My bluetits and other small birds love my fat balls and get through 4 - 5 a day. I also put out sunflower seeds which go down very well. The nuthatch loves them. I am in SW France, maybe the recipe is different!
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Hi Madpenguin my birds won't touch the fat balls this year, I thought I must have a bad batch. Sun flower hearts are all the rage with 4 large feeders being filled twice daily. I also tried breaking up the FB,s and putting in an open tray but they still leave them. The blackbirds love the apple cores from my boys (they get through 8 a day) I just put them on my compost heap and they peck them to bits
A recent objective survey by Which? showed that Pets at Home High Energy fat balls attracted the most birds and the greatest range of birds. It was a clear winner. However recent online discussion said that these fat balls were being shunned in respondents’ gardens prompting speculation that Pets at Home has changed the formula.
I no longer have the December 2019 edition of the magazine so cannot say what brand came in second place. I have a feeling it was one sold by the RSPB.
I bought a tub of the Pets at Home fat balls but have yet to use them as I had bought a tub of 50 from B & M days before. The jackdaws demolish them in double quick time and then starlings put in a long shift so the smaller birds scarcely get a look in.
It depends on where the feeders are in my garden. Just moved the peanuts and fat balls feeders into the flamenco willow and the tits are having a field day with the odd visit from the sparrows. At the bird table the two mixed seed feeders are emptied every other day, the Niger are ignored at the moment and the fat balls have just come back into fashion. I put sun hearts out on ground feeders and on a raised table, for the little birds, and the peanuts on the ground are crushed and eaten by everyone.🙂
I don't seem to have a problem with them at all - I have all sorts of birds on them inlcuding we greater spotter woodpecker.
I did however have a go at making my own and they seemed to like them too but its a little messy. I have a large garden which takes up a lot of my time so I have gone back to the suet balls.
i have a problem with jays coming in early, filling their beaks and taking it away to a cache, coming back several times. My birds seem to eat everything I put out but I am annoyed that the last bag of wild bird feed I bought is mainly corn, which they leave. I end up throwing most of it away.
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I no longer have the December 2019 edition of the magazine so cannot say what brand came in second place. I have a feeling it was one sold by the RSPB.
I bought a tub of the Pets at Home fat balls but have yet to use them as I had bought a tub of 50 from B & M days before. The jackdaws demolish them in double quick time and then starlings put in a long shift so the smaller birds scarcely get a look in.
My birds seem to eat everything I put out but I am annoyed that the last bag of wild bird feed I bought is mainly corn, which they leave. I end up throwing most of it away.