Has anyone got any tips on where to buy bird food for wild visiting garden birds?

pogofish

The goldfinches are a strange one - my next door but one neighbour has loads of them in his garden but they're not interested in mine!

Do they have any yellow- flowering trees/bushes?

I’ve heard birders opine that they seem most attracted to them and certainly the only place I’d seen them regularly before was in a yellow-flowering tree by my work.

Misslayed

I typed sunflower seed, but I meant sunflower hearts! We gave up with niger, none of our regulars were interested in it. We have goldfinches, green finches, bull finches and chaffinches all queueing for sunflower hearts every day. About 17/18 different species most days. But don't be disappointed if you don't immediately have lots of visitors, they usually take their time to get used to new feeders, we put a new squirrel proof one out last Monday, no visitors til Thursday.

toadhall99

Misslayed said:

I typed sunflower seed, but I meant sunflower hearts! We gave up with niger, none of our regulars were interested in it. We have goldfinches, green finches, bull finches and chaffinches all queueing for sunflower hearts every day. About 17/18 different species most days. But don't be disappointed if you don't immediately have lots of visitors, they usually take their time to get used to new feeders, we put a new squirrel proof one out last Monday, no visitors til Thursday.

Misslayed said:

I typed sunflower seed, but I meant sunflower hearts! We gave up with niger, none of our regulars were interested in it. We have goldfinches, green finches, bull finches and chaffinches all queueing for sunflower hearts every day. About 17/18 different species most days. But don't be disappointed if you don't immediately have lots of visitors, they usually take their time to get used to new feeders, we put a new squirrel proof one out last Monday, no visitors til Thursday.

wow,that has to be better than watching tv.I'm always at home as I look after my mum who is in a hospital bed,I have just spent a month clearing and planting my back garden and it's now looking great.I'm going to look forward to sitting and watching the birds when I have everything assembled and all of the feeds.I hope it doesn't become too costly as my carers allowance doesn't go far

toadhall99

pogofish said:

There there are some good value sellers on Amazon - Maltbys I mentioned and the “Extra Select” brand too. I bought almost exclusively from them during my recovery periods from arthritis surgeries, when delivery to the door was a boon as my driving and ability to haul heavy bags around was rather limited.

I wouldn’t worry too much about where you place your bin - so long as the top clips shut so it remains water and vermin-tight. Mine sits on the slabs outside the greenhouse and at the rate my birds get through food, it’s going-off isn’t a problem.

I also tried the wheat free stuff from Amazon and although it was very good, it also contained suet pellets, which the birds of course loved but it did gum-up the feeders something rotten!

I do find that the sunflower/nyjer seed mix works better than nyjer alone as it attracts a wider range of birds - I also have several types of finch plus great and blue tits (which both also nest in my garden) coming to it. I shied-off peanuts for a while as they are particularly attractive to Greenfinches as although lovely, they can become very prolific to the detriment of other birds. Although I recently reintroduced a single smallish peanut feeder for variety.

Hi thanks,I think I have Niger seeds in my Amazon basket from Maltbys

toadhall99

KxMx said:

I get wheat free bird seed from Amazon, very little growth if any from that.
I store it in a Really Useful Box branded tub. 
Suet blocks are also a good bet in a special feeder, my birds especially love the berry varieties, they go quicker than the plainer mealworm suet. 
You may have to hunt for blocks as many out of stock at the moment. 

Hi daft question but do you have to marry up a particular size suet block feeder with the rights sized suet blocks,is it just a matter of trial and error finding the right pairing?

Rosalynda

I buy bird seed from Wilkinson's and the pound shop.

sheramber

Check out the type of birds you have coming to the garden. 
Robins e.g. are ground feeders so need a flat surface to feed off- the ground or a bird table. You do get some for ground feeders which are designed to prevent the bigger birds getting all the seed.
If possible site feeders where there is some nearby cover for birds to shelter  or hide in.( from local cats who will quickly suss them out)
Don't be surprised if it takes a while for birds to come. They are  very wary of anything new but will get used to it in time.

KxMx

toadhall99 said:

KxMx said:

I get wheat free bird seed from Amazon, very little growth if any from that.
I store it in a Really Useful Box branded tub. 
Suet blocks are also a good bet in a special feeder, my birds especially love the berry varieties, they go quicker than the plainer mealworm suet. 
You may have to hunt for blocks as many out of stock at the moment. 

Hi daft question but do you have to marry up a particular size suet block feeder with the rights sized suet blocks,is it just a matter of trial and error finding the right pairing?

Not daft at all  

I use square suet blocks with the square feeder, all are standard sized. The blocks are 300g each. 

You can also get suet logs and log shaped feeders, again (I assume) standard sized.

I get my blocks from Amazon usually ( boxes of 10, Suet to Go or Peckish) but stocks are low at the moment, found a 24 pack on a couple of other sites which I'm thinking of getting.

Savvy_Sue

KxMx said:

I get my blocks from Amazon usually ( boxes of 10, Suet to Go or Peckish) but stocks are low at the moment, found a 24 pack on a couple of other sites which I'm thinking of getting.

My local hardware shop sells half-coconut shells filled with seed mixes, the birds love them best! But the other day I noticed they only had singles rather than pairs, they said everywhere is low stock at the moment. 

What we attract seems to vary quite a bit: the seeds will sit there for ages, and then suddenly go. A few days ago there were a lot of crows and magpies arguing and feeding, not seen them for a few days. 

mr_stripey

feeding the birds and watching them gather in my garden has always been a nice hobby of mine but it has really been something to lift my spirits whilst working at home in lockdown. I'm lucky that I can see the garden from my desk. It is a real stress buster to watch them!