Birds won't eat Spicy bird seed! (3 Viewers)

[1MissChris]

I did my due diligence before I bought Coles Hot Sauce for bird seed. I read the reviews, did my research on Google to see if birds really do like hot flavored bird seed. Everything I found lead me to the conclusion that they did. We live in the mountains of Colorado so we have wildlife problems getting into our birdfeeders. We had racoons tear them down & completely destroy one of them recently. Well I had enough & I thought I better find a solution before the bears did the same. I was going to buy the pre-seasoned bird seed but it was really expensive then I found this Coles Hot Sauce & I thought "perfect"! We can season the birdseed ourselves! So I bought 100 pounds of wild birdseed in addition to some safflower, nyler & shelled sunflower seeds. Thinking I'd buy them everything "special" since nothing else could or would get in their feeders for now on. So I mixed a little over 1\2 the bottle not wanting to make it too strong in my EXPENSIVE concoction of goodness for my winged friends. Opening & pouring the Coles Hot Sauce from the bottle took my breath away! It's exactly like breathing in mace! (I used to work in Law Enforcement) So I grabbed a mask so I could mix it up while tears ran down my face & I coughed through the rest of the process. I got it mixed up well, then put it in the feeders excited to watch my friends enjoy their new food but sadly no one, not one bird has come to sample it in 2 weeks! I'm SO upset!
Has anyone else had this problem after putting out pretreated hot birdseed or using Coles Hot Sauce? All these claims that it's "actually good for them" & it will even attract the birds" & "has vitamin benefits" is now sounding more like a gimmick to me. All it has done cost me a lot of money & had made my beautiful winged friends fly far, far away.

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators. I think you will find us a friendly and helpful group.

Birds cannot taste capsaicin; however, I am not sure what else is in that sauce that they may be able to taste. Did you see any birds try and eat it?

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

I’ve not heard of the sauce nor of the idea of mixing it with bird seed.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Miss Chris and a warm welcome from me too. I understand birds can't taste chili and squirrels don't like it, but no experience using it.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about.

 

[1MissChris]

Hi, welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators. I think you will find us a friendly and helpful group.

Birds cannot taste capsaicin; however, I am not sure what else is in that sauce that they may be able to taste. Did you see any birds try and eat it?

No not one.
All the ingredients say is 100% food grade ingredients:
Liquid Habanero chili pepper & soybean oil

 

[etudiant]

It may simply be the time of year.
Birds that can't find food in late May really need remedial training. Certainly is no need for them to visit your feeders other than convenience.
So don't despair, but save your seed in a tight metal container for when it gets colder. They will be back then.

Separately, all the treated seeds I've dealt with seemed to have the chili in small flakes rather than in an oil.
Presumably the chili was dried and powdered, then mixed with the seeds. I've no idea whether the soybean oil could be an issue.

 

[Lerxst]

I tried to deal with a squirrel problem by adding cayenne pepper to the seeds. Initially the mammals were indeed repulsed, but they kept coming back and developed an ability to feed on it anyway. Never underestimate hunger. So I escalated my tactics. In the end, I was dumping Tabasco sauce on the my seeds. The birds stopped eating them but the mammals did not. I could see the red stains on the squirrel faces and whiskers. I gave up at that point. They won yet again.

 

[Chris G6 UXU]

Hello and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

 

[1MissChris]

I tried to deal with a squirrel problem by adding cayenne pepper to the seeds. Initially the mammals were indeed repulsed, but they kept coming back and developed an ability to feed on it anyway. Never underestimate hunger. So I escalated my tactics. In the end, I was dumping Tabasco sauce on the my seeds. The birds stopped eating them but the mammals did not. I could see the red stains on the squirrel faces and whiskers. I gave up at that point. They won yet again.

😄 They are sure diligent critters aren't they?

 

[1MissChris]

Well I'm happy to report that for some reason after I ratted off my picky bird friends yesterday they started using the bird feeder! Come to find out they had been using the ones in the backyard but I hadn't seen them munching happily until my Fiancee had to top off the feeders! So I guess it just took them a little while to get used to the new seed or it's not disappearing as fast without other visitors using the "squirrel proof feeders". 🤔 Either way I'm happy to have my winged friends back so we all including my cat & dog can watch them enjoy their day.
Thank you so much for your feedback I appreciate it so much

 

[Fritz73]

Hola! Welcome to Birdforum

 

[Rpolo123]

I did my due diligence before I bought Coles Hot Sauce for bird seed. I read the reviews, did my research on Google to see if birds really do like hot flavored bird seed. Everything I found lead me to the conclusion that they did. We live in the mountains of Colorado so we have wildlife problems getting into our birdfeeders. We had racoons tear them down & completely destroy one of them recently. Well I had enough & I thought I better find a solution before the bears did the same. I was going to buy the pre-seasoned bird seed but it was really expensive then I found this Coles Hot Sauce & I thought "perfect"! We can season the birdseed ourselves! So I bought 100 pounds of wild birdseed in addition to some safflower, nyler & shelled sunflower seeds. Thinking I'd buy them everything "special" since nothing else could or would get in their feeders for now on. So I mixed a little over 1\2 the bottle not wanting to make it too strong in my EXPENSIVE concoction of goodness for my winged friends. Opening & pouring the Coles Hot Sauce from the bottle took my breath away! It's exactly like breathing in mace! (I used to work in Law Enforcement) So I grabbed a mask so I could mix it up while tears ran down my face & I coughed through the rest of the process. I got it mixed up well, then put it in the feeders excited to watch my friends enjoy their new food but sadly no one, not one bird has come to sample it in 2 weeks! I'm SO upset!
Has anyone else had this problem after putting out pretreated hot birdseed or using Coles Hot Sauce? All these claims that it's "actually good for them" & it will even attract the birds" & "has vitamin benefits" is now sounding more like a gimmick to me. All it has done cost me a lot of money & had made my beautiful winged friends fly far, far away.

I used cayenne pepper and no issue w birds eating it ! I live in Florida.

 

[Elkhornsun]

The cheaper bulk seed will have cracked corn, millet, and other "filler" seeds that birds will not eat. I have raccoons but they do not bother with my feeders. The squirrels are another story and even with double baffles they will find a way to get to the feeders. I use two tubular feeders that close the ports when the weight of a squirrel or banded pigeon lands on them.

I have a platform feeder and it has not been possible to keep out the squirrels. This is the feeder that receives the widest variety of birds from grosbeaks and finches to acorn woodpeckers. My approach to controlling the squirrels is to shoot them with non-lead pellets and leave the bodies for the local coyote to eat. When I realized how much damage the many squirrels were doing to the native oak trees I knew I needed to reduce their numbers.