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peanuts or sunflowers seeds (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter seb_seb
- Start date
Drean Mollagh
Member
Sunflower seed is the more popular, but the peanuts go too - tits, greenfinch, house sparrows and others. Some individuals do seem to have a particular liking for the peanuts, so I still stock up with both.
Mad_BMS said:
Not on my page they're not. :h?:
I've checked all the settings and display options in my profile etc. At the top of this thread I'm only seeing the Poll Options panel... are poll results only displayed to those who have voted? I haven't voted (because it's not a simple answer in my garden, too many variables, maybe I'm over-analyzing!), so does this mean I'm not allowed to see the results? :-C
Using Safari on a mac btw, but that's never caused any other problems with BF.
Thanks anyway Tom.
GiG
Well-known member
At home I have two peanut feeders and a seed feeder and a suet/seed feeder that is suitable for robins etc.
The birds definitely prefer the seed feeder with the peanuts only getting eaten if the seed feeder is out, the birds were not keen on the suet/seed feed so this I've spread on the table where the woodpigeons and starlings eat it up.
At work I recently put up some food - it was a mixed pack bought from Aldi's that was ok'd by the BTO and included fat balls, peanut feeder and a seed feeder - just as I walked away from putting them up the first time a robin and a great tit flew in. The peanuts and seed have gone really quickly.
It's strange how at work the peanuts get eaten quickly but not at home.
Gi
The birds definitely prefer the seed feeder with the peanuts only getting eaten if the seed feeder is out, the birds were not keen on the suet/seed feed so this I've spread on the table where the woodpigeons and starlings eat it up.
At work I recently put up some food - it was a mixed pack bought from Aldi's that was ok'd by the BTO and included fat balls, peanut feeder and a seed feeder - just as I walked away from putting them up the first time a robin and a great tit flew in. The peanuts and seed have gone really quickly.
It's strange how at work the peanuts get eaten quickly but not at home.
Gi
phil.walton3
Phil W Walton
I've been feeding for quite a few years and my experience is that the following work, in order of popularity
1) Sunflower Hearts - everything!!!
2) Soft Bill Food, including fruit - Blackbirds and Robins
3) Nijer Seed - Gold and Greenfinch and Siskin exclusively
4) Apples - Blackbirds and Robins
5) Peanuts - only when nothing else available - but great for GSW and Nuthatch
6) Fat balls and slabs - tits from time to time and starlings
I have great trouble with squirrels and they have forced me to use metal cages round the feeders. Whilst this has dramatically cut the amount eaten, without a loss of small bird numbers, it has reduced the amount of ground spillage so I have noticed less wood pigeon, stock dove and collared dove this year. Also the GSW has not been visiting.
Any suggestions on defeating squirrels without dissuading large birds would be welcome.
1) Sunflower Hearts - everything!!!
2) Soft Bill Food, including fruit - Blackbirds and Robins
3) Nijer Seed - Gold and Greenfinch and Siskin exclusively
4) Apples - Blackbirds and Robins
5) Peanuts - only when nothing else available - but great for GSW and Nuthatch
6) Fat balls and slabs - tits from time to time and starlings
I have great trouble with squirrels and they have forced me to use metal cages round the feeders. Whilst this has dramatically cut the amount eaten, without a loss of small bird numbers, it has reduced the amount of ground spillage so I have noticed less wood pigeon, stock dove and collared dove this year. Also the GSW has not been visiting.
Any suggestions on defeating squirrels without dissuading large birds would be welcome.
Peanuts go in a flash at my feeders. Usually the stellars jays and chickadee's gobble them up, that is if mr. squirrel hasn't gotten to them first. But sunflower, with all the rest of the birds are their favorite. Not getting any birds now at my feeders, they've been gone for a week now, but during busy times, i have to fill all seven feeders on a daily basis.
btw.....phil.walton3.........i've come to the conclusion you can't succesfully defeat squirrels. believe me i've tried. The best solution i've come up with is to give them what the want in their own feeder, a bit seperated from the bird feeders, and they pretty much aren't a problem. They still occassionally investigate to see if they can find something exciting, but it doesn't spook the birds.
if anyone else has come up with something better, please let us in on your secret, i'd love to know.
Also, one funny sidenote........i've actually caught my stellars jay "buzzing" the squirrel when he was taking all the peanuts. he started squaking, then flew in right above squirrels head. Squirrel looked up for a moment, then resumed eating.
btw.....phil.walton3.........i've come to the conclusion you can't succesfully defeat squirrels. believe me i've tried. The best solution i've come up with is to give them what the want in their own feeder, a bit seperated from the bird feeders, and they pretty much aren't a problem. They still occassionally investigate to see if they can find something exciting, but it doesn't spook the birds.
if anyone else has come up with something better, please let us in on your secret, i'd love to know.
Also, one funny sidenote........i've actually caught my stellars jay "buzzing" the squirrel when he was taking all the peanuts. he started squaking, then flew in right above squirrels head. Squirrel looked up for a moment, then resumed eating.
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cayoncreekman
Well-known member
We start off the season with huge bags of various seeds. The redpolls have stayed around this season and with since the return of light they have gone through a lot of nyger (maybe 1 to 2 thousand birds visiting their nyger buffet each day)). The feeding birds themselves are 'feeders' for the owls, gyrfalcons, martins and weasels.
Sunflower or peanuts? Definitely peanuts. This time of year peanuts are gone almost as soon as we put them out. We use dozens of small feeders and different size openings to make sure most the birds get their share. The various corvids prefer peanuts in the shell.
I assume the seeds in a shell (sunflowlower) are stored for the medium to long term whereas peanuts out of the shell are eaten that day or in the short term.
From mid Fall to mid Spring we're rarely without a zip-lock bag of various bird food in our coat pockets. There's no guilt greater than having nothing to offer the forlorn looking chickadee that suddenly appears along a trail and, in contrast, no pleasure greater than having the little fellow excited at being offered a handful of peanut chips.
Sunflower or peanuts? Definitely peanuts. This time of year peanuts are gone almost as soon as we put them out. We use dozens of small feeders and different size openings to make sure most the birds get their share. The various corvids prefer peanuts in the shell.
I assume the seeds in a shell (sunflowlower) are stored for the medium to long term whereas peanuts out of the shell are eaten that day or in the short term.
From mid Fall to mid Spring we're rarely without a zip-lock bag of various bird food in our coat pockets. There's no guilt greater than having nothing to offer the forlorn looking chickadee that suddenly appears along a trail and, in contrast, no pleasure greater than having the little fellow excited at being offered a handful of peanut chips.
cavan wood
Well-known member
Squirrels CAN be beaten
The sunflower feeder in the first photo has never been conquered by a squirrel, although they are kept happy by the food spilled by jays and hairy woodpeckers. This feeder gets bluejays, house and purple finches, cardinals, hairy woodpeckers, mourning doves, and all the wee ones. Obviously as that spruce keeps growing, I will have to move the feeder, but if you have a feeder that you absulutely want to keep the squirrels off of , then that's your setup.
The hanging sunflower feeder in photo 2 has been visited rarely by squirrels. The metal openings prevent damage, and the squirrel fell to the ground the last time. It wasn't a happy camper.
My niger feeder hangs from the second story eve trough and was knocked down once by the squirrels in the first week it was up, but nothing since.
The photo in the avatar has obviously been visited, but they don't seem to like millet much and I hardly ever see them there.
The nut feeder has only been up for two weeks. I've never seen the squirrels trying it, but the chickadees and downy woodpeckers are just starting to use it regularly.
Hope that helps
Scott
phil.walton3 said:
The sunflower feeder in the first photo has never been conquered by a squirrel, although they are kept happy by the food spilled by jays and hairy woodpeckers. This feeder gets bluejays, house and purple finches, cardinals, hairy woodpeckers, mourning doves, and all the wee ones. Obviously as that spruce keeps growing, I will have to move the feeder, but if you have a feeder that you absulutely want to keep the squirrels off of , then that's your setup.
The hanging sunflower feeder in photo 2 has been visited rarely by squirrels. The metal openings prevent damage, and the squirrel fell to the ground the last time. It wasn't a happy camper.
My niger feeder hangs from the second story eve trough and was knocked down once by the squirrels in the first week it was up, but nothing since.
The photo in the avatar has obviously been visited, but they don't seem to like millet much and I hardly ever see them there.
The nut feeder has only been up for two weeks. I've never seen the squirrels trying it, but the chickadees and downy woodpeckers are just starting to use it regularly.
Hope that helps
Scott
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Nuts and sun, flower!
Took me ages to get any birds to come to the feeders since I moved into this house (in Spain) but now can't stop 'em. I still haven't found a source of food here so have to bring 'em back in my luggage from the UK. Peanuts all gone (blue tits, crested tits and chaffinches learnt to get them), then they prefer sunflower seeds (over a feeder-full per day) and have now resorted to making food balls out of scraps. Not sure I've got the recipe right yet as they go slowest of all despite high fat content.
Black caps, black birds, black redstarts, robins, sardinian warbler all feed on falling scraps. Firecrest and serin also around but not (yet) on feeders.
Stephen Christopher
www.catalanbirdtours.com
seb_seb said:
Took me ages to get any birds to come to the feeders since I moved into this house (in Spain) but now can't stop 'em. I still haven't found a source of food here so have to bring 'em back in my luggage from the UK. Peanuts all gone (blue tits, crested tits and chaffinches learnt to get them), then they prefer sunflower seeds (over a feeder-full per day) and have now resorted to making food balls out of scraps. Not sure I've got the recipe right yet as they go slowest of all despite high fat content.
Black caps, black birds, black redstarts, robins, sardinian warbler all feed on falling scraps. Firecrest and serin also around but not (yet) on feeders.
Stephen Christopher
www.catalanbirdtours.com
tigerlillie
Member
My experience with peanuts is that the squirrels over-power the birds for first dibs. I have a huge squirrel population in my yard....I'm guessing because of the giant oak trees which make for wonderful nesting areas for them. I can't bring myself to rid of them, so I place sunflower seeds away from the bird feeders and place peanuts on the ground around the feeders for the birds, but of course the squirrel always abandon the sunflower seeds and hoard the nuts. Very frustrating because I'm trying to attract different species with the nuts. My favorite is the Eastern Cardinal which LOVE peanuts, but I have no luck, as they refuse to feed along-side the squirrels. Oh well, I never give up on new techniques and I have to keep reminding myself that squirrels have bellies too and if I were to have a choice of ice cream over jello....well that's a no-brainer.
hayfieldgolfer
Well-known member
Stephen C said:
Have a friend who is moving to East Anglia, he wanted a recipe for making fat balls, put a request on the site and found an earlier thread. Most of them use suet rather than fat. Suet has a higher melting point and lasts longer that soft fat.
On saturday made my own fat ball. Chopped peanuts, mixed seed and chopped sultanas mixed with melted suet. Starlings love it, eatern quicker than a commercial prouduct I have had out for over a month.