Excess Nyger seed. (1 Viewer)

In a fit of stupidity I ordered 25kg of niger seed (hey, it was cheap). However, at the current rate it'll take about 10 years for the Goldfinches to eat it all and I suspect it may go mouldy before then (although it's stored in a big plastic dustbin).

Anybody got any ideas what I could do with it? I've tried putting some out around the garden and the Pheasants and a Collared Dove seemed interested - but I don't think they're keen enough to make significant inroads.

Wait till winter and see if you get any common redpolls, a flock of them can go through nijer pretty fast, especially if all of them have a space to eat.

Do you have room to freeze any of it in air tight bags?

Freezing would certainly seem to be worth a shot, I would say, particularly since unfrozen niger keeps very badly indeed.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=247425&highlight=Niger (old thread on niger keeping properties).

I bought a 20lb bag because I was sick of buying 10lb bags when my birds were eating about a lb a day. Of course two days after I did this, the Siskins responsible for most of the consumption decided to finally migrate.

I was able to put the leftovers in my freezer (which I hope works), while leaving enough out to refill what the Goldfinches eat.

I would like to mention that advice for US Nyjer is going to be different then elsewhere. US Nyjer is intensively heat-treated prior to import, this means it dries out and/or gets "stale" quickly under storage, but it'll never mold. I imagine Nyjer that is not heat-treated would indeed mold, especially if not kept in a dry place.