Is everyone putting food out for the birds?

[mysarahlee]

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.

YarkYark, mealworms have always been expensive here. My youngest DD has a dragon,they breed mealworms for him. Talking about hygiene,you shouldn't handle them without disposable gloves, they carry salmonella. I use terracotta dishes for the bird tables,I spray them with antibac stuff then wash in hot soapy water... disposable gloves (from my nursy days)

No, I have a cat so encorging birds would not be a good idea.

I have noticed that my feeders are slow in emptying too, I have a feeling that some of my neighbours also have feeders and they are being spoilt for choice!

Yes, I've got various feeders. A little ground level table with a cage over it for small birds like the robin. Hanging feeders that the tits, sparrows, starlings and parakeets love. Then I throw various seed//mealworms/nuts etc on the ground which is gobbled up by the pigeons, magpies and crows. I love seeing all types of birds in the garden.

I almost can't keep up with them! Mostly sparrows on my seed feeder. Finally found a squirrel proof one (though I do put some monkey nuts out for the squirrels).

I chop the fat balls up and put them in smaller feeders. Also bought a suet/mealworm bowl and put that on a bird bath that I've seen the robin sitting on often, I know they prefer to feed lower down.

Parody, AI or peak Mumsnet?

(In sub-zero temperatures we fill the birdbath with a decent bottle of montrachet - the alcohol content stops it from freezing. I don't use Raymond Blanc's recipe for nutritional bouillabaisse - many of our local birds have chosen to be gluten-free.)

Lots of food out for the birds, including pheasants. DH feeds the local deer when it gets cold so I currently have 6 of them waiting in the field for their lunch. It was fine when it was just two of them but now they have invited all their friends.

I've been adding porridge oats stirred into melted beef dripping to the table seed & they are loving it

Yes I do. I had no birds in the summer, early autumn but I kept persevering and now I get loads.

its mainly jackdaws, rooks and pigeons but I do get robins, blackbirds, the occasional sparrow and I’ve noticed a wren bobbing in and out now and again.

Re: oats

I'm trying to make certain: are we supposed to use dry oats or to soak them first?

Yes always do no matter what the season. Usually leftover cooked rice, bread approaching it's best before date, etc.

The smaller birds (the perchers) don't like to leave their natural cover. So place the feeder near to any natural cover (trees, bushes) that you may have.

We feed the birds mixed seeds, nyger seeds, nuts and fat balls. We have loads of sparrows and also tits, Robins, blackbirds, thrush, wood pigeons, finches and occasionally a wren. One woodpecker. We get magpies and crows too they especially like left over bread.
Had a squirrel a couple of times but not super often.

Will be doing the bird count at the end of the month.

Not RTFT - squirrels don’t like chilli powder, but birds can’t taste it. So I mix chilli powder with the food and the squirrels are put off. They also don’t like peppermint oil.

I thought bread was harmful to birds?

They also don't like a bloody great trap

I think it's been proven that they have a basic grasp of each other's songs?

Literally Twitter once one bird finds it and starts tweeting about it. Took a few days, but we have a robin now, and we know that the others will follow.

That's far from hilarious, @TitsoMcNamara

What a horrible thing to do to an innocent living creature. It's their world, too.

Unfortunately we were really overrun by them @BettyBardMacDonald , they're quite destructive in large numbers and they had to go as humanely as possible.

I've only skim read the thread so might have missed it, but does anyone know of a cat-proof bird feeder (if such a thing exists)? I would love to feed the bird but I have two very keen hunters.

Squirrels aren't destructive. I've been feeding for 40 years and never had one enter an outbuilding, gnaw, dig, or otherwise damage my property.

And people who are concerned about humane treatment don't snigger and grin about traps.

Anyone worried about squirrels - get a Squirrel Buster (which does feeders for seed, peanuts and suet bricks). They're expensive but you save the cash within months in not feeding the squirrels!

I got one 3y ago for seeds and they've not got in yet. I have cage feeders for fat balls and suet bricks and they can't get at those either.

I've got quite a few funny movies of them trying though...

And they destroy songbird nests and eggs.

Yes I would like to know this too!