22, 2004

Should have mentioned...leaving out whole peanuts is thought to be a bad thing I believe, particularly in Spring when they can be fed to baby birds....

Elizabeth Bigg · Mar 22, 2004

Ruby said:
Not sure if this is particularly good advice.... but here's what I do.....

The birds pretty much ignore whole peanuts in mesh feeders, so I mash them up in the food-processer and use them as a constituent of home-made bird cakes.

This seems to go down pretty well - particularly with Starlings, Coal Tits and my resident Blackcap.

Ruby, do you have a particular recipe for your home-made bird cake? I make a fatball mix where I throw anything that comes to hand into some melted lard, and this seems to go down very well - particularly with starlings.

I also made a suet "treat" recently - I have a new triple feeder for seeds/peanuts/treat, which came complete with treat - but the home made one is much cheaper than the ridiculous price the shops charge, and very easy to make too!

gthang · Mar 22, 2004

*sigh*

Not one bird out today, this just sucks...
All I did was fill the feeder... and all the birds done disappeared...

*sigh* I'm bored

streatham · Mar 22, 2004

gthang - my advice would be to get away from the feeder and start looking outside your garden - feeder action will be slow at this time of year as natural resources beome more readily available to your birds. right now you should be looking for ducks, grebes and gulls which will be be moving through your area as they head north - try any local ponds (that aren't frozen) or rivers, you should also be looking for early migrants such as red-wing blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, possible rusty blackbirds, killdeer and grackles as well as pine warblers and phoebes that should be heading your way soon if they're not already with you. blackbirds are easily found in most areas but marshy areas are your best bet. my advice - save yourself some money and forget the feeder until next winter and get out and find yourself some birds. luke

gthang · Mar 22, 2004

But most of the birds at my feeder aren't even migrators!? The only one's that were wintering here were the Pine Siskin, American Tree Sparrow, and Fox Sparrow...

How should I store the peanuts until more birds start showing up at the feeder?

gthang · Mar 22, 2004

PS. Happy Birthday streatham!

Ruby · Mar 22, 2004

Elizabeth Bigg said:
I make a fatball mix where I throw anything that comes to hand into some melted lard

We must both have the same recipe book!!

Yep... Ground up peanuts, Sunflower seeds, mixed bird seed, plus any cake or biscuit crumbs I might happen to have laying around.

I usually mix it all up in a cereal bowl, stick a slice of bread on top (to stop the seed floating around!) and then cover the whole lot with melted lard.

'Bake' in a moderate refrigerator on gas-mark 4 for 2 hours... yum yum - good enough to eat yourself!!

Much admired by all sort of birdies with iron constitutions, as mentioned earlier, plus (I forgot) GS Woodpecker.

gthang · Mar 23, 2004

Well, Thanks for the advice, but since we are getting no birds (not even squirrels), i guess we'll have to wait. When's the best time to start looking again?

Also, I'm still on the lookout to complete the entire NY woodpecker list (5 species resident: Red-Headed, Pileated, Downy, Hairy, and Red-Bellied; so far my dad has photographed a Pileated and a Red-Bellied, I have photographed Red-Bellied, Downy, and Hairy, still got to find the pileated and, hopefully, a Red-Headed).

snowyowl · Mar 25, 2004

gthang said:
Well, Thanks for the advice, but since we are getting no birds (not even squirrels), i guess we'll have to wait. When's the best time to start looking again? QUOTE]
Buy a perforated metal peanut feeder and fill it with cheap, hulled peanuts. Hang it close to trees or large shrubs. Don't worry about the red covering. Leave it alone and wait. Chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers will eventually start visiting it. Be patient and don't fuss. If the birds are around they will find it.
Locally here if you put the peanuts on a platform or similar, the Blue Jays will clean them up in next to no time, regardless of whether the nuts are hulled or not.

gthang · Mar 25, 2004

heck, on the 23rd, which was a tuesday, i gots tons of birds, although not as many as before i refilled the feeder on march 19th. Anyway, what happened was, I saw some juncos on the seed feeder. so I put out my peanut feeder and soon, the nuthatches and titmice and even a black-capped chickadee or two grabbed some peanuts. I'm still amazed that the chickadee could fit a whole half-peanut kernel in its tiny mouth. also, there was a bluejay on a nearby tree, but he didn't go for the peanuts... wonder why? he instead dove down to the ground and ate whatever was down there. Never glanced at the peanuts...

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures:

LzyPhotographer · Mar 26, 2004

Gthang,

Streatham offered some good advice. Head on out to the parks or someplace and start looking for something different.

A watched pot never boils... toss the peanuts by the bushes away from the deck and forget about them for a while. When you quit worrying, the birds will show up again.

gthang · Mar 26, 2004

yeah, I did head down to the local GBH (Great Blue Heron) residency to see what else was down there. saw a pair of Canada geese (not good), picked up a wild turkey feather, and saw some mystery birds. still can't ID them... maybe you guys can help... they were grey overall, and the only other thing i could see through the binoculars were the wing feather outlines (white) similar to the white outlines on an American Goldfinch's wings. knowing that a Mockingbird is grey, i thought that this could be it. but it doesn't inhabit swamps/marshes or other wet places. I'm thinking a flycatcher. Might go down there again this weekend with dad, before it rains on sunday...

streatham · Mar 26, 2004

g-thang - probably was a mockingbird as they like anywhere with a lot of scrub or brushy tangles - swampy areas included - it's a bit too early for any flycatchers - the only one you'd see right now is the eastern phoebe - and they don't have recognisable wing bars - plus they are easy to spot as they sit very upright and pump there tail almost constantly. luke

gthang · Mar 26, 2004

OK, great, thanks for the help!

mkdon · Apr 29, 2004

You had asked about storage for the peanuts. I keep shelled peanuts halves in a trash can under my carport. I had to put a rock on top of it as the squirrels figured out how to get the lid lifted up. I have had them in there for a few months.

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