Sorry, lost previous thread.
I recently sought advice about a bird feeder. Bought a pole which has
two hooks and two holders, one for food, one for wate;, both of those
are very small!
I don't ger many birds and cannot see well enough to identify the
small birds very well.
I bought a peanut holder and a seed holder.
The seeds have gone very quickly but the peanuts have not gone down at
all. which birds eat peanuts, which like seeds?
In my youth I only ever remember putting out bread and hanging
peanuts. but in those days birds were plentiful. Sad how few there are
now.




Pam in Bristol

On Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:01:15 +0000, Pam Moore
wrote:


Sorry, lost previous thread.
I recently sought advice about a bird feeder. Bought a pole which has
two hooks and two holders, one for food, one for wate;, both of those
are very small!
I don't ger many birds and cannot see well enough to identify the
small birds very well.
I bought a peanut holder and a seed holder.
The seeds have gone very quickly but the peanuts have not gone down at
all. which birds eat peanuts, which like seeds?
In my youth I only ever remember putting out bread and hanging
peanuts. but in those days birds were plentiful. Sad how few there are
now.




Pam in Bristol

Often a bit of patience works wonders. It can take a while for birds
to locate a new food source. You may only have one or two to start
with then suddenly you have a flock. I have sited the table and
feeders such that there is queuing space in nearby trees. If there is
nowhere to land on the feeder and nowhere to wait nearby in safety,
the birds will fly on.

I now put out only sunflower hearts and peanuts, the former both on a
bird table and in a hanging feeder. Most birds go for the sunflowers
as a preference but if I don't replenish them, the peanuts go down
more quickly. If there are plenty of sunflowers, the peanuts are eaten
by greater spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, nuthatches and a cheeky
robin.

So far this morning I've seen blue and great tits, gold- and
bull-finches, sparrows, a woodpecker, a jay and a solitary starling
(that's unusual - they usually arrive in swarms).

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

The Original Jake wrote:

Often a bit of patience works wonders. It can take a while for birds
to locate a new food source. You may only have one or two to start
with then suddenly you have a flock. I have sited the table and
feeders such that there is queuing space in nearby trees. If there is
nowhere to land on the feeder and nowhere to wait nearby in safety,
the birds will fly on.

This is a good point. My feeder is in clear space, so they can see it,
but close to a fence, shed and a tree for as waiting areas.

I now put out only sunflower hearts and peanuts, the former both on a
bird table and in a hanging feeder. Most birds go for the sunflowers
as a preference but if I don't replenish them, the peanuts go down
more quickly. If there are plenty of sunflowers, the peanuts are eaten
by greater spotted woodpeckers, blue tits, nuthatches and a cheeky
robin.

I put out sunflower hearts, those suet "nibble" things and peanuts.
The peanuts hardly ever get touched.

So far this morning I've seen blue and great tits, gold- and
bull-finches, sparrows, a woodpecker, a jay and a solitary starling
(that's unusual - they usually arrive in swarms).

Nice. I've had very few visitors to my feeders thus far. I suspect
this cold weather will bring them in, although I'm only ever there to
see them at weekends.

--
Chris

In article r8u0c8166fi6f9ckka71lge08dblqq2o6t@
4ax.com, says...
I bought a peanut holder and a seed holder.
The seeds have gone very quickly but the peanuts have not gone down at
all. which birds eat peanuts, which like seeds?



As posted in another thread recently (sorry, not
getting at you!)I've started chopping up peanuts in
the liquidiser and the birds seem to love them that
way, although they do not go for the very small
pieces, just the chopped nuts. So dont leave them too
long in the liquidiser!

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

In article , Pam Moore
writes
I don't ger many birds and cannot see well enough to identify the
small birds very well.


What about one of those you attach to the window Pam or a hanging table
which will encourage blackbirds and other bigger birds rather than the
smaller perching birds. You do have to wait a while until they get
accustomed to it though!
On my fat balls and coconuts etc. I get woodpeckers and some smaller
birds.
Janet
--
Janet Tweedy

On Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:01:15 +0000, Pam Moore
wrote:


Sorry, lost previous thread.
I recently sought advice about a bird feeder. Bought a pole which has
two hooks and two holders, one for food, one for wate;, both of those
are very small!
I don't ger many birds and cannot see well enough to identify the
small birds very well.
I bought a peanut holder and a seed holder.
The seeds have gone very quickly but the peanuts have not gone down at
all. which birds eat peanuts, which like seeds?
In my youth I only ever remember putting out bread and hanging
peanuts. but in those days birds were plentiful. Sad how few there are
now.

You may want to look at this illustrated basic feeding guide for some
initial guidance http://www.ernest-charles.com/shop/feeding_guide.pdf

It can take several days for your local birds to get used to something
new. When we swap feeders depending on the time of year there is
always a hiatus before normal activity resumes.
--
rbel

rbel wrote:

It can take several days for your local birds to get used to something
new. When we swap feeders depending on the time of year there is
always a hiatus before normal activity resumes.

Yes, I have recently moved an existing feeder nearer the house,
and put a higher capacity one in its old location. I was
surprised to see that my "customers" have moved with the old
feeder.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On Thu, 6 Dec 2012 16:31:12 +0000, Janet Tweedy
wrote:

In article , Pam Moore
writes
I don't ger many birds and cannot see well enough to identify the
small birds very well.


What about one of those you attach to the window Pam or a hanging table
which will encourage blackbirds and other bigger birds rather than the
smaller perching birds. You do have to wait a while until they get
accustomed to it though!
On my fat balls and coconuts etc. I get woodpeckers and some smaller
birds.
Janet

Thanks for suggestions (and birthday greetings Janet!)
So far the only birds I've seen are sparrows on the seed feeder, a
blackbird on the ground and a b*** pigeon which keeps eating the food
in trays. The seed gets used most quickly. A week before putting up
the feeder I saw what I think was a flock of long-tailed tits in my
tree but have not seen them since. I did have a robin around a while
ago. it was hopping around in my bonsai trees which are close to my
window. If I get enough visitors I might try a window feeder.
Thanks all.

Pam in Bristol

On 07/12/2012 08:27, Chris J Dixon wrote:
rbel wrote:

It can take several days for your local birds to get used to something
new. When we swap feeders depending on the time of year there is
always a hiatus before normal activity resumes.

Yes, I have recently moved an existing feeder nearer the house,
and put a higher capacity one in its old location. I was
surprised to see that my "customers" have moved with the old
feeder.

Chris

Mine are eating the seed too fast, I will be broke by Christmas. I have
put them a sign up asking them to ration themselves, I hope they take
due notice!

--
Remember the early bird may catch the worm but the second mouse gets the
cheese.

"Broadback" wrote in message
...
On 07/12/2012 08:27, Chris J Dixon wrote:
rbel wrote:

It can take several days for your local birds to get used to something
new. When we swap feeders depending on the time of year there is
always a hiatus before normal activity resumes.

Yes, I have recently moved an existing feeder nearer the house,
and put a higher capacity one in its old location. I was
surprised to see that my "customers" have moved with the old
feeder.

Chris

Mine are eating the seed too fast, I will be broke by Christmas. I have
put them a sign up asking them to ration themselves, I hope they take due
notice!


and on Twitter?



--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

On Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:57:50 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 2012-12-10 16:37:06 +0000, Broadback said:


Mine are eating the seed too fast, I will be broke by Christmas. I have
put them a sign up asking them to ration themselves,

We can't believe how much they're getting through! Every feeder is
re-filled every day and if I scatter a few peanuts onto garden tables,
the pigeons are very grateful. We've got jays coming in to join the
feeding frenzy for the first time, too.

That's interesting ,We have had a Jay visit a couple of times as well
and it hasn't happened before.
I was going to see if there was any issue with their regular food
supply anyway so just had a quick whizz around on the interweb and
found this article from back in October.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environ...e-8200375.html
So that looks like another to beak feed.
Just placed an order with our village Bird food cooperative.The
supplier who already has fairly competitive prices gives some more
discount if a few of us get together and order together similar to how
some people purchase their heating oil.
Still almost a 3 figure sum but should meet some needs to Spring.
It is difficult deciding though how much to put out though as the more
you do then more seem to arrive to feed so some rationing is needed
IMHO.
The alternative could be a sudden cut off which if lots have got
dependent would be cruel. My Mother now a widow whose income has
dropped has decided just to hang up fatballs this year as she can't
afford large quantities of seed and doesn't want to start something
she can't keep up.

G.Harman

On Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:50:02 +0000, wrote:

My Mother now a widow whose income has
dropped has decided just to hang up fatballs this year as she can't
afford large quantities of seed and doesn't want to start something
she can't keep up.

Your Mum's being very sensible. Often, people start putting out food
and it isn't taken, so they add variety to the food (costs more).
Then, suddenly, birds find the food source (it does take time!) and
whoever is committed to the variety, or to condemning the birds to
starvation until they find a different food source. It is important to
keep going once you start.

I now spend £700+ a year on bird food (just sunflower hearts and
peanuts). I don't begrudge that spend (yet); I can afford it and it's
a small price to pay for the enjoyment we get from watching the birds.

But whilst having achieved the termination of the visiting rat
population in conjunction with resident cat, who killed what appears
to be son of Rambo last week, we now have a grey squirrel invasion.
There are around 7 who now visit (I say 7 as that's the most we've
seen at a single sitting) who, between them, would clear the bird
table in a couple of minutes.

So I've given in and invested in a bird-proof squirrel feeder
(bird-proof as the feed mix in it contains whole peanuts). The
squirrels have discovered this remarkably quickly. A general squirrel
feed mix is cheaper than the sunflowers they were gorging and it's fun
watching them run off with a whole monkey nut, hazelnut or whatever to
hide it somewhere for the winter.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

Sparrows are in decline, so try to appreciate them ;-)
If it's a woodpigeon not a collared dove, try bird seed which has no cereal in it. Long tailed tits will come to fat, and they're worth encouraging because they're relatively unbothered by humans. And they're lovely.

In article ,
writes
That's interesting ,We have had a Jay visit a couple of times as well
and it hasn't happened before.

This year I have had a lot more jays than I can ever remember and about
6 magpies at a time!
--
Janet Tweedy

On 11/12/2012 07:29, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-12-11 00:43:08 +0000, Janet Tweedy said:

In article ,
writes
That's interesting ,We have had a Jay visit a couple of times as well
and it hasn't happened before.

This year I have had a lot more jays than I can ever remember and about
6 magpies at a time!

We get the occasional magpie in the garden but not many, thank
goodness. I just hope that when spring and the breeding season comes,
we don't have a collection of jays and magpies, lovely though they are
to look at!

I have a magpie roost in the trees outside my flat, upwards of 30 birds
come in each evening.
--
Phil Cook