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Wild Bird seed what do you use?
I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than
dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 11, 2:15*pm, Steve wrote:
I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx My local farmer sells me very cheaply sun flower seeds and other grain that he grows, do you have a farm near you or if you see sunflower growing in a field, maybe you could stop at the farm? Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Steve" wrote in message
... I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx Most good Garden Centres have quite a range. I just buy from there. Not sure about bulk though -- Mike The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association www.rneba.org.uk Luxury Self Catering on the Isle of Wight? www.shanklinmanormews.co.uk |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:15:52 +0100, Steve wrote:
I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx We buy 20kg bags from our local Acorn pet sto- http://www.acornpetcentres.co.uk/?vi...4+7132+1007+58 -- Geo |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote:
On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:45:55 +0200, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:34:58 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France wrote: On Aug 11, 2:15*pm, Steve wrote: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx My local farmer sells me very cheaply sun flower seeds and other grain that he grows, do you have a farm near you or if you see sunflower growing in a field, maybe you could stop at the farm? One seed produces a whole sunflower Great when we discovered that and are now waiting for the results of random plantings :0 Bought some blackbird/songbird mix that seems to have bits of fruit and cornflake but I dont really think our blackies like it though the wasps do. also bought dehulled sunflower seed mix and again I think they prefer the seed complete as I have seen very few finches since, but that may just be time of year. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:49:05 +0200, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:45:34 +0100, Steve wrote: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:45:55 +0200, Martin wrote: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:34:58 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France wrote: On Aug 11, 2:15*pm, Steve wrote: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx My local farmer sells me very cheaply sun flower seeds and other grain that he grows, do you have a farm near you or if you see sunflower growing in a field, maybe you could stop at the farm? One seed produces a whole sunflower Great when we discovered that and are now waiting for the results of random plantings :0 Bought some blackbird/songbird mix that seems to have bits of fruit and cornflake but I dont really think our blackies like it though the wasps do. also bought dehulled sunflower seed mix and again I think they prefer the seed complete as I have seen very few finches since, but that may just be time of year. The tits throw anything they don't want over their shoulders. There is more stuff growing below the feeder than anything eats. Interestingly most of what grows is not grain, but broad leaved plants that look like radishes. My doves, pigeons and rats sort out the leftovers :). Rats have been gone for 2 months now and blackbirds, though resident, do seem to take the odd holiday themselves. wasps would enter the seed feeders from the bottom and burrow their way right through to the top and then find out they were trapped! So I would release them daily and they would show their thanks by chasing me indoors. I think this was because I had tried the songbird mix in some of the feeders, but not any more. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Steve" wrote in message ... I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx The most successful mix I've found I make myself from canary seed & sunflower hearts, mixed 2/3rds c.s, 1/3rd s.h. Tina |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On 11 Aug, 17:04, "Christina Websell"
wrote: "Steve" wrote in message ... I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx The most successful mix I've found I make myself from canary seed & sunflower hearts, mixed 2/3rds c.s, 1/3rd s.h. Tina Yes, I make up my own mixes but I vary the composition depending on the time of year. I am surprised that people mention their birds ignore porridge oats because mine love it. I buy black sunflower, sunflower hearts, peanuts and wheat in bulk (I get mine from Vine House) and just mix them together in varying quantities depending on the birds that I am aiming to attract. I tend to put the more expensive sunflower hearts onto small tables with feeders hanging above. This is enough to put off pigeons, doves and other large birds which would consume the lot in 5 minutes if they got the chance (although one day I did witness a herring gull making a brave attempt to hang on to it). The feeders have plain sunflower hearts, black sunflower and peanuts which keeps the tits happy. I just mix black sunflower and wheat for the wood pigeons and collared doves, and place that in larger quantity well away from the other birds. I mix crushed up breakfast cereal, mainly 'value' brand weetabix, porridge oats, muesli and either mixed fruit or sultanas and that goes on a separate small table for birds that like it, mainly blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and robins. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Steve" wrote in message ... I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx http://www.haiths.com/lkid/325/produ...%A2-wbadvance/ or http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_de...0&prd_id=23 6 Haiths is usually a bit cheaper at 50kg although Birdfood have been known to do special deals (e.g. I got a new 6-port feeder with 50kg which cost me GBP2 more than 50kg and no feeder from Haiths). The no-mess is not really true but as someone else has noted the ground feeders and rats clean up. Living in the Somerset countryside we get a wide range of sparrow sized LBJs (Little Brown Jobs), Tits, Finches (the Goldfinches seem quite happy with the Haiths but they will take Niger as well (not in preference)). We sometimes get Starlings which will eat anything. The occasional Woodpecker on the peanuts. There are Wrens around but I've never seen them on the feeders. One Robin this year has been experimenting! |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:51:50 +0100, "Graham Harrison"
wrote: "Steve" wrote in message .. . I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx http://www.haiths.com/lkid/325/produ...%A2-wbadvance/ or http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_de...0&prd_id=23 6 Haiths is usually a bit cheaper at 50kg although Birdfood have been known to do special deals (e.g. I got a new 6-port feeder with 50kg which cost me GBP2 more than 50kg and no feeder from Haiths). Ouch at those prices I couldnt afford to feed myself. I'm looking at £15/£20kg delivered can there possibly be that much difference to warrant the much higher prices, give n our little darlings are not so fussy as ourselves? The no-mess is not really true but as someone else has noted the ground feeders and rats clean up. Living in the Somerset countryside we get a wide range of sparrow sized LBJs (Little Brown Jobs), Tits, Finches (the Goldfinches seem quite happy with the Haiths but they will take Niger as well (not in preference)). We sometimes get Starlings which will eat anything. The occasional Woodpecker on the peanuts. There are Wrens around but I've never seen them on the feeders. One Robin this year has been experimenting! I've just realised our gree and yellow finches have gone as well :( |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:34:30 +0100, Sacha wrote:
I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Ouch. Costco £5.79 (zero VAT) 12.5kg of "Natures Feast - Feeder Supreme". Though looking at the ingredients the first one is wheat but does have around 9 others. -- Cheers Dave. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
In message , Janet Baraclough
writes The message from Steve contains these words: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx I buy all ours by the 20/25kg sackful . My local agricultural stock-feed suppliers offer a wide range, high quality at a fraction of prices in petshops or gardencentres. They have a fast enough turnover of stock that it doesn't go stale; and deliver free. Try yellow pages for ag.suppliers local to you. Janet (Isle of Arran, Scotland) Same here - living in S Devon we buy 25kg sacks of peanuts, mixed seed and sunflower seeds from Mole Valley Farmers. -- Robert |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 14:45:22 +0100, Martin said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. and then you have to decide which type of bird you want to feed. Feed the birds, 2p a bag" Mary Poppins Or there's the Bill Oddie range. ;-)) Most of the ones I glanced at had a range that did for different birds with other 'bolt on goodies' you can buy to add to the mix. I wouldn't bother with dried mealworms again, though. The birds here wouldn't touch them - the live ones OTOH caused a near-riot in the avian population! I wouldn't knowingly buy anything advertised by the little rotund up-his-own-backside grouch. Mealworms.. dried or live... do NOT get between a hen and her mealworms. If you do, you will swiftly find she reverts to her velociraptor ancestry and she will HAVE YOU. http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...05300508-1.jpg Just be grateful she is not six-feet tall.. ;-) In the grounds of Chez Wafflycat the robins particularly love dried mealworms and when I chuck a few in the hen run for The Laydeez to scratch about for (it keeps them occupied for ages) there's a robin that hops down beside me and *demands* a share. It gets a share too :) |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Steve" wrote ... I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx We have tried quite a lot and found Mayfields Premium Seed to be the best at attracting a variety of the smaller birds. Most other seed seems to contain enormous amounts of corn which is a good way to attract pigeons. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:56:40 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote: Mayfields Premium Seed That looks like a good one. Might try that. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Steve" wrote ... "Bob Hobden" wrote: Mayfields Premium Seed That looks like a good one. Might try that. Make sure you get the Premium one not the Standard one. Our usual supplier has stopped getting this in and won't even take an order for it and we have yet to find another retailer locally. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
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i tried that and very popular in my garden
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Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On 11 Aug, 21:40, Sacha wrote:
On 2009-08-11 19:34:03 +0100, "Dave Liquorice" said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:34:30 +0100, Sacha wrote: I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Ouch. Costco £5.79 (zero VAT) 12.5kg of "Natures Feast - Feeder Supreme". Though looking at the ingredients the first one is wheat but does have around 9 others. I think it's a question of what it contains, isn't it? *The OP did say the best for a good price, or WTTE. *Our local seed merchant/farmer's shop isn't much difference in price but they sometimes run out of the largest sacks. -- Sachawww.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon The best I have found is at "The Range" a very good mix from Sunflower to millet/ I crumb a loaf of Tesco value brown bread, I slice dripping and and place this on the breadcrumbs, top with around 1 to 1 1/2 mugs of Tesco value Porrige oats, Heat in the microwave for 6 mins or so, mix well and then 2 mugs of Bird seed, mix well and pack it into a couple of 2 litre pop bottles cut off at the shoulder, ram down with the end of a rolling pin and leave to set. This is then put into wire netting holders the size of the bottles and hung inside 2 wire baskets hung on end so 2 chains hold the baskets together and the 3rd is used to hang the food from. http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...4u2/Feeder.jpg we go through 6 to 8 of these "Blocks" a week feeding our hords, we think about 200 come to feed, from sparrows to wood pecker. David Hill |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 12, 12:52*pm, "Spider" wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. *Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. *An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:58:16 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France
wrote: As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. Judith I've heard that you're good at identifying cocks though. |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Judith in France" wrote in message ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) Blush! Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. (Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! ... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 12, 1:23*pm, "Spider" wrote:
"Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) *Blush! * Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. *I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. *I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. *I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. *(Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! *Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! *... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. *It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith Yes, they all have beaks and two legs, how on earth am I supposed to know!!! No more books please, I have a tome that I bought to help identify mushrooms, unfortunately the colours in the book don't always match the mushroom. Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Judith in France" wrote in message ... On Aug 12, 1:23 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: (Snip) Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) Blush! Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. (Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! ... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith Yes, they all have beaks and two legs, how on earth am I supposed to know!!! No more books please, I have a tome that I bought to help identify mushrooms, unfortunately the colours in the book don't always match the mushroom. Judith Quite. I have that problem with mushroom ident books, but I have one or two decent bird books which I find quite helpful. Even so, I occasionally get muddled. Well, I'm off to do some gardening now. All the best, Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 12, 1:58*pm, "Spider" wrote:
"Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 1:23 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: (Snip) Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) Blush! Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. (Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! ... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith Yes, they all have beaks and two legs, how on earth am I supposed to know!!! *No more books please, I have a tome that I bought to help identify mushrooms, unfortunately the colours in the book don't always match the mushroom. Judith Quite. *I have that problem with mushroom ident books, but I have one or two decent bird books which I find quite helpful. *Even so, I occasionally get muddled. Well, I'm off to do some gardening now. All the best, Spider Too hot here to go into the garden although I do needs potatoes for tonight's supper, how is it my husband always disappears when I need him? :-) Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 12, 1:54*pm, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:46:03 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France wrote: On Aug 12, 1:23*pm, "Spider" wrote: "Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time.. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) *Blush! * Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. *I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. *I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. *I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. *(Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! *Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! *.... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. *It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith Yes, they all have beaks and two legs, how on earth am I supposed to know!!! * The ones that lay giant eggs and can run faster than you are more probably ostriches than dodos. The Norwegian Blues are extinct.. No more books please, I have a tome that I bought to help identify mushrooms, unfortunately the colours in the book don't always match the mushroom. Better than the expert in Country File who put the poisonous ones in the basket with the good ones and, if we naively believe what was shown, took them to a local hotel to have them cooked. -- Martin I didn't see that! All the pharmacies here do a good job on identifying them, I can easily identify 2 but not the others. Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
On Aug 12, 2:14*pm, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:11:37 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France wrote: Too hot here to go into the garden although I do needs potatoes for tonight's supper, how is it my husband always disappears when I need him? *:-) You cast a spell on him? -- Martin Hopefully :-) Judith |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message ... The message from Steve contains these words: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx I buy all ours by the 20/25kg sackful . My local agricultural stock-feed suppliers offer a wide range, high quality at a fraction of prices in petshops or gardencentres. They have a fast enough turnover of stock that it doesn't go stale; and deliver free. Try yellow pages for ag.suppliers local to you. The problem I found was if I bought 20 kg of "wild bird food" it would have a lot of wheat in. Ideal if I wanted pigeons. I stand by my canary seed/sunflower heart mix. Tina |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Judith in France" wrote in message ... On Aug 12, 1:58 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 1:23 pm, "Spider" wrote: "Judith in France" wrote in ... On Aug 12, 12:52 pm, "Spider" wrote: (Snip) Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider Spider, oh exalted knowledge of all stuff, yes, I am being sincere, I have learned a lot of stuff from your postings, :~) Blush! Ooooh, I've gone all over unnecessary! tell me, a bird, pecking a hole in a bird box to get to the chicks inside, would that be a woodpecker? Yes, it's certainly possible. I've seen the Greater Spotted Woodpecker at a nest box in my garden. I asked the Warden of the local wood about it and he wasn't in the least surprised. I didn't know whether to be glad I'd seen 'Woody', or to feel sorry for the chicks. (Typical wild life non-intervention dilema). As you can tell, I don't know one bird from another, I even got a gull and a pigeon mixed up the other day. :~)! Well, the silly things will all have beaks, won't they?! ... and they all look the same after a glass of red wine. It's time you dropped a hint about a good bird book for Christmas. Spider Judith Yes, they all have beaks and two legs, how on earth am I supposed to know!!! No more books please, I have a tome that I bought to help identify mushrooms, unfortunately the colours in the book don't always match the mushroom. Judith Quite. I have that problem with mushroom ident books, but I have one or two decent bird books which I find quite helpful. Even so, I occasionally get muddled. Well, I'm off to do some gardening now. All the best, Spider Too hot here to go into the garden although I do needs potatoes for tonight's supper, how is it my husband always disappears when I need him? :-) Judith It's a man thing; they can't help it. Well, I didn't get a lot done in the garden. A friend came by and asked if I'd like to go to Homebase. I don't get out much (as the saying goes), so off we went. Some time later I returned with 1 Miltonia orchid, Agapanthus 'Blue Storm' and a tub of fat balls ..! I returned to the garden about 4ish o/c and shored up some earth in front of my current project, then did some weeding. I would have done a lot more weeding, but my dear Cheetah came to tell me (silently, by looming thinly) that she was hungry. By the time moggy munch was served, it was raining and the Husband Thingy was hungry. I would have gone out after dinner, but I can't weed in a straight line after half a bottle of white wine :~) Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-12 12:52:48 +0100, "Spider" said: "Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-11 15:42:09 +0100, Steve said: On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:38 +0100, Sacha wrote: On 2009-08-11 14:15:52 +0100, Steve said: I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. Yes I do appreciate this. My thoughts were on recommendations from those who buy a seed brand and it is all scoffed up. Normal wild bird mix is fine for us here, but some contain a lot more of the cheap wheat etc than others. Be nice to find a succesful good quality brand at a good price. We just seem to have blackbird/chaffinch/hedge sparrow/dove/pigeon/woodpecker with occasional tit visitors so a normal mix is fine as we cant really affored to specialise. thnx to all. I bought some from Seapets (yes, they do birdfood) and it's gone down a treat. It's about £13.50 for 12.5kg IIRC. Your selection of birds sounds very like ours but I think wood peckers tend to go more for peanut feeders. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon Woodpeckers *love* fat balls, esp. the huge ones. An incidental bonus is that the ground feeders get the crumbs after the W'pecker has hammered them to pieces. Spider I've never seen them do that here but we have occasionally seen them on old tree trunks in the field over the lane. Our old neighbour had them coming to the peanut feeder regularly but never here. -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon It's lovely to see. I've seen them on my peanut feeders as well, but not often. I know my neighbours have seen a green woodpecker in their garden, and I would really like to see that. I once saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker feeding her young in an old dead tree in our local wood. Magical ... unlike the pictures we tried to take :~{. Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-12 22:23:10 +0100, "Spider" said: snip I would have gone out after dinner, but I can't weed in a straight line after half a bottle of white wine :~) Spider LOL!! You could set up a whole new trend for 'after dinner design'. ;-)) -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon :~) Well, they do 'wave' planting. We could do 'wobble' planting. Mmmm ... it might catch on. Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
In message , Steve
writes I find mine seem to prefer the sunflower seed whole rather than dehulled, they seem to enjoy removing the shell. That said it's pretty quiet of late anyhow. How do you find your seed mixes? I'm also looking for decent bulk supplies say 20/25kg at a time. Any recommendations? thnx I only buy hulled sunflower seed, the birds won't touch the black seed. I buy it at a local back street source so it won't help you much unless you're in East Manchester, sorry, and I pay £33 for a 25Kg sack. It is good quality. All the other mixes produce a weed garden underneath the feeder, IME. -- Gordon H Remove "invalid" to reply |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
In article , Sacha
writes If you Google entering "wild bird seed bulk" you'll get a tremendous range of choice. I have loads of birds visiting with CJ wild bird food no-mess mixes but gardsman and Bill Oddie ones don't get eaten anywhere as near as much. -- Janet Tweedy Dalmatian Telegraph http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Spider" wrote in message ... I returned to the garden about 4ish o/c and shored up some earth in front of my current project, then did some weeding. I would have done a lot more weeding, but my dear Cheetah came to tell me (silently, by looming thinly) that she was hungry. By the time moggy munch was served, it was raining and the Husband Thingy was hungry. I would have gone out after dinner, but I can't weed in a straight line after half a bottle of white wine :~) g |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-12 22:34:28 +0100, "Spider" said: "Sacha" wrote in message ... On 2009-08-12 22:23:10 +0100, "Spider" said: snip I would have gone out after dinner, but I can't weed in a straight line after half a bottle of white wine :~) Spider LOL!! You could set up a whole new trend for 'after dinner design'. ;-)) -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon :~) Well, they do 'wave' planting. We could do 'wobble' planting. Mmmm .. it might catch on. Spider Even while I like them, I always thinks those 'wave' hedges look as if someone got at them by accident and turned it into a deliberate mistake. ;-) -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon I know what you mean, but I like them too. :~) Spider |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote On 2009-08-12 22:30:31 +0100, "Spider" said: snip I once saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker feeding her young in an old dead tree in our local wood. Magical ... unlike the pictures we tried to take :~{. It's the Greater Spotted that we've seen on the tree here but someone saw a green near here last week, though we haven't seen it yet. Hope we do. *is quietly smug about having both kinds visiting the garden* I do have to admit we don't see the Greater Spotted ones quite so often though. The green ones regularly visit, sometimes to drink at the birdbath and quite often poking around in the lawn, presumably after the ants. And more power to them - we always seem to have ant nests all over the place. -- Sue |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
"Sacha" wrote Luck you to see them so often. :) yes, I do feel privileged to have them around. It's very, very intermittent here and always causes a lot of excitement when we hear that hammering noise. I've always thought it a bit strange that someone living across the churchyard from us often had woodpeckers on the peanut feeder in her garden and we never saw them do that here, although we have several such feeders. Yes, odd that, unless perhaps your garden is a busier place? They do seem to be very shy birds and more easily spooked than our other garden birds. If we see one of either sort it will fly off immediately it spots the slightest human movement. -- Sue |
Wild Bird seed what do you use?
In message , Sue
writes "Sacha" wrote On 2009-08-12 22:30:31 +0100, "Spider" said: snip I once saw a Greater Spotted Woodpecker feeding her young in an old dead tree in our local wood. Magical ... unlike the pictures we tried to take :~{. It's the Greater Spotted that we've seen on the tree here but someone saw a green near here last week, though we haven't seen it yet. Hope we do. *is quietly smug about having both kinds visiting the garden* I do have to admit we don't see the Greater Spotted ones quite so often though. The green ones regularly visit, sometimes to drink at the birdbath and quite often poking around in the lawn, presumably after the ants. And more power to them - we always seem to have ant nests all over the place. We have both kinds and they have very separate feeding habits. The GSW's (just a male at the moment) visit the feeding station in the rear garden several times each day where they eat peanuts and copious amounts of fat cake. The Green only feeds on the front lawn (20+ ant nests) but frequently goes on to remind the neighbourhood of its presence, with unmistakable screeching, from high up in next doors oak trees. -- Robert |
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