Are these birds taking the piss?

[Serin]

We feed the birds but if feels like the little buggers are coming from miles around to eat at our table. Flocks and flocks of them, more every day.
Today at 8.30am I filled a large feeder with RSPB approved peanuts and it is already half empty.
I also put chopped apple and pear out for the thrushes.
I dont want them to starve but does anyone have any idea of what I can safely feed them that doesn't cost a fortune?
A budget meal plan?
Like lentils??

If I dare to let my supplies run out, I’ve often got a queue of them
sitting on the fence! I’m averaging 10/15 fatballs per week 🤔

This site does 25kg of mixed seed for £15.49. If you opt for standard delivery (5-7 working days) it's free, but it's only 79p for the 1-2 working day delivery option.

www.lovegardenbirds.co.uk

www.lovegardenbirds.co.uk/garden-bird-seed-mixes/wild-bird-seed-blend

Poundstretcher is pretty cheap for mealworms ive found. But its the sunflower hearts that disappear within a day around here.

That looks a bit easier than buying (and storing) lots of different things, Naughty.

I've got one of those 'stations' with different hooks, a mesh dish and a water bowl. I'd put the mix seed in the messy dish, hang some nuts and fat balls, and then make a cage like yours for the smaller birds.

Sounds like a plan!

I keep spilling mealworms. The bag is so light, it tips over. Mind you, the get cleared up pretty quickly!

So agree with everyone, buying bird food is not cheap, I'm disabled and have twice fallen while refilling the holders in trees resulting in broken bones and stays in hospital so all food is now firmly on the ground - ie chucked out onto my patio.

There's a robin who is always waiting for me to open the curtains every morning. I throw out the food, he sees off allcomers until he has a nibble then flies back to his tree, then it's collared doves, wood pigeons, a couple of magpies, sparrows and other odd assortments.

They get mixed seed etc, nibbed peanuts, sunflower hearts, broken up fat balls, suet pellets, plain and with fruit added. I think the birds eat more than i do some days.

I buy mine from Wilkinsons but will give Twootz a try - certainly sounds cheaper but they are fussy.

Competitive bird feeding in our house. My husband orders peanuts online for "his" feeder as its cheaper, and I have settled on sunflower hearts for my feeder (its got a spring on it that closes it if large birds and squirrels try it). I must try and find a cheaper source of sunflower hearts!

I get large numbers of tits that come and chuck sunflower hearts on the floor for the dunnocks and robins and magpies and my feeder last 2 days max. My husband says this is cheating and getting the birds to peck at the peanuts is "proper" feeding - his feeder usually lasts 4 - 5 days, gets all the birds I do plus various woodpeckers.

We have wild bird seed mix in for emergency ground feeding (if it snows for example). We also get visited by peafowl from a nearby local attraction - they come and tap at the door until we feed them, and they'll even take it out of our hand. We don't feed them very often though because they leave prodigious amounts of poo on the path. Plus we don't want their owners to think we're trying to entice them away! They are content to sit under our other feeders and hoover up all the discards, much to the disgust of the magpies. Plus some general garden clearance of snails and other creepy crawlies.

On a side note, our cat is a small mammals/rodents feline, she is poor at catching birds - she sits under the feeder and chatters at them and they ignore her. Apart from the magpies who taunt her in a Roobarb/Custard like fashion which is most amusing.

Love the idea of the half circle planters for the robins! Will need to try that. This morning I had around twenty sparrows, a dozen blue tits and and a few finches stare me out at the window because the feeder had mysteriously emptied since their last visit, ooh, twelve hours earlier. I am spending a fortune so will look at buying in bulk. I love watching them feed, they're worth every penny but yes, it does add up op!

Try having a wildflower bed too. We have flocks of goldfinches in the late summer gobbling on thistle and yellow rattle seeds.

The squirrels in our good are serious thieves. They laugh at the squirrel proof feeders. Today for instance, I put 5 fat balls in the feeder and they have worked out how to open the top and move the balls up the tube an remove them. Half coconuts disappear in no time. The only deterrent is the super soaker gun left over from when the kids where small. A good blast with that sends them scuttling

I have an ornamental cherry tree in the garden which is currently in fruit. The other day I looked out and it had turned bright green - must have been 20 parakeets gorging themselves silly...

My parents love feeding the birds in their garden so I bought one of those feeders that fixes to the window, which they put on their kitchen window so my mum could watch the birds whilst washing up. All good until they came back to the house one evening. My dad was first into the kitchen and turned the light on, saw a rat quite happily sat inside the bird feeder on the window and promptly turned the light off and hustled my mum out pronto so she wouldn't see it! How the heck it managed to climb up a glass window is a mystery! Must have been bitten by a spider when it was working in a lab! 🤔🤣

I wish my husband paid as much attention to me (and spent as much money) as he does on the bloody birds!

The more you put out the more come. Especially starlings we have found, they come in huge numbers.
Just put out what you can afford/ enjoy doing. Bird-feeding is so popular now I'm sure when your supply is done they'll be off to a patch nearby for more.
Worth planting bird-friendly shrubs for berries, and having a bit of a wild-patch to encourage insects if you've room. Self-sustaining once you've set these up and good alternative food sources for the birds.

We buy fat balls from B&M - 150 for £7.99. We get through a box a month in hanging feeders. We don't ground feed.

We used to have lots of different birds, but these days we're overrun with sparrows. They haven't bullied the other birds, they've just moved away due to sheer numbers of the sparrows, who always manage to get in first.

I miss the variety we used to have, but sparrow numbers nationally are declining rapidly so I'm trying to be philosophical.

I have a donut shaped feeder that fits about 7 or 8 fat balls in it and a cover over the top part to stop everything getting soggy from the rain. This seems to have been the most effective bird feeder I've had, and the squirrels seem to leave it alone for the most part.
When I first got it only the smaller birds could hold on to it to feed (or sit in the middle of the 'o' and feed on the bottom fat ball). The magpies and the blue jays used to sit watching them and gradually taught themselves to jump off a nearby tree stake and briefly hover or hold on so they could feed. No mean feat for birds of that size! However the wood pigeons still sit on the lawn, looking up at it lovingly, tilting their heads one way and another, trying to figure out how to use it. A couple have progressed to sitting on the tree stake but still can't quite work out what to do next! 😂

I'm laughing at the mental image of the squirrel making off with a whole fat ball like a burglar. Reminded me of when I was daft enough to put stuff out in yoghurt pots on the bird table - thinking It was cleaner as the table was a bit damp and manky, and a magpie flew off with the whole pot of peanuts in its beak then came back and flew off with the one full of bacon rind!

The birds are not daft.

Winter is coming.

Our squirrels are numerous and greedy. There is one particularly big squirrel (not fat - he's just a bruiser) and he treats the feeders like his personal thunderdome domain. I've seem him bodily throw the other squirrels off the feeders. It's like something out of WWE.

I would LOVE to see that, sadly, our dogs consider squirrels demons who are not permitted to live.

OP YANBU.

2 years ago I bought a house with a pond. A few months later 2 ducks arrived. As soon as I open the curtains in the morning they are on the doorstep. If they see me pass the window they are at the doorstep. They quack loudly until fed. Only, they won't have cheap duck food. Oh no, only expensive floating food will do for them and if I'm not quite quick enough they are in the hallway tapping the container.

I do feed the other birds, but they make do with cheaper stuff from Home Bargains.
Yesterday the squirrel turned up for the brioche I'd left on the bird table. This bought the revelation to me that squirrels have long thin tails like rats. Didn't know that!

I love this thread

I'm on a bit of a budget so I stick to Wilko fat balls - I buy the buckets of 50 which are usually £4.25, occasionally £3.75 and not in plastic nets. I've heard people on here saying their birds won't eat them but mine love them. They sell them in packs of 4 and 10 netted so perhaps you could test the water first (cut the nets off so their feet don't get caught).

They also sell premium fat balls now but mine aren't getting those

I love the whole Wilko bird food range. It's all online too. I only buy the no-mess feed in 2kg sacks as I hate birdseed germinating in the flowerbed under the feeders.

I stick to a variety of hanging feeders as it takes them (slightly) longer to get at the food. Starlings are my main issue but they duke it out on one of the fat ball feeders while the smaller birds get a chance at the other feeders.

God forbid I buy mealworms! My limit is fat squares (2 for £1) and black sunflower seeds 69p from B&M! Both are well received. Anything more delicious disappears in a matter of minutes.

I bought some filled half coconut shells (2 for £1!) from B&M and now I refill them with no mess seed and black sunflower seeds plus the cheapest microwave melted supermarket lard when I can be arsed. I set them in the fridge on a plate overnight.

Peanuts and basic bird seed are ignored here and go mouldy/toxic in the feeders.

I have been feeding and watching the birds again this year since Shitley Cat died. I love to see the Woodies plodding about and smile when they suddenly break into a run to get something they fancy.

Apart from those, there are crows, magpies, and just one pair each of magpies and blackbirds that I have seen, plus some little brown birds I can't identify. There has been a woodpecker and a jay but not seen them since autumn, neither have I seen the blue tits, not sure when they are about as a rule.

One squirrel, seems to think he is a bird as he is happy to just wander about with the crowd and none of them fight over the food.

I buy sunflower hearts and mixed seed, large bags but also cut up fruit and if there is seeded bread I crumble it. I do worry about rats though.

Oh I forgot I have two flat seed surfaces (a hanging mini platform and a bird table). I put no mess seed and black sunflower seeds and the fat pigeons, robin and blackbird use them.

I have a cat so I'm attempting to keep the food stations high up with limited spillage though I can't stop the birds hopping about on the lawn.

I would LOVE to see that, sadly, our dogs consider squirrels demons who are not permitted to live.

Cherrysoup every time it happens, my phone seems to be nowhere nearby to film it, but one day!

I’ve just refilled my feeders with a combination of fat balls, suet logs, suet pellets, Niger seed, shelled peanuts, unshelled peanuts, mixed seed & mealworms. And 2 new nesting boxes.

But I bet it’ll be the 5kg of winter grass I sowed at lunchtime that’ll be today’s favourite.

I’m now back in my home office at work, watching our webcam & can already see the first birds eyeing up the lawn over the feeders!