Feeding Birds - Doing something wrong?

Trotter

Hi all,

I went out yesterday and bought the fat balls in the local Homebase but the birds havent come near it. Am I doing something wrong or are they just well enough fed? Theres not much snow here in Waterford although the ground is pretty frozen.

V Bull

It might be that they are too low.....might be easy prey for cats and the like....try hanging them higher perhaps from the shed thats in the background of your photo and at least 2m from the ground. Use the likes of a hanging basket bracket or something similar to hang them from....Hope this helps...

Alun

Also if you've only just started putting out food, it'll take a while for them to come to the garden and for 'the word to get around'

Run_to_da_hills

Alun wrote: »

Also if you've only just started putting out food, it'll take a while for them to come to the garden and for 'the word to get around'

Edited: Also if you've only just started putting out food, it'll take a while for them to come to the garden and for the word tweet to get around'

I called into the local farmers COOP and purchased a large tub of bird seed, they have taken to it immediatly, The butcher gave me a bag of meat scraps FOC which should keep the larger birds happy. Last night a robin found refuge in the back of the van.

BrianD3

I get lots of birds and have found that the fatballs are much less popular than peanuts, black sunflower seeds, mixed seeds etc. If I were starting out again the fatballs would be low down on my shopping list.

Have found that the Robin & Songbird mix (available in Woodies DIY) is very popular.

Half-cocked

I noticed that the fatballs I put out are lasting longer now that the weather is colder. Perhaps they freeze hard and the birds find it easier to feed on the other stuff I put out?

Kess73

the fatballs will freeze solid in this weather, also it would be better if you bought a cheap fatball holder and got rid of the netting.

Most birdwatching sites and organisations recommend never leaving the nets on the fatballs as small birds can get their legs or tongues caught in the netting and die.

Trotter

Kess73 wrote: »

the fatballs will freeze solid in this weather, also it would be better if you bought a cheap fatball holder and got rid of the netting.

Most birdwatching sites and organisations recommend never leaving the nets on the fatballs as small birds can get their legs or tongues caught in the netting and die.

K.. Nets coming off asap. I'll just leave them on the table outside.

Run_to_da_hills

Place a fatball in a sock and smash it with a lump hammer into small pieces and place the bits in a saucer birds would it easier to feed off it. My ma had one of those fatball things at her kitchen window and only the odd bluetit would feed off it.

padi89

Break them up and put them in a few different places around the garden.

kevrr

It's interesting that they won't feed off the hanging food. We have a hanging bird feeder that's been up for the whole winter and we always got lots of different species feeding off it. But in the last week/ten days they just stopped eating out of it altogether.
And when we lay food on the ground below it they eat that no problem....anybody know why this might be happening? We were thinking it might be because its too much energy to get up to it?....but still it seems a bit unlikely, it's very accessible.

Run_to_da_hills

kevrr wrote: »

It's interesting that they won't feed off the hanging food. We have a hanging bird feeder that's been up for the whole winter and we always got lots of different species feeding off it. But in the last week/ten days they just stopped eating out of it altogether.
And when we lay food on the ground below it they eat that no problem....anybody know why this might be happening? We were thinking it might be because its too much energy to get up to it?....but still it seems a bit unlikely, it's very accessible.

Its probably down to energy, birds need to cling to these things and flap their wings consistantly, some maybe too week to do that.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

No such problem with hanging feeders here. They are feeding from hanging feeders and ground feeding just as before.
The "conserve energy" theory is nonsense. Any bird that has to expend unnecessary energy to feed from a standard nut or seed feeder is actually a ground feeder and you should be catering for their needs seperately. Tits etc will not expend any energy in choosing to feed from habging feeders.

OP: Hang the fat balls from something higher or where the pole/spade handle does not slope towards the food.
I find it takes even regular feeding birds in the garden a week or so to start using fat balls after they are put out for them.