Feeders and bird food (1 Viewer)

[andygilbert]

Hi I have a couple of questions if ayone feels they can advise me...
1. I've heard that bacon fat is good for birds in the winter....However, it's salty (especially from smoked bacon), so is this best avoided?
2. Seeds and seed feeders. (Groan). I have a mix including black sunflower, dari and millett. The birds will take some of it from tables but leave most of it. Also, they do not seem at all keen on the hanging feeders. I have 3 of them, one occasionally attracts pigeons, but the birds never seem to go to the really good one with a metal cage around to keep squirrels off. I have fitted perching bars to it to attract them too.
3. I have a fat feeder in each garden, is it likely that the birds openly prefer fat to seeds at this time of year? Or does my above seed mix seem to be the problem?
(NB The garden environment is a large, sweeping back garden on the edge of open country in Somerset, several very large mature trees around the boundary. Big lawn, hedges, lots of shrubs. Common/not-uncommon sightings: great tits, blue tits, long-tailed tits, black-caps, thrushes, robins, wrens, a green woodpecker, finches, pain-in-the-neck-magpies.)
Andy

 

[Nature__lover]

1. regarding the 'bacon fat question' the RSPB say "There is a lot of debate about the suitability of bacon rind, since much of it is salted during the curing process. As long as you can be sure the bacon is not salty, you can put it on your bird table. Since bacon can be too tough for many birds to tackle, chopping it finely will allow a wider variety of birds to eat it." so I'd just steer clear of smoked bacon etc!

2. When I use seed mixes I find the birds just pick their favourites and chuck the rest on the floor or leave it to go mouldy . I would put out sunflower hearts- on their own- in a seed feeder. tits love them, and nearly every bird really!
I've never had a 'guardian' so not sure about that. I can imagine that the birds will take a while to get used to the mechanism though.

3.I personally find that the birds LOVE fat - especially in winter- more than the seeds.
but it varies on what make of fat you put out. I have done little experiments ...
and found that the birds MUCH prefer homemade fat cakes/balls to shop-bought ones.

just soften lard in a pan, mix in sunflower seeds, grated cheese, sultanas/raisins, seed mixes, suitable scraps, bread etc etc. and put in container to set in the fridge. or if you want to make balls, wait till it's cool and then roll them in your hands.

 

[Joe1980]

Bacon fat is perfectly fine to feed, salty or not. A lot of birds actually seek out salt to eat, in fact I see them pecking around in the salty roads all the time. Supposedly you can put out a salt block and attract a lot of birds. I keep all bacon grease to feed the birds, no matter the type. I also have a heated bird bath, so should the salt make them thirsty, they have water.

I'm not certain about birds in the UK, but here, black oil sunflower, white millet, and cracked corn are the 3 seeds that are favored. Some of the other specialty seeds like thistle, safflower, etc. are just that, specialized for specific birds. I'm not sure what dari seed is, so I can't help ya there, but the sunflower and millet should be eaten by lots of birds, and not going to waste.

And yes, birds do prefer fat in winter, because it has more calories. They get more energy with less work when they eat fat, so they will favor it. Some will only go for seed though, at least here in the US.

 

[Dragonflyte]

Bacon fat is perfectly fine to feed, salty or not. A lot of birds actually seek out salt to eat, in fact I see them pecking around in the salty roads all the time. Supposedly you can put out a salt block and attract a lot of birds. I keep all bacon grease to feed the birds, no matter the type. I also have a heated bird bath, so should the salt make them thirsty, they have water.

I'm not certain about birds in the UK, but here, black oil sunflower, white millet, and cracked corn are the 3 seeds that are favored. Some of the other specialty seeds like thistle, safflower, etc. are just that, specialized for specific birds. I'm not sure what dari seed is, so I can't help ya there, but the sunflower and millet should be eaten by lots of birds, and not going to waste.

And yes, birds do prefer fat in winter, because it has more calories. They get more energy with less work when they eat fat, so they will favor it. Some will only go for seed though, at least here in the US.

Thank you so much for this info. I've been reading how bad bacon fat is for birds. It's a relief to know I can feed them some home made suet from the bacon fat and beef fat I've saved for the last few months. When I'm done cooking bacon or beef I pour the fat through a filter into a glass jar which I keep in my fridge. The jar is full and I thought I'd melt down again and form a suet cake for them. I can put their regular seed in it which contains peanuts, sunflower seeds, millet and cracked corn. I'm glad to know I can safely feed this to my little friends outside.

 

[Dragonflyte]

Hi I have a couple of questions if ayone feels they can advise me...
1. I've heard that bacon fat is good for birds in the winter....However, it's salty (especially from smoked bacon), so is this best avoided?
2. Seeds and seed feeders. (Groan). I have a mix including black sunflower, dari and millett. The birds will take some of it from tables but leave most of it. Also, they do not seem at all keen on the hanging feeders. I have 3 of them, one occasionally attracts pigeons, but the birds never seem to go to the really good one with a metal cage around to keep squirrels off. I have fitted perching bars to it to attract them too.
3. I have a fat feeder in each garden, is it likely that the birds openly prefer fat to seeds at this time of year? Or does my above seed mix seem to be the problem?
(NB The garden environment is a large, sweeping back garden on the edge of open country in Somerset, several very large mature trees around the boundary. Big lawn, hedges, lots of shrubs. Common/not-uncommon sightings: great tits, blue tits, long-tailed tits, black-caps, thrushes, robins, wrens, a green woodpecker, finches, pain-in-the-neck-magpies.)
Andy

I'll take your magpies!

 

[Yardenman]

Thank you so much for this info. I've been reading how bad bacon fat is for birds. It's a relief to know I can feed them some home made suet from the bacon fat and beef fat I've saved for the last few months. When I'm done cooking bacon or beef I pour the fat through a filter into a glass jar which I keep in my fridge. The jar is full and I thought I'd melt down again and form a suet cake for them. I can put their regular seed in it which contains peanuts, sunflower seeds, millet and cracked corn. I'm glad to know I can safely feed this to my little friends outside.

Fat is good for birds in Winter, but I'm not so sure about bacon fat. I've been checking around about that and some sites say salt does not affect birds and some say it does. It may vary due to adaption to evolved diets that involve salt/marshy water prey.

My regular backyard birds are mostly seed/insect eaters. So my main feeder is full of black oil sunflower seeds with 2 cages of plain beef suet on hangers on each side. The suet is cheap at Walmart and I keep it in the basement refrigerator.

Between the 2, they seem healthy and thriving. When I moved here 38 years ago, I saw 1 pair of cardinals and just a few other smaller birds. Now I have about 8 pairs of cardinals and a lot more variety of the smaller ones (wrens, nuthatches, titmouses, etc) and some Bluejays and Woodpeckers (mostly Downy and Hairy).

A picture at the feeder...

 

[Montereyman]

Most suet recipes use lard which has a long shelf life. In my temperate area the birds will not touch suet any time of the year. They like sunflower kernels and black oil sunflower seeds and disdain red millet which is often used as a cheap filler in seed mixes.

Oddly enough my 22x3 inch water tray is used by all the birds 365 days of the year. I disinfect the tray once a month with a weak bleach solution and replace the water at 2 day intervals.

The right feeder makes a great deal of difference and I have switched feeders many times over the years to get ones that are easy to clean and hold at least 5 lbs of seed and are squirrel resistant.

 

[Yardenman]

Most suet recipes use lard which has a long shelf life. In my temperate area the birds will not touch suet any time of the year. They like sunflower kernels and black oil sunflower seeds and disdain red millet which is often used as a cheap filler in seed mixes.

Oddly enough my 22x3 inch water tray is used by all the birds 365 days of the year. I disinfect the tray once a month with a weak bleach solution and replace the water at 2 day intervals.

The right feeder makes a great deal of difference and I have switched feeders many times over the years to get ones that are easy to clean and hold at least 5 lbs of seed and are squirrel resistant.

Yeah, I like back oil sunflower seeds for most birds and nyger for the finches. Millet seems just filler material in suet. My birds will visit the suet year-round, but most intensely in Winter.

I don't have a water container bowl, the water just freezes too fast. But I do have a 5' pond and break the ice regularly. I put a dowel across the opened spot as a perch (attached to 2 small bits of board so it doesn't roll).

And, by the way, I'm going to mount a long 1/2" dowel under the roof overhang for a place for the birds to shelter in snow/sleet.

 

[Yardenman]

Most suet recipes use lard which has a long shelf life. In my temperate area the birds will not touch suet any time of the year. They like sunflower kernels and black oil sunflower seeds and disdain red millet which is often used as a cheap filler in seed mixes.

Oddly enough my 22x3 inch water tray is used by all the birds 365 days of the year. I disinfect the tray once a month with a weak bleach solution and replace the water at 2 day intervals.

The right feeder makes a great deal of difference and I have switched feeders many times over the years to get ones that are easy to clean and hold at least 5 lbs of seed and are squirrel resistant.

I meant to reply about feeders. I built a feeder 20 years ago. It is 16" tall with 8" sides. The front has a 1" cutout to let the seeds flow out into a 3" tray surrounded by 1"x2" board to keep the seeds in. All that is cedar. It has an exterior plywood top large enough to keep rain and snow off the seeds. The top has a piece of board that fits into the interior and eye hooks to keep it in place in the wind. And I added a slanted board below the top but above the seed tray to keep larger birds away. Took a few adjustments to discourage the starlings but allow the cardinal access.

It has required some minor repairs over the years. One surprise was when the back cedar board suddenly cracked open. I filled the crack with exterior adhesive and then attached a really thin piece of scrap wood on the interior.

But it might be time to just build a new one. . When I do, I will post construction pics.