bird seed thoughts of mine:
Fresh is best.
The older the seed, the more nutrition has been lost.
The longer seed is stored the more opportunity for it to go bad.
Old or diminished nutrition seed makes our feeder frequentors work harder to get the same amount of food and takes more time and energy to sort the good from the not so good. making them more vulnerable to predation.
Having blackbirds, grackles or squirrels dessimate our feeders is not a good reason to put out cheap or lesser quality food.
Keeping seed dry is important as many birds are very susceptible to mold. even the ground feeders.
Doc always reminded us to have some 'grit ' available to birds as well as fresh water.
I compost old or damp seed at the end of the season (I only Winter emergency feed as I also feed feral cats)
J
Feeding feathered and furry friends
Good advice, coleup.
I use these trays for ground feeders because the seed stays cleaner and drier: http://www.duncraft.com/Duncraft-Eco-Strong-Ground-Platform
There are cheaper ones commercially available, but the ones I've tried let millet seeds fall through, and don't last as long.
It would be easy to make something like this; I think I'll ask family members who like to make things to make some for me.
This message was edited Jan 2, 2015 12:49 PM
I am so excited!! About a dozen bluebirds were at my suet feeders today. I haven't seen bluebirds in my back yard for at least 2 years. They seemed to favor the suet mixed with peanut butter and dried mealworms.
Unfortunately, I made the same mistake I made before..I went out one time too many in order to put out more food, and scared most of them away : - (
Several have come back, so I'm hopeful the rest will decide my yard is safe again.
That's pretty sweet Muddy, bluebirds are so pretty.
The only thing coming to our feeder is a junco and a cardinal couple.
I'm hoping the brave bluebird couple will lead the timid ones back tomorrow. This time, I'll be ready for them!
There was an unusual amount of bird activity in my yard today: the usual numbers of blue jays, mourning doves and cardinals, but more finches (house finches, I think), fox sparrows, white-throated sparrows, and juncos. There was 1 lone starling.
The blue birds were icing on the suet cakes : - )
So--I dumped a good amount of black sunflower seeds here and there this morning.
Enough for the squirrels to get their fill.
They must have--because guess what they were doing?
Grabbing ONE s-f-seed and burying it in my lawn. Come back--grab another one
and bury that. and so on.
I can see burying peanuts and acorns--but single sunflower seeds????
Hmmmm....Gita
You might have lots of sunflowers popping up next year!
Squirrels have been burying peanuts in the mulch in my flower beds, but at least they're not digging up plants in the process. They seem to think that hiding them under 2 inches of mulch is adequate.
Lol..too bad farmers can't get an army of squirrels to plant their fields...
haha Seq!
I can't tell you how many whole in shell peanuts I have found in my pots over the years, I even found another in the garden yesterday. I NEVER ever give them whole peanuts. Some neighbor must, and they bring them all the way here, its crazy.
Those sunflower sprouts will of course not make it past first lawn mowing.
Wow Muddy, that's more blue birds than I have seen in my whole life! Sure hope they come back today. Do bluebirds stay all winter here or move further south? Loved your 'icing on the suet cakes' line. They really are lovely birds.
Do you report any of your sightings to the Audubon Bird Counts? The Christmas Bird Count ends this Sunday and the Great BackYard Bird Count begins Fri Feb 13 thru Mon Feb 16
http://gbbc.birdcount.org/
On the site above they have a link called 'Tricky bird IDs'
http://gbbc.birdcount.org/learn_about_birds/
I've never seen bluebirds in my yard. I've never put out mealworms.
Muddy, would you like to give us a new thread?
Yes indeed! We've migrated to here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1383864/