Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.

In article ,
Hettie(R) wrote:

Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



Buy this book or at least read the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Throated-...rgent/dp/08117
26886/ref=sr_1_1/104-5007476-8190325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194707176&sr=1-
1

or

http://preview.tinyurl.com/28ne64

Bill

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

William Wagner wrote:

Buy this book or at least read the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Throated-...rgent/dp/08117
26886/ref=sr_1_1/104-5007476-8190325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194707176&sr=1-
1

or

http://preview.tinyurl.com/28ne64

I'll look that up, links didn't work right away, don't want to take the
time to figure that out now but need to learn tinyrul. I will try to
get it through the library or something, as my book budget is committed
to the cheapest copies of Edward Rowe Snow's books, as many as I can
get. The library doesn't have many of his.

So thanks for the tip on that. I will search Amazon when things calm
down, we've been going round and round about my phone problem on another
group, I've just been putting up with it, more pressing matters, but the
phone guy showed up today and had a heck of a time finding the problem,
but I think we have that solved, need to report back and try to remember
what all happened with that.


Bill

William Wagner wrote:

Buy this book or at least read the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Throated-...rgent/dp/08117
26886/ref=sr_1_1/104-5007476-8190325?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194707176&sr=1-
1

or

http://preview.tinyurl.com/28ne64

Bill

I ordered the hum book through Alibris for $14.37 but may have gotten a
break on shipping through amazon. They didn't have many of the Snow
books I wanted, so I ordered them all through Alibris. Because they are
all coming from a different vendor for each one, the shipping will be
$39.90. Ouch.

The library can get some things on inter-library loan, but that is a lot
of hassle, all that running, make sure you get it back on time to avoid
fines for all the books I ordered and winter coming.

The hummingbird book will be fun. The ones we saw one had an
irridescent green on the neck, probably the male, IIRC.

Thank you for the suggestion. There was another hummingbird book by the
same title by a woman. I got the Sargent, Ruby-Throated one.

Hettie® wrote:


Sheldon wrote:
William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .


I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm


I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.

Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that matches
in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even the
"flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty garden
things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it. Sometimes
you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers or
might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house so I
can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with two
anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and
took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy
with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over the
yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think I'll do
that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself on
the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge vine
in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals anyway,
but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It produced three
beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it kept the grass
underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not how it was at all.
I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it fell off and
decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever I cook those
and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile for
the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag of
nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut, but
they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even cracked open
the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be hard on their
teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after so
many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground where
I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell free mix
which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the other. I was
told not to plant this or that there, scattered some wildflower seeds as
a test, they came up but were filled with crabgrass and were a mess.
Then my son sprayed them (thought they were weeds, not because of the
crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying to grow wildflowers there,
kind of spindly) so I don't know if they would have done anything or
not. How long does it take for the ground to cleanse itself from
sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over the front steps which
accumulated over the years and swept them off from time to time onto, of
course, the ground around them. I planted sweet peas, and they did ok,
but I didn't have anything for them to climb high enough and it's super
dry there, needs to be watered constantly. So now I have large clay
pots with flowers in them (a neighbor had to move in a hurry and left
them behind full of whatever had been in them the previous year, said I
could take them), and I emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to
water them a lot, too, as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



You'll find answers to a lot of your questions in rec.birds and
specifically to your questions about hummingbirds at
http://www.hummingbirds.net/, created and maintained by Lanny Chambers,
who is a frequent contributor to rec.birds. There's lots of information
about choosing and maintaining hummingbird feeders (plus a migration
chart every Spring).

I've tried blown glass hummingbird feeders a few times but have found
them to be useless; as soon as they warm up the liquid expands and they
start to leak, since the feeder tips face downward. I've ended up
embedding them in the ground, "business end" down, and pretending
they're decorative glass globes. I imagine you'll want to try yours
anyway; above all don't put it where the sun will shine on it, as that
will make the expansion and leakage much worse.

You might find black oil sunflower seeds are easier for the birds to
handle than the striped. I'm not sure how poisonous they would be to
plants underneath.

The thistle seeds used for birds are heat treated so they won't germinate.

HTH

helco

helco wrote:
Hettie® wrote:



Sheldon wrote:

William Wagner wrote:

If you have one humming bird feed you have one hummingbird. If you
have two humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird. If you have
three humming bird feeders you have one hummingbird if they are in
sight
of each other. So place your feeds about your house not in sight of
each other that way one little beast can't protect it and you may have
many hummers .



I keep reading such presented as fact but in my experience I've not
found that to be true. I put out two feeders about two feet apart,
each with four stations, and have counted as many as six hummers all
feeding at once, and with others perched on a wire fence mere inches
away or hovering within a few feet.


http://www.hummzinger.biz/humzinger.htm



I won't buy feeders with a plastic food container, plastic becomes
etched and breeds bacteria. I use only glass, scrubbed once a week
with salt and soaked over night in a 4 to 1 water and white vinegar
solution... never use soap. It's really not necessary to feed
hummers, they do fine foraging as they've done for millions of
years. We feed hummers strictly for our own amusement, so it
behooves us to feed them responsibly.


Thank you all for the advice. I wanted a really pretty one because I
was hoping to photograph some, and I didn't like those ugly plastic
ones. I bought an expensive blown glass one, and will try to keep it
sanitary as you suggested. I really ought to have a spare that
matches in case all or part of it breaks, but I don't dare :-). Even
the "flower" inserts are glass. Plus like a bunch of other pretty
garden things I have, there is the worry that someone will steal it.
Sometimes you just have to take the risk.

I was planning on hanging it on a shepherd's hook amidst the flowers
or might suspend it from a tree branch on the east side of the house
so I can watch for them out the window. So I'll probably end up with
two anyway, but one will have to suffice for now.

I've been wanting one for a few years now but wasn't sure I could
attract any until we spotted that pair that evening.

I won't say which one I chose (went with my newly painted house well);
they are all pretty expensive.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/blo...rd_feeders.asp

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower)
and took many photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch
butterfly. I tried not to let too many seed pods explode, but was
busy with other things. The next year quite a few thistles all over
the yard. I got them all dug out and under control, so don't think
I'll do that again.

One year I put out pumpkin seeds for the birds, and one seeded itself
on the side of the stoop where I feed them, took and grew to be a huge
vine in my front yard which I let it be just for that year, annuals
anyway, but I wondered what a watermelon there might do :-). It
produced three beautiful pumpkins, we just mowed around it, and it
kept the grass underneath from coming through IIRC. No, that's not
how it was at all. I had a pumpkin for my kids on Halloween, and it
fell off and decomposed or something. I put squash seeds out whenever
I cook those and never gotten any squash plants there.

If the feeder gets residue, I will give it the vinegar treatment.
Otherwise, why can't I just soak it in bleach and rinse it out very well?

Is refined sugar good for hummers? I was inclined to buy the nectar.

Oh one of my long ones again, but while we're on the subject, I was a
gourmet feeder for my birds. One pile for the carnivores, one pile
for the other birds, roasted unsalted peanuts for the squirrels, a bag
of nuts for the winter (oh how they loved to get an English walnut,
but they aren't too picky, I did have to ration those). I even
cracked open the Brazil nuts because I thought the shells would be
hard on their teeth, but black walnuts all around here must be just as
bad.

Anyway, I bought bags and bags of extra large striped sunflower seeds
because the kernel is bigger, and the squirrels love them. Now after
so many years of that, I have read that the shells poison the ground
where I'd like to plant something nice now. So I switched to shell
free mix which is more expensive and wish I could go back to the
other. I was told not to plant this or that there, scattered some
wildflower seeds as a test, they came up but were filled with
crabgrass and were a mess. Then my son sprayed them (thought they were
weeds, not because of the crabgrass, forgot to tell him I was trying
to grow wildflowers there, kind of spindly) so I don't know if they
would have done anything or not. How long does it take for the ground
to cleanse itself from sunflower seed toxins? I had shells all over
the front steps which accumulated over the years and swept them off
from time to time onto, of course, the ground around them. I planted
sweet peas, and they did ok, but I didn't have anything for them to
climb high enough and it's super dry there, needs to be watered
constantly. So now I have large clay pots with flowers in them (a
neighbor had to move in a hurry and left them behind full of whatever
had been in them the previous year, said I could take them), and I
emptied them out and scrubbed them. I had to water them a lot, too,
as it turned out, but they looked nicer to me.



You'll find answers to a lot of your questions in rec.birds and
specifically to your questions about hummingbirds at
http://www.hummingbirds.net/, created and maintained by Lanny Chambers,
who is a frequent contributor to rec.birds. There's lots of information
about choosing and maintaining hummingbird feeders (plus a migration
chart every Spring).

ok, thank you.


I've tried blown glass hummingbird feeders a few times but have found
them to be useless; as soon as they warm up the liquid expands and they
start to leak, since the feeder tips face downward. I've ended up
embedding them in the ground, "business end" down, and pretending
they're decorative glass globes. I imagine you'll want to try yours
anyway; above all don't put it where the sun will shine on it, as that
will make the expansion and leakage much worse.

This feeder doesn't tip face downward, it's model BIR-12230 at the link
I posted. Maybe best not to fill it to capacity and keep it in part sun
anyway, I haven't decided where to put it yet, will have to be where
there won't be something ugly or distracting in my photos, assuming I
get any.


You might find black oil sunflower seeds are easier for the birds to
handle than the striped. I'm not sure how poisonous they would be to
plants underneath.

Yes, for the birds, and I don't know if they are as toxic as the
striped. At least they are smaller which means less volume of toxicity.
I think the jury is out as to just exactly what does what to what.
Crazy morning, phone company guy, timer going off for my cereal.


The thistle seeds used for birds are heat treated so they won't germinate.

Well, that is good to know. Now to find a pretty and functional one.
But not now as I've spent pretty much my limit for this season.

Thank you.


HTH

helco

In article ,
helco wrote:


You might find black oil sunflower seeds are easier for the birds to
handle than the striped. I'm not sure how poisonous they would be to
plants underneath.

The thistle seeds used for birds are heat treated so they won't germinate.

HTH

helco

I like the thistle feeder that force the finches to hang upside down.
Finches are the only guys that can do it so it saves money. I also
place electrical shrink wrap on metal supports before it gets real cold.
So no ones feet gets stuck.

Bill

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

Hettie® expounded:

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too,

Grow and let go to seed sunflowers and echinacea, and you'll have all
the goldfinches you want. As for the hummers, I do feed them, only to
get them close to the porch so I can see them up close. They'd be in
the garden anyways, I have all manner of flowers for them to enjoy,
salvias, agastaches, heucheras (they love the old-fashioned coral
bells), the list goes on. What attracts them also attracts
butterflies. Flying flowers )
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Ann wrote:
Hettie® expounded:


I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too,


Grow and let go to seed sunflowers and echinacea, and you'll have all
the goldfinches you want. As for the hummers, I do feed them, only to
get them close to the porch so I can see them up close. They'd be in
the garden anyways, I have all manner of flowers for them to enjoy,
salvias, agastaches, heucheras (they love the old-fashioned coral
bells), the list goes on. What attracts them also attracts
butterflies. Flying flowers )

I have one echinacea, a freebie with a plant order, pretty yellow one,
just planted it so don't know if it will be back in spring. I will try
some overplanting some bulbs in that "bad" spot (mix in some compost
well maybe a little peat despite the sunflower shells making the soil
lighter). But I wanted a few roses there. Decisions decisions. I hope
it is sunny enough. Until I open up the boulevard in front, and my rose
strip in back, I can't plant many more full sun plants.

I can't find any heucheras like I remember as a child or what was here
when we bought the place that my ex recklessly tore out. IIRC, I know
they had pretty pink bells, and I think the leaves had a darker green
tracing around the center of the leaf. A perennial agastache I wanted
isn't hardy in my zone, will look for one that may be.

I'm up to my eyeballs in seeds I have to plant for spring, but want to
make one more order because I see T&M has liatris in their new catalog,
will see if they have any you suggested about the others. I thought I
wanted that double decker echinacea, but the traditional one might be
nicer once the novelty wore off, don't know yet.

I've got way more going than will work in my small yard, my latest is
rooting rose cuttings and few places left to put them, don't want it to
look junky. My tomatoes will now have to go in 5-gal containers because
six rose bushes are going in where I grew some tomatoes from seed this
year.

Thank you.

Ann wrote:

[....]
butterflies. Flying flowers )

I like that expression. "Flying flowers"

the blue ones are my favorite.

"Hettie®" wrote in message
...
I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next but
I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer thistle
grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower) and took many
photos of it for practice mostly, one with a Monarch butterfly. I tried
not to let too many seed pods explode, but was busy with other things.
The next year quite a few thistles all over the yard. I got them all dug
out and under control, so don't think I'll do that again.

The "thistle seed" that is sold for bird feed isn't really a thistle. It's
Nyjer (sometimes Nyger) seed and it's in the sunflower family. If a seed
should happen to sprout it will look like a yellow daisy type flower and
have a very short, non reproductive life span. The Nyjer sold for feeders is
imported from Ethiopia and SE Asia, they've yet to get the stuff to
successfully grow as a harvestable crop anywhere in the US or Canada so
having it sprout up and take over most likely won't be a problem you need to
worry about. Also the imported seed is now heat sterilized so it won't
sprout (that regulation was around 1998) just to make sure non native plants
that may be invasive wouldn't be introduced.

If you want more info about "it's not a thistle seed" you can read it here.
http://www.ebirdseed.com/nyjer_niger..._birdseed.html

Val

In article ,
Janet Baraclough wrote:

The message
from Hettie® contains these words:

I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower)

The nyger seed sold for goldfinches, is a tropical thistle from
Africa. It's not the same plant as the Scottish thistle, at least, it
won't germinate here in Scotland :-)

For some weird reason, birds are very fussy about where they eat
nyger seed from. For a long time I tried in vain to tempt goldfinches
with niger seed, which I put in conventional seed holders, or on the
bird table. Every bird in the garden refused to touch it and many other
gardeners I know, had the same experience.

Then at a friends house, I was astonished to see a dozen or more
goldficnches flocking to a special nyger-seed holder which is a plastic
tube with very narrow holes at each feeding-station. I bought one at
Petsmart, and now we have flocks of goldfinches. They still won't touch
nyger seed served any other way.

Janet.

Few things I forgot to mention about Finch feeders. The type that
force them to eat upside down are really comical! Wrap some bright
yellow ribbons or tape about your feeder. Yellow to a Finch is similar
to Hummers going to red. Seems when it is mating time the male Finch
turns bright yellow.

Bill

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

William Wagner wrote:
In article ,
Janet Baraclough wrote:


The message
from Hettie® contains these words:


I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower)

The nyger seed sold for goldfinches, is a tropical thistle from
Africa. It's not the same plant as the Scottish thistle, at least, it
won't germinate here in Scotland :-)

For some weird reason, birds are very fussy about where they eat
nyger seed from. For a long time I tried in vain to tempt goldfinches
with niger seed, which I put in conventional seed holders, or on the
bird table. Every bird in the garden refused to touch it and many other
gardeners I know, had the same experience.

Then at a friends house, I was astonished to see a dozen or more
goldficnches flocking to a special nyger-seed holder which is a plastic
tube with very narrow holes at each feeding-station. I bought one at
Petsmart, and now we have flocks of goldfinches. They still won't touch
nyger seed served any other way.

Janet.


Few things I forgot to mention about Finch feeders. The type that
force them to eat upside down are really comical! Wrap some bright
yellow ribbons or tape about your feeder. Yellow to a Finch is similar
to Hummers going to red. Seems when it is mating time the male Finch
turns bright yellow.

Bill

Thank you for all the wonderful info and helpful tips. I have
patronized this site often lately, and there are a lot of tube feeders
at the link. Which would would be ideal? Which ones (if any) could
they hang unside down on? My only condition is I don't want one too
long. Can't use it until next year anyway, I'll have to read up on
finches, too, but don't want to buy any more books right now!

Please copy and past the item# if you respond so I know for sure which one.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/tub...rs_thistle.asp

I already ordered the birch feeder (it fits my yard scheme the best,
have a clump of birches in front), VC-LOG-2T, & one gift because they
only had 3 in stock. I get free shipping that way. I can get another
finch feeder if you think the birch log won't work, and Christmas is
coming anyway.

In article ,
Hettie® wrote:

William Wagner wrote:
In article ,
Janet Baraclough wrote:


The message
from Hettie® contains these words:


I've always wanted to try to attract goldfinches, too, so that is next
but I was worried about thistle seed spilling out. I let a volunteer
thistle grow one year so I could watch it (Sottish national flower)

The nyger seed sold for goldfinches, is a tropical thistle from
Africa. It's not the same plant as the Scottish thistle, at least, it
won't germinate here in Scotland :-)

For some weird reason, birds are very fussy about where they eat
nyger seed from. For a long time I tried in vain to tempt goldfinches
with niger seed, which I put in conventional seed holders, or on the
bird table. Every bird in the garden refused to touch it and many other
gardeners I know, had the same experience.

Then at a friends house, I was astonished to see a dozen or more
goldficnches flocking to a special nyger-seed holder which is a plastic
tube with very narrow holes at each feeding-station. I bought one at
Petsmart, and now we have flocks of goldfinches. They still won't touch
nyger seed served any other way.

Janet.


Few things I forgot to mention about Finch feeders. The type that
force them to eat upside down are really comical! Wrap some bright
yellow ribbons or tape about your feeder. Yellow to a Finch is similar
to Hummers going to red. Seems when it is mating time the male Finch
turns bright yellow.

Bill

Thank you for all the wonderful info and helpful tips. I have
patronized this site often lately, and there are a lot of tube feeders
at the link. Which would would be ideal? Which ones (if any) could
they hang unside down on? My only condition is I don't want one too
long. Can't use it until next year anyway, I'll have to read up on
finches, too, but don't want to buy any more books right now!

Please copy and past the item# if you respond so I know for sure which one.

http://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/tub...rs_thistle.asp

I already ordered the birch feeder (it fits my yard scheme the best,
have a clump of birches in front), VC-LOG-2T, & one gift because they
only had 3 in stock. I get free shipping that way. I can get another
finch feeder if you think the birch log won't work, and Christmas is
coming anyway.




http://www.google.com/search?client=...de+down+finch+
feeder&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

I purchased one from here.

http://www.birdsforever.com/thistle.html


Have lots of fun !

Bill who purchased all sorts of feeders which proved to be useless.

--

S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade
http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid

William Wagner wrote:

http://www.google.com/search?client=...de+down+finch+
feeder&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

I purchased one from here.

http://www.birdsforever.com/thistle.html

Which one did you purchase since you have tried so many already?
Several would do, kind of lean toward this one, and it is cheap, #PP399,
don't care for the yellow plastic capper all that much but it may help
attract them.

Don't care for the folksy painted one, or the spiral ones except the
green capper would blend in better than yellow, (money an issue but will
spend what it takes), other spiral model too long, Magnums? might be ok
but prefer ones with traditional perches, Droll Yankee mini too small,
the bigger one better, but wish it were more natural material, looks
like aluminum. Would their feet freeze, don't know when they migrate,
surely whatever were here are gone by now?

I'm too picky and even if I didn't have a camera would certainly enjoy
watching them. But it is a factor to find a "photogenic" one and heaven
knows the difficulty in setting up decent shots without spooking them,
best way is my tripod and my remote, plus I need to put it someplace
were there wouldn't be something ugly and distracting in the bg which is
not easy around here but doable. BTW, some photographer did wonders
with that ITEM #TH-3, it's loaded and a good shot. I'm just am amateur
but work hard at it.

I don't have to buy it at bestnest; they just happened to have several
things I liked & needed at good prices, a few of the purchases were
extravagant.

Thanks for the link!



Have lots of fun !

Bill who purchased all sorts of feeders which proved to be useless.