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Why don't the birds visit my feeder?
Oxana
Posts: 7
hi everyone. Just wondering if anyone had this issue. I have several bird feeders around my garden for wild birds and two weeks ago I refilled them for Christmas. The fat balls are almost all gone but the seeds nahvet been eaten at all. Can it be the problem with the seed content? It's a new pack I bought from Pets at Home. Previously in that feeder were sunflower seeds and theyve gone very quickly.
Any thoughts 
please welcome
0
Posts
Some bird seed mixes contain cheaper seeds of less interest to birds and if yours are used to sunflower seed they may be turning up their beaks. If it's been mild they may need less food as they can scavenge elsewhere. There may also be competition from other people feeding birds witha different mix.
I have recently moved and am happy to say the birds here have taken to the fat balls and peanut feeders and blocks of fat with insects but aren't going anywhere near the loose seed. Time will tell if that's because they're not used to being fed or if the mix is not to their taste.
Hi Oxana - that mix looks predominantly wheat/barley, so as the others have said, it's not going to be attractive to the birds that mainly use hanging feeders. In my experience, all it does is attract pigeons.
You might be better using a no mess mix, which will contain a better variety of foods like sunflower hearts, a variety of seeds and nibbed nuts etc, and like the title suggests, there's no husks so there's very little waste. There are often little bits of suet inthem too. I use one I get locally in Asda which is excellent, but most GCs and DIY stores stock similar products. You can add other things to attract specific birds as time goes on. You can get a 'robin mix' quite easily too, which is attractive to lots of bird types.
It might seem more expensive, but it really isn't because the quality and uptake is better. The little birds like tits and finches will thank you for it
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
That pack looks to be full of wheat or other large cereal that only wood pigeons seem to eat. All of my small birds just chuck it out, it can then attract pigeons and rats. If you want something simple, most of the birds I get will eat sunflower hearts and there is no mess.
Snap - ish fidget!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The feed in the photo is mostly wheat which will attract pigeons & rats but not the smaller birds. Wheat is included because it's much cheaper than sunflower seed.
I have 4 feeders in my 'courtyard' area of the garden;
- A half-coconut suet-type feeder which the the blue, great and long tailed love.
- A newly installed nyger feeder which has (at last!) brought the gold finches in.
- A peanut and suet pellet feeder which gets a regular visit from the t!ts as well as the woodpecker and
- A mixed seed feeder. The only birds that ever go near this are sparrows and the robin. Doesn't seem to matter what supplier of 'wild-bird' seed mix I use this is all I get. Sounds similar to Oxana.
That's the problem Dave - 'wild bird' mixes generally contain loads of wheat to fill them up and make them seem good value. They don't contain an awful lot of variety. Swap to sunflower hearts, a better quality no-mess mix, or even a robin mix and you should see a difference.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Yes I guess that could be the issue FG. In saying that I normally add in some mealworms and sunflower hearts to the mix to try and improve the offering but it never seems to make much difference. It is quite amusing to see both the robin and sparrows hurling the offerings to the floor. At least it keeps the pigeons fed and happy!
Yeh - the little 'uns chuck out the stuff they won't eat. It's only an issue if you get invaded by wood pigeons! It's false economy though, the 'cleaner' mixes are well worth it. I used to make up my own mix but now I buy a no mess, and add sunflower hearts and extra suet treats in the coldest spells or late on in winter. If I can't get the no mess one, I buy a robin mix as they're quite similar and it gets snaffled up very quickly.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...