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Pros and cons to Nyjer feeder styles (1 Viewer)

In my experience, the wire mesh kind have always gone ignored. The finches seem to prefer either the socks, or the slit tube feeders, which I have 2 of these days. Here's my take on each:

Mesh feeder: As I said, the con is definately that the birds tend to dislike them, probably due to the fact that the metal is probably not so comfortable to shove their beaks into. They do hold up to squirrels, and also to the environment, and are easy to clean. I tried one once, and now it is a dust collector in the shed. Also, the seed spills out easy in the wind, and when shaken around by the birds.

Slit hole tube feeder: I have 2 of these currently, because they hold up well to the elements, are easy to fill, and keep seed dry. My finches love them, seemingly better then any other style. However, there is a con to these, and that is the perches. The perches on them allow house sparrows to have a seat and eat your expensive niger seed. I've heard of ones with perches on the top of the slits, but I've not tried them.

Thistle socks: I've had many of these over the years, and they do work. I'll start with the pros, and those would be that the finches like them, they keep sparrows off, they are cheap in price, and a lot of birds can use them at once. The cons are that they are a pain in the butt to fill, they get torn up easily if squirrels get to them, they don't last too long, they allow seed to get wet and compacted, and they also get tossed around by the wind, spilling your expensive seed all over the place, and once empty, they proceed to blow away in the wind.

And here's a con to all styles..........The cost of the seed that goes in them.
 
I also have both types Joe1080 spoke about. I actually have them next to each other so see which is preferred:

Mesh tube:
Pro, My goldfinches do use this feeder. I also have a few tree sparrows who land on the tray to feed. It’s very easy to fill and stands up while filling. Easy to clean.

Con: The birds do not flock to this feeder as they do my socks. When the wind blows I can actually see the seed blowing from it.

Sock feeder:
Pro, Goldfinches love them and flock to them. I have 2 hanging close together and usually see approx 15-20 eating every morning. If this is a pro to you… I’ve also ever seen another kind of bird use the socks other then the American Goldfinch, which is nice as it saves on the seed costs. I have a seed filler/scoop similar to this one: http://www.duncraft.com/index/page/...ain/1,5/product_name/Bird+Seed+Scoop+&+Funnel so do not have too much trouble filling them.

Con: Everyone asks me what the heck is hanging from the tree (but it’s a good intro for me to talk birds, which really ends up a pro). They do get dirty and eventually get holes. I’ve not had this problem personally, but my mom loses a lot of socks to chipmunks eating into them.

I do not own a slit style as I enjoy the focks of birds coming in

Personally for the money and birds, I think they prefer the sock type.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I just picked up a sock feeder, but will hold off using it until the rains move on. While at my local birding store I checked out the slit style feeders. The Droll Yankees and the Aspects are nice and should keep the seeds relatively dry during the rainy season.
 
The sock feeder will benefit from a canopy, such as the Droll Yankee 16 inch dome.
It keeps the squirrels away and shelters the seeds from rain.
That said, imo the slit hole feeders are the way to go, provided the perches are set above the slits, which is easy for goldfinches, etc, but hard for sparrows.
At a pinch, the standard model with the perch below can just be hung upside down. Just wire down the top cap.
 
In my experience, the wire mesh kind have always gone ignored. The finches seem to prefer either the socks, or the slit tube feeders, which I have 2 of these days. Here's my take on each:

Mesh feeder: As I said, the con is definately that the birds tend to dislike them, probably due to the fact that the metal is probably not so comfortable to shove their beaks into. They do hold up to squirrels, and also to the environment, and are easy to clean. I tried one once, and now it is a dust collector in the shed. Also, the seed spills out easy in the wind, and when shaken around by the birds.

Slit hole tube feeder: I have 2 of these currently, because they hold up well to the elements, are easy to fill, and keep seed dry. My finches love them, seemingly better then any other style. However, there is a con to these, and that is the perches. The perches on them allow house sparrows to have a seat and eat your expensive niger seed. I've heard of ones with perches on the top of the slits, but I've not tried them.

Thistle socks: I've had many of these over the years, and they do work. I'll start with the pros, and those would be that the finches like them, they keep sparrows off, they are cheap in price, and a lot of birds can use them at once. The cons are that they are a pain in the butt to fill, they get torn up easily if squirrels get to them, they don't last too long, they allow seed to get wet and compacted, and they also get tossed around by the wind, spilling your expensive seed all over the place, and once empty, they proceed to blow away in the wind.

And here's a con to all styles..........The cost of the seed that goes in them.


I notice the Nyger seed in fancy packaging is very dear but in my two local pet shops here they have huge tubs of Niger seed and you buy it by weight and no dearer than seeds or peanuts to buy. I wonder is it locally grown seed (no idea) and thus bringing down the price. Lucky for my Redpolls as it is much cheaper than a packaged bag and they love it so good stuff too.
 
I bought a slit style feeder the other day. The finches are now arriving in good numbers. For the most part they are completely ignoring my old mesh style feeder prefering the slit feeder instead. I leave the mesh up for a while to see if they will feed from it. If not I'll recycle it.
 
the ones with the slits work very well. next to none spillage and the goldfinches found mine in two weeks. sadly they haven't been back yet.
 
I bought a slit style feeder the other day. The finches are now arriving in good numbers. For the most part they are completely ignoring my old mesh style feeder prefering the slit feeder instead. I leave the mesh up for a while to see if they will feed from it. If not I'll recycle it.

How many finches can feed at once? I usually stick with the mesh socks as they can accomidate a lot more birds at once.
 
In case you get rain like we do, I bought a small plastic dome from Wild Birds Unlimited and it does an excellent job of keeping the nyjer sock dry.
 
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