Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?


It is definitely the whole seed, as numerous seedlings under my niger feeder
will testify.
R.

On 26/03/2013 08:06, Ragnar wrote:
"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?


It is definitely the whole seed, as numerous seedlings under my niger feeder
will testify.
R.



Here anything that's dropped gets eaten by wood pigeons. They are
incredibly thorough and totally indiscriminate. No wonder they're so fat

On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:28:21 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:


Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?

The goldfinches that take the niger seed from my feeder are messy
eaters. For every seed they eat a couple of seeds drop to the ground
where other birds eat them.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

"Ragnar" wrote in message ...


"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?


It is definitely the whole seed, as numerous seedlings under my niger
feeder will testify.

Agreed the goldfinches in particular are very wasteful. Last Summer I made 3
wooden trays and fixed them about 6" below the bottoms of the sunflower and
the 2 niger feeders. I now top up the nigers every other day, so a saving of
50%.

No savings with the sunflower, but no wastage either, as chaffinches will
eat off the trays. Lot safer as the chaffs are normally ground-feeders -
there are lots of cats in the area!!

http://preview.tinyurl.com/c223jtk

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cls6auc

Another plus has been a visit by a PAIR of bullfinches to the s/f tray.
Previous Winters, we have only seen the male on the ground.

It has a hard seed case which they discard. But they're also messy feeders and drop a lot of whole seed too.

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:28:21 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:


Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?

The goldfinches that take the niger seed from my feeder are messy
eaters. For every seed they eat a couple of seeds drop to the ground
where other birds eat them.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com


Send some down to me - Goldfinches tthat is. Nothing touches my Niger seeds
:-)

Bill

In article ,
says...

On 26/03/2013 08:06, Ragnar wrote:
"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?


It is definitely the whole seed, as numerous seedlings under my niger feeder
will testify.
R.



Here anything that's dropped gets eaten by wood pigeons. They are
incredibly thorough and totally indiscriminate. No wonder they're so fat

Fortunately (I think) we do not have wood pigeons,
just a couple of collerd doves. Nothing seems to eat
the fallen seed, robins, chaffinches, pheasants,
hedgehogs and any other nocturnal visitors that I do
not see!

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

In article ,
says...

"Ragnar" wrote in message ...


"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?


It is definitely the whole seed, as numerous seedlings under my niger
feeder will testify.

Agreed the goldfinches in particular are very wasteful. Last Summer I made 3
wooden trays and fixed them about 6" below the bottoms of the sunflower and
the 2 niger feeders. I now top up the nigers every other day, so a saving of
50%.

No savings with the sunflower, but no wastage either, as chaffinches will
eat off the trays. Lot safer as the chaffs are normally ground-feeders -
there are lots of cats in the area!!

http://preview.tinyurl.com/c223jtk

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cls6auc

Another plus has been a visit by a PAIR of bullfinches to the s/f tray.
Previous Winters, we have only seen the male on the ground.

Don't you have trouble when it rains, all the fallen
seed will get wet in the trays surely?

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...


No savings with the sunflower, but no wastage either, as chaffinches will
eat off the trays. Lot safer as the chaffs are normally ground-feeders -
there are lots of cats in the area!!

http://preview.tinyurl.com/c223jtk

http://preview.tinyurl.com/cls6auc

Another plus has been a visit by a PAIR of bullfinches to the s/f tray.
Previous Winters, we have only seen the male on the ground.

Don't you have trouble when it rains, all the fallen
seed will get wet in the trays surely?

No it all stays fairly dry. If you look at the first photo, you'll see a
sheet of perspex above the trellis, within a rough wooden frame. Looks a bit
a door.

"Bertie Doe" wrote in message ...



"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...
Don't you have trouble when it rains, all the fallen
seed will get wet in the trays surely?

No it all stays fairly dry. If you look at the first photo, you'll see a
sheet of perspex above the trellis, within a rough wooden frame. Looks a
bit a door.

p.s. If you made your own trays, you would need to drill holes to allow for
drainage.
There's def a demand for feeders with trays :-
http://preview.tinyurl.com/butdrbu

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:28:21 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:


Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?

The goldfinches that take the niger seed from my feeder are messy
eaters. For every seed they eat a couple of seeds drop to the ground
where other birds eat them.

Steve

I stopped feeding niger seed because of the wastage. I use 50% canary seed,
50% sunflower hearts in my seed feeders and it seems to suit all the small
birds including goldfinches with very little wastage. For chaffinches I use
canary mix on a birdtable and have had 17 at once.
I also put very small grade grit out (the sort you can get for budgies) and
this is also popular.
Blackbirds love sultanas.

On 2013-03-27 22:46:44 +0000, Christina Websell said:

"Stephen Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:28:21 -0000, Roger Tonkin
wrote:


Although I've been aware of it, until all the snow
this week I've never wondered why so much niger seed
seems to be thrown onto the ground by the burds.

Is it really just discarded, or does niger seed,
despite its small size have a hard seed case that the
birds have to remove, and that is what I see scattered
on top of the snow?

The goldfinches that take the niger seed from my feeder are messy
eaters. For every seed they eat a couple of seeds drop to the ground
where other birds eat them.

Steve

I stopped feeding niger seed because of the wastage. I use 50% canary
seed, 50% sunflower hearts in my seed feeders and it seems to suit all
the small birds including goldfinches with very little wastage. For
chaffinches I use canary mix on a birdtable and have had 17 at once.
I also put very small grade grit out (the sort you can get for budgies)
and this is also popular.
Blackbirds love sultanas.

We have one container with nothing but sunflower seeds in it and the
greenfinches found it within one day. Now they and the bluetits battle
it out! The other seed containers are emptied almost every day. But the
fat balls and peanuts are virtually ignored. Yes, the peanuts are a
new batch! We've given up putting out niger seeds as nothing seems very
interested and the last lot started going mouldy. And we think/hope
firecrests may be thinking of nesting here. Certainly, one has been
seen feeding in hedges on the nursery.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

It seems that goldfinches across the country are turning to kibbled sunflower hearts, and in may areas they prefer these to nyjer. Kibbled sunflower hearts can be fed from a normal seed feeder, and are taken by a range of birds, so it seems worth a change if your goldfinches like it.

My goldfinches are a conservative lot and are ignoring the kibbled sunflower in favour of nyjer
But sultanas even in small quantities can cause kidney disease in cats (and I think dogs), so are not suitable for ground feeding. OK on a table out of easy reach of cats and dogs.

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
And we think/hope
firecrests may be thinking of nesting here. Certainly, one has been seen
feeding in hedges on the nursery.
--

Sacha

Wow, lucky you. I've never seen a firecrest but I get goldcrests in my
conifers regularly. They love conifers.

Tina