Yes, that happens with my feeder, too, and that does have a tray underneath. It catches quite a lot of the seed, but much more falls to the ground and it does germinate and have to be weeded regularly.
I don't know if the seed could be re-used as it were, and it is an expensive waste. However, on the plus side, at this moment I'm looking at three siskins and two goldfinches eating happily.
Has anyone else had this problem with a niger (nyjer) feeder? ... somehow a lot of the seed ends up on the ground ... I hate the waste as this seed is not cheap...
... my feeder... does have a tray underneath. ...I don't know if the seed could be re-used as it were, and it is an expensive waste. ...
Just before Christmas I was in Pets at Home and noticed they were selling feeders specifically designed for Niger seed. Instead of the normal large round portholes, niger feeders have tiny narrow vertical slits. It's supposed to reduce the waste...
This is the feeder tray after a week's use...
It certainly has at least halved the amount of seed I'm using, and it's also collected a lot of 'rejected' seed.
I'm not sure why all that seed is apparently rejected and normally falls to the ground. Anyway, I've just scooped that up out of the tray, and used it to completely fill another spare porthole feeder.
Beautiful photos Friar, I especially love the chaffinch (I think) and the stieglitz, but what is the other one with the black cap, have never seen one of those here in Switzerland? I have seeds dropping from my feeders as well, but we have dozens of sparrows here and they gobble everything up!
I recently got a Nyger seed feeder with a tray as the lawn underneath was getting spongy with discarded seed and all of it grows even though it is supposed to be made sterile by the suppliers. I have found that a lot of the seed left in the tray is subsequently eaten by the gold finches and even collared doves.
I've a new feeder which seems to spill half the contents on the ground it wasn't a cheap one either, I'm thinking a tray could be fitted underneath, not sure how, seems a shame not to be able to use it though.
Read some where, seeds can be sterilized in the micro wave to prevent them from germinating.
The tray simply screws into a socket in the base of the feeder. I have some other feeders, and they have sockets beneath them, but their sockets are not compatible with the screw thread on that tray. I bought that combination from Pets at Home.
As I explained, I put the 'rejected' seed into another feeder, anticipating that that might be eaten, and not wasted. What has happened this morning is that 4 birds are around the new feeder eating the fresh seed, and the the old porthole feeder, which is full of 'rejected' seed, is being ignored.
It occured to me that the 'rejected' seed might simply be husks. You can get a lot of mess with the husks of some sunflower seed. That does seem to be the case for niger too. The stuff being discarded by the birds is probably not seed (although the odd seed may be there). This seed supplier explains this:
I use no mess bird feed, but apart from not sprouting it still causes a mess from all the discarded seed. I tried putting trays underneath the feeders, but all that happens now is that they fill up, and then when it rains, I get seed porridge.
When I started feeding birds I had a rather suspicious looking plant appear in my garden near the bird feeder. Somebody suggested it was just hemp. I thought it was something different and so did my nurse friend. After several weeks of summer growing I decided not to risk it anymore and pulled it up and discarded it in the green wheelie bin.
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Yes, that happens with my feeder, too, and that does have a tray underneath. It catches quite a lot of the seed, but much more falls to the ground and it does germinate and have to be weeded regularly.
I don't know if the seed could be re-used as it were, and it is an expensive waste. However, on the plus side, at this moment I'm looking at three siskins and two goldfinches eating happily.
Just before Christmas I was in Pets at Home and noticed they were selling feeders specifically designed for Niger seed. Instead of the normal large round portholes, niger feeders have tiny narrow vertical slits. It's supposed to reduce the waste...
This is the feeder tray after a week's use...
It certainly has at least halved the amount of seed I'm using, and it's also collected a lot of 'rejected' seed.
I'm not sure why all that seed is apparently rejected and normally falls to the ground. Anyway, I've just scooped that up out of the tray, and used it to completely fill another spare porthole feeder.
Beautiful photos Friar, I especially love the chaffinch (I think) and the stieglitz, but what is the other one with the black cap, have never seen one of those here in Switzerland? I have seeds dropping from my feeders as well, but we have dozens of sparrows here and they gobble everything up!
I recently got a Nyger seed feeder with a tray as the lawn underneath was getting spongy with discarded seed and all of it grows even though it is supposed to be made sterile by the suppliers. I have found that a lot of the seed left in the tray is subsequently eaten by the gold finches and even collared doves.
I've a new feeder which seems to spill half the contents on the ground
it wasn't a cheap one either, I'm thinking a tray could be fitted underneath, not sure how, seems a shame not to be able to use it though.
Read some where, seeds can be sterilized in the micro wave to prevent them from germinating.
The birds eating in those photos are goldfinches, and bullfinches. The larger bird with the pinky-red breast is a male bullfinch.
The tray simply screws into a socket in the base of the feeder. I have some other feeders, and they have sockets beneath them, but their sockets are not compatible with the screw thread on that tray. I bought that combination from Pets at Home.
As I explained, I put the 'rejected' seed into another feeder, anticipating that that might be eaten, and not wasted. What has happened this morning is that 4 birds are around the new feeder eating the fresh seed, and the the old porthole feeder, which is full of 'rejected' seed, is being ignored.
It occured to me that the 'rejected' seed might simply be husks. You can get a lot of mess with the husks of some sunflower seed. That does seem to be the case for niger too. The stuff being discarded by the birds is probably not seed (although the odd seed may be there). This seed supplier explains this:
http://thebirdsbistro.co.uk/store/straights/niger-seed
So the tray doesn't actually save any food. And if you let the stuff fall to the ground you are not actually wasting anything.
looks a good Idea.
When I started feeding birds I had a rather suspicious looking plant appear in my garden near the bird feeder. Somebody suggested it was just hemp. I thought it was something different and so did my nurse friend. After several weeks of summer growing I decided not to risk it anymore and pulled it up and discarded it in the green wheelie bin.
1st photo: male Bullfinch (left), Goldfinch
2nd photo: Goldfinch (left) with a Redpoll behind it, female Bullfinch
3rd photo: male Bullfinch (left), Goldfinch
Am having technical probs posting today, this is a test run.