Here are some tips on how to start feeding your garden birds. With advice on what type of food and feeders to use. Watch our second video for tips on cleaning your feeders to prevent disease and where to locate your feeders.
A good quality tile or tiles are great for a bird table base.They clean easily and don't go rotten and easy to add a slight upstand around the edges using exterior tile adhesive to stop the seeds from blowing away.Purspex is also a good material for the base and holes can be drilled easily to drain the water.
Good stuff; sound advice, well presented. Very important to cut away any soft fine plastic mesh from nuts and fat balls to avoid foot/leg tangling - don't forget that fine mesh is what they used to put along branches in the olden days to catch small birds for the cooking pot! One other point: it's nice to feed the small 'cute' little birds, but please don't ignore the 'bullies' like jackdaws and magpies. True, they're not tiny and twee, but they need food, too. A starving magpie will chase, kill and eat smaller birds, but a well-fed one won't bother them. Put some 'big' food out for big birds, but as far away from your regular bird table as possible. On top of a flat garage roof is ideal. Oh, and if you have cats (who should be indoors and fast asleep during the day!), let them watch through the window, rather than perched on the edge of the birdbath... :-)
What would you suggest as ‘big’ food? I have fat balls and nuts for the smaller birds but there is a magpie who chases the blackbirds in our garden. I throw seeded sandwich crusts out daily which he eats.
I put out field corn for the squirrels on a holder, however sometimes at night the raccoons come to eat too, BUT it keeps them out of my bird feeders, which they will destroy. I have them seperated by at least 15-20 feet. In winter you can use a heated dog bowl for the birds, which works perfect for them to have access to water. I put mine on the deck railing.
Actually, amazingly enough, you should not use hot water, if you want the water to last longer before freezing. This is called the Mpemba-effect. Hot freezes before cold. Especially following the method you described with your bird-bath. If you use very hot water, the evaporation will cause less water to be left, thus freezing faster. The thin sheet of ice left in the bowl, will act as an insulator. If the ice is melted away, the hot water increases the convection currents and the cold from the stone bowl will spread faster to the water, thus freezing it faster Also, the molecular movement in hotter water is higher, and will act as an agent spreading ice crystals to the entirety of the water body =) I have no idea what temperature is the ideal one, but I usually go for about 15 Celsius. Great video by the way. But please feed the squirrels too. Love from Norway
I dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know of a method to get back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot the login password. I love any help you can give me
@Madden Huxley i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Thanks for the video, I've been feeding my feather friends for many years now. I sorta mix my own seed consisting of: Black sunflower seed, cracked corn, dried mealworms and some cheap birdseed from the big box store, I put the Nigel seed in a separate feeder. I put out store bought suet and also mix lard, peanut butter and bird seed and place it in a hanging log with 1 inch holes drilled in it. I also maintain a five gallon heated bird bath which I won't get into cause this comment is getting way too long, sorry.
Thank you for this video. You have some beautiful birds in your area. I live in the US, in Ohio. We get some very nice birds as well. Some similar, some different.
Yeah because that's what we do we shoot things that get in our way !!!🐦🐦🐦wow I bet your life really sucks!!and you're probably the type of person that is court-ordered to take anger management haha
I'm glad I came across this video. My birds don't bother with peanuts for some reason. They just go mouldy and Niger seeds are a no no as well. I thought dried fruit like sultanas were good for them, but they ignore them as well. Fussy little rascals.
Thanks for posting an interesting and informative video. Just surprised that you didn't mention that peanuts should only be given by way of a wire mesh feeder such as the one that you have. Smaller birds can choke on whole peanuts if put loose on a table or on the ground (although if I was to put any on the ground in my garden the squirrels would soon remove them before the birds were able to get anywhere near them!)
Birds are amazing--just another reason for me to not eat eggs (as I have a family history of Cancer the choline in eggs is the other). Great video--thank you
Oh you lucky man,you get to veiw and love all those lovely birds,I so enjoy your videos,most informative,,,,,I learn so much about birds, just like to listen to their whistles, thank you much for sharing.
Javanese culture in Indonesia understands that if we are friends with nature then nature will give us a lot of goodness, success for "Sussex.........." ....Java Central, Indonesia, watch this video
i found rats were crawling up the pole of my bird table and were helping themselves at night, to alleviate this i used a large upturned plastic plant pot, slit down one side with a square cut at what was the bottom of the plant pot, position it upside down on the pole and fix it under the feed table, no more rats on bird table !!!
Also a warning for peanuts they need to be split. Lots of birds including the red Robin here in the United States love them but they don’t break them up and when they swallow them they choke to death. So avoid whole peanuts and aflatoxins. Just buy split peanuts :-) or chop them yourself
That's a rather large suet ball! I like smaller suet pieces called bark butter bits. They are small like cat food and come in hot pepper flavor that makes them less appetizing to squirrels and other unwanted rodents. They are easy to place on a tray feeder just a few at a time.
Blackbirds will raid any source of food. Where I feed birds, they will barricade themselves in the seed feeder and proceed to empty it. 3.5 kilos in two days.
"Fat balls" Perhaps you should make an appointment with your GP? 🤭 Sorry, couldn't resist! But I have such a love of feeding the birds and watching them. It makes me feel calm and it fills their little bellies ❤️
I have a bad problem with Starlings, other black birds and squirrels stealing most of the seed. Occasionally pigeons as well.. Also get Cardinals, Finches, House Sparrows
You got me worried about aflatoxins in peanuts, but to quote wiki: 'The staple commodities regularly contaminated with aflatoxins include cassava, chilies, corn, cotton seed, millet, peanuts, rice, sorghum, sunflower seeds, tree nuts, wheat, and a variety of spices intended for human or animal consumption.'
I have fed wild birds for many years. I have 2 pairs of gold finches and others. They fascinate me.. empty the bird bath overnight then there is nothing to freeze
In the US we use suet cakes, not balls, and it's easy to pour your own suet/seed mix in a pan and then cut it into chunks. An image search on "suet cake feeder plans" will get you lots of ideas.
My problem with my feeders is the crows. I'm thinking can I put a frame around the table and hanging feeders with 2" mesh chicken wire so the small birds can get in and the crows cant. Any help appreciated thanks.
My advice is to buy in bulk from Amazon or Ebay or Wilkinsons. It can be much, much cheaper and, if you shop around, it can be much better quality than buying in little packets sold for profit.
They do love them. I buy in shell for the squirrels and will sit and shell them and toss them to a family of doves when I am in the garden. They will stop eating the seeds or suet cakes and come right up to me for peanuts. And theres a crow that sits outside my window and gets loud if I don’t come out with food in a timely manner. Birds are so smart. I will drive into my parking spot and the squirrels and birds run up to the car. They know if I have been out I have brought them something, lol.
Try safflower seed! The favorite of cardinals and it's bitter to squirrels. It will keep them at bay but they will eat if they can't find anything else.
Putting food on the ground is a really bad idea as it will encourage rats, a well fed rat can have a litter of 18 every 6 weeks resulting in thousands a year. Part of the idea of bird tables is to prevent rats from getting at the food.
Great video man it's good :D I just have a question, is it safe to throw food at the ground and let it be there for the birds to eat? Can't the food that is on the ground become unhealthy for the birds to eat after some time?
KongleKeiseren I know you wrote your comment 3 years ago, but I just found the answer to your question tonight. Husks from seeds should be picked up as it can cause a bacteria that’s harmful to the birds. And as someone else pointed out, leaving the food right on the ground can encourage rats.
My other concern regarding feed on the ground is it may make the birds more vulnerable to predation from cats. Dogs can also be attracted to seed on the ground, which could lead to E. coli if there is bird feces in it :-( I keep my cat inside and only goes out on a lead to restrain her hunting instinct, and my landlord's dog may have just become sick from eating bird seed that got buried under the (now melting) snow. I built a seed catcher out of mesh produce bags and cedar that is clamped to the fence. The mesh can be removed for cleaning, and is fine enough that Nyger can't get through but water can.
I have a bird bath and it’s cleaned regularly and filled up however all the garden birds will bath and drink rain water that collects in a bucket outside. I’m not sure how to make them use the bird bath
Can anybody tell me why my garden birds are not eating my new fruit and berry suet pellets. I have them in a feeder, on a bird table, on a ground feeder and scattered on the ground. Help.
In My Garden The Goldfinches Go For The Nyjer And Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts Are Useless, No Birds Take Any Notice Of Them And Then They Just Go All Rotten. Fat Balls Get Sliced Open By Woodpeckers. (This is only the case in my garden)
THANK YOU❤ I JUST MOVED INTO THE FOREST🌲 FROM NEW YORK CITY AREA🗽, WE ARE WAIST HIGH IN SNOW... I JUST NOTICED TINY BIRDS ABOUT.. I BEEN THROWING BREAD OUT NOW AND ANY OTHER BITS OF FOOD FOR THEM! I WANT TO HELP THEM, I BEEN LOOKING AT BIRD FEEDERS NOW! THANKS TO YOU, I WILL NOT BUY PLASTIC NOW! I SEEN THEM ON SALE, WAS GOING TO MAKE THAT MY NEXT PURCHASE, NOT NOW! I WILL GET THE METAL... AND KEEP FEEDING THE SQUIRRELS WALNUTS ON THE GROUND! 🖒😇
LISA & THE KOZY KITTY KAMPERVAN - no, a bird expert I listened to said bread is not good for birds. It is better if they eat natural food. Seeds, nuts, berries. Cut up an apple and an orange.
@Carol V WELL I FOUND OUT WHAT THE CUTIE PIES ARE ON MY PROPERTY, ❤THEY ARE "CHICK A DEES"! SO CUTE! ❤ I WENT TO MY LOCAL MARKET & GOT SHELLED SUNFLOWER SEEDS & PEANUT BUTTER, THE LADY WORKING THERE TOLD ME THEY LOVE PEANUT BUTTER🤗. I WILL BE PURCHASING A FEEDER & HOUSES SOON! WHEN VETERANS CHECK COMES IN ON THE 19th, DEFINATELY VISITING THE LOCAL TRACTOR SUPPLY STORE LIKE PLACE HERE. I WILL GET BIRD SEED & LEARN MORE. "HOW'S THAT CAROL"? AM I DOING GOOD? FRIENDS & KINDNESS GOES A LONG WAY IN LEARNING & BEING BETTER.... FROM NYC🗽SLUMS (WATERBUGS, SEAGULLS, PIGEONS, RATS & ROACHES) TO COUNTRY FOREST🌲 (BIRDS, DEER, ELK, MOOSE & BUFFALO) IS A BIG CHANGE. I HEAR THERES MOUNTAIN LIONS, NOT SEEN ONE YET THO. I WILL HAVE TO KILL IT THO IF IT ATTACKS ME. BUT I AM LOVING TO LEARN MY NEW SURROUNDINGS! ❤💋❤ 🖒😇👌
Over the last 6 months I have has visits from sparrows several times each day, but over the last month or so, I've hardly seen any at all, I wonder if they are fed up with my feeders?
I've seen videos of people making their own suet & seed balls for birds. Many add peanut butter, but peanut butter is packed with salt. Could this be bad for small birds??
I Feed them SUNFLOWER HEARTS❤ RSPB FAT CYLINDER IS BEST ON MARKET all year if they need it , it's there , they're not lazy they go about life as Usual ". 🌏
So these birds you mentioned typically don't eat shelled nuts..they have a much smaller beak typically only blue Jays with the consideration of a few bigger birds, eat the nuts. what you will see is these little birds picking at the shells of nuts that have fallen from other bigger birds. What I typically do is I will take nuts that aren't shelled cut them up chop them up coarsely and sprinkle them in with their bird feed on either a wood board or something like that.