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Original poster

Is everyone putting food out for the birds?

277 replies

mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:09

It's so cold, the ground birds can't dig.

Chuck some leftover Christmas nuts out, or some seeds. I put 10 fat balls out and filled the seeds at 5pm yesterday and it's empty this morning.

Feed your local bird pals if you can, it's so cold.

OP posts:
zaxxon · 10/01/2025 08:10

Ten to one it's a squirrel eating all your fat balls. I've yet to find a feeder they can't hack

Gettingbysomehow · 10/01/2025 08:12

Yes I always put food and water out. I love looking at the birds gather.
My neighbours want me to cut down my big tree but I'm not going to. The birds need the shelter.

Scrambledchickens · 10/01/2025 08:14

Yes! My stick on window feeder fell off and broke so I fashioned a homemade one out of 2 quality street lids and some green gaffa tape:) my kids think I have lost it but I love watching them feed. Also important to make sure they have some unfrozen water.

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WhatNoRaisins · 10/01/2025 08:14

I'd love to but all we get are squirrels.

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:15

I do watch out for the squirrels! But it's mostly the rowdy starlings, tits, and doves we get.

And the blackbirds on the ground. The robins mostly stay on the ground too, so I throw seeds down on the patio.

I love to see all of the birds come for food and have a punch up on the feeders. The starlings try to fight all the small ones off the fat ball cages, but we have a few sparrows who cling on and don't let the starlings take it all.

OP posts:
fixingmylife · 10/01/2025 08:15

I have just started to put food out but the birds aren't finding it. Any tips to get them to actually use the stuff I put out. I have put our fat ball, nuts and seeds.

Talesfromtheriverbank · 10/01/2025 08:16

I would but the bastard cats next door put me off. I chucked some oats on the ground (suggested by RSPB) and have some nuts to put out.

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:16

Scrambledchickens · 10/01/2025 08:14

Yes! My stick on window feeder fell off and broke so I fashioned a homemade one out of 2 quality street lids and some green gaffa tape:) my kids think I have lost it but I love watching them feed. Also important to make sure they have some unfrozen water.

Ha! I have a stick on feeder too and every time I put it back up some fat pigeon sits on it and makes it fall again.

The pigeons do annoy me but i guess they need to eat too.

OP posts:
Joystir59 · 10/01/2025 08:18

fixingmylife · 10/01/2025 08:15

I have just started to put food out but the birds aren't finding it. Any tips to get them to actually use the stuff I put out. I have put our fat ball, nuts and seeds.

It takes time. Just keep putting food out at the same time every day. They will find it. Meal worms and fat balls are very popular

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:20

fixingmylife · 10/01/2025 08:15

I have just started to put food out but the birds aren't finding it. Any tips to get them to actually use the stuff I put out. I have put our fat ball, nuts and seeds.

I think it just takes them a while to notice that you're a food house, keep at it and they'll come.

We used to have no birds but now sometimes I look out and there's 30 of them having a fight for the food.

We have a cat so I got one of those cat and squirrel proof stands that have a plastic half globe thing below the feeder hanging bits so no mammals can climb it, they're about £20 on Amazon.

We do occasionally get a sparrowhawk that swoops in to grab a bird though unfortunately but I guess that's the circle of life.

OP posts:
blobby10 · 10/01/2025 08:20

My feeders were really busy in the summer but have hardly had anything this autumn/winter. The last couple of weekends I've had a couple of blue tits, a great tits,4 robins and some blackbirds along with Eric and Ernie - our two regular very fat pigeons who waddle underneath the feeders waiting for the small birds to chuck stuff onto the floor! We've also had a goldfinch and chaffinch but not seen them recently - have heard them! I have noticed that the feeders aren't emptying as quickly as they did in the summer though - same food so wondering what I'm doing wrong!

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:22

blobby10 · 10/01/2025 08:20

My feeders were really busy in the summer but have hardly had anything this autumn/winter. The last couple of weekends I've had a couple of blue tits, a great tits,4 robins and some blackbirds along with Eric and Ernie - our two regular very fat pigeons who waddle underneath the feeders waiting for the small birds to chuck stuff onto the floor! We've also had a goldfinch and chaffinch but not seen them recently - have heard them! I have noticed that the feeders aren't emptying as quickly as they did in the summer though - same food so wondering what I'm doing wrong!

I'd love to have some finches! We don't seem to ever get them here.

I have once seen a parakeet that must have gotten lost on its way to London, that was lovely.

OP posts:
ExtraDisorganised · 10/01/2025 08:22

I keep getting sabotaged by a squirreel
too. I picked up a box of fatballs the other week and left it in the garden shed slightly open, I also leave the door open to allow air to circulate, silly me, caught the squirrel coming out the door and nearly all the fatballs gone.

The big birds (magpies and jackdaws) have taken over too, they keep wrecking my feeders by knocking them off the tree. I will put some ground food out this morning though, they need all the help they can get in this weather.

fixingmylife · 10/01/2025 08:22

mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:20

I think it just takes them a while to notice that you're a food house, keep at it and they'll come.

We used to have no birds but now sometimes I look out and there's 30 of them having a fight for the food.

We have a cat so I got one of those cat and squirrel proof stands that have a plastic half globe thing below the feeder hanging bits so no mammals can climb it, they're about £20 on Amazon.

We do occasionally get a sparrowhawk that swoops in to grab a bird though unfortunately but I guess that's the circle of life.

Show quote history

Thanks. Yes, I think it will just take time.

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:29

ExtraDisorganised · 10/01/2025 08:22

I keep getting sabotaged by a squirreel
too. I picked up a box of fatballs the other week and left it in the garden shed slightly open, I also leave the door open to allow air to circulate, silly me, caught the squirrel coming out the door and nearly all the fatballs gone.

The big birds (magpies and jackdaws) have taken over too, they keep wrecking my feeders by knocking them off the tree. I will put some ground food out this morning though, they need all the help they can get in this weather.

You need these things, they stop the squirrels climbing the feeder stand.

I had to get a proper stand and move the feeder hanger to this from the tree to stop them stealing it all.

Is everyone putting food out for the birds?
OP posts:
Igneococcus · 10/01/2025 08:30

The three crows that hang around our garden were trying to drink the condensation on the garden table yesterday, so we put a bowl of water out for them. It seems drinking water is also an issue in places where everything is frozen solid at the moment.

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:33

Definitely keep at it if you're not getting birds, they'll figure it out after a while.

Once I got a stand that my cat couldn't climb and the squirrels couldn't steal everything from I started getting starlings, and then the smaller birds started coming. They hear the racket the starlings make and then know to come to you!

It took me about 3 months for the birds to all start coming. I love them, it's so nice to look outside and see them. It's hard times for birds with the weird weather and climate change, they're not getting the food they expect and need at the times it should be there. Too hot in summer and now very cold in winter.

OP posts:
Tara336 · 10/01/2025 08:33

I do put food out and the fat ball.is popular but we have a bloody cat next door which has stopped the birds coming. We used to have a pidgeon nest in a shrub every year and don't see her anymore because next doors cat wouldn't leave it be

shellyleppard · 10/01/2025 08:35

We have a flat shed roof..... it's bird cafe!!! Seven blackbirds at once yesterday. Robins, starlings, occasional doves. Very fat wood pigeons and cheeky magpies. When the snow was bad I was putting food on the dustbin lids 🤣🤣

Coldcoldwinterweather · 10/01/2025 08:41

mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:16

Ha! I have a stick on feeder too and every time I put it back up some fat pigeon sits on it and makes it fall again.

The pigeons do annoy me but i guess they need to eat too.

Show quote history

I've fed the birds for years but ATM the pigeons are causing me a bit of bother.
As you say I know they have to eat too and I feel so sorry for them but it's the sheer number of them that's the problem. Once the news goes round there's food to be had the word soon goes round!

Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:44

Igneococcus · 10/01/2025 08:30

The three crows that hang around our garden were trying to drink the condensation on the garden table yesterday, so we put a bowl of water out for them. It seems drinking water is also an issue in places where everything is frozen solid at the moment.

Yes that's true, the water is frozen. I fill the water bowl on the hanging feeder and put one on the floor for the hedgehogs too.

Never seen a hedgehog but it often gets emptied, or evaporates who knows.

OP posts:
Original poster
mysarahlee · 10/01/2025 08:44

shellyleppard · 10/01/2025 08:35

We have a flat shed roof..... it's bird cafe!!! Seven blackbirds at once yesterday. Robins, starlings, occasional doves. Very fat wood pigeons and cheeky magpies. When the snow was bad I was putting food on the dustbin lids 🤣🤣

Lovely!

OP posts:
StillAtTheRestaurant · 10/01/2025 08:45

Nope. It's mainly magpies that come to my garden and I am not encouraging the wee bastards!

WearyAuldWumman · 10/01/2025 08:47

I realised that small birds were getting seeds etc from my front garden: the crows and magpies have taken over the rear. I have a tub half full of gravel that I'd removed from the front - long story - and they're using that for water.

Anyway, I realised that the seedheads were running out, so put up a fat ball and a seed dispenser on my Morello cherry tree at the front. Didn't take them long to find them. I'm seeing a robin, sparrows and various tits.

There was a male blackbird round the back garden this morning. I'm assuming that he's feeding on the fallen crabapples.

nirishism · 10/01/2025 08:48

I have a bird table thing out the front but no one visits - we have fat balls, and a seed dispenser thing. It’s a black metal type one.

any suggestions what we are doing wrong? I’ve no pets. It’s out the front but road isn’t busy. Not out back as it’s small and kids play so thought that would put birds off…