Nyjer/Thistle Seed Sock

TechnoFreek

Has anybody used or even seen this type of nyjer feeder?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000HHQB18/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1364306347&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

Seem to be very popular in the US.

Interested to hear people's experiences of them.

Thanks

Kess73

Would not touch them with a bargepole for British and Irish species (both resident and non resident)


They are about as safe as the nylon nets that suet fatballs often come in.Used one briefly and soon stopped when I had to free redpoll on a semi regular basis.


Smaller species (like redpoll) can get their toes stuck in them, and the socks are also terrible in terms of allowing moisture into the niger. My own guess would be that one bird in every thirty or forty to use the feeder could get injured, and that is too high a rate for me as it would mean that potentially 2-4 birds could get injured every day in my garden given my daily numbers of redpoll, goldfinch and siskin.


They are also prone to having quite a lot of seed escape through the holes before the birds even get to the feeder.

They might work in dryer climates with slightly larger birds, but would not be great for over here.


For my niger preferring birds, I have two 16 port versions of this feeder out at present along with one four port version

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chapelwood-Black-Ultimate-Feeder-Pearch/dp/B003ZUXM3Y/ref=sr_1_21?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1364404337&sr=1-21


and they have a constant flow of goldfinch and redpoll to them from dawn to late dusk with no injury risks to the birds and also are pretty good at keeping the wet out.

TechnoFreek

Great detailed response man, thanks a million for that.

Had my suspicions that they weren't up to much.