Anyone here having luck with safflower seed? (1 Viewer)

[Engineeringtech]

Pox is obvious growths on the face and feet, common in house finches. Salmonella is a bit harder to spot but it's common in pine siskins and birds will sit still and puffed up, seed will stick to their beaks and they may wipe them on branches, and if they're very sick they show little fear of humans. The recommendation is to take feeders down for 2 weeks and clean them with 10% bleach water, then rinse well before putting them back up....

Thank you for the information. I don't have a feeder camera, and my birds scatter if I even enter the kitchen to look out the window. I suspect it's because a huge Cooper's Hawk has been killing my Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, and possibly my woodpeckers. They are understandably nervous about approaching my feeders with no nearby cover. At any rate, I don't think I would spot a sick bird. With the temperature ranging from minus 13 to plus 15 Fahrenheit, and a severe back injury, I can't commit the time to keep wiping stuff down with bleach. I get back spasms. I generally brush the frozen poop off the deck, and pick the frozen poop out of the open feeders with a putty knife. I really care about the birds, and hope my back finally recovers so I can be a better caretaker for them. In the meantime though, I suspect the frigid temps and hawk are bigger threats than communicable diseases. But I may be wrong. I get very few House Finches or Pine Siskins.

 

[flamingos]

Thank you for the information. I don't have a feeder camera, and my birds scatter if I even enter the kitchen to look out the window. I suspect it's because a huge Cooper's Hawk has been killing my Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, and possibly my woodpeckers. They are understandably nervous about approaching my feeders with no nearby cover. At any rate, I don't think I would spot a sick bird. With the temperature ranging from minus 13 to plus 15 Fahrenheit, and a severe back injury, I can't commit the time to keep wiping stuff down with bleach. I get back spasms. I generally brush the frozen poop off the deck, and pick the frozen poop out of the open feeders with a putty knife. I really care about the birds, and hope my back finally recovers so I can be a better caretaker for them. In the meantime though, I suspect the frigid temps and hawk are bigger threats than communicable diseases. But I may be wrong. I get very few House Finches or Pine Siskins.

I have similar issues so I'll probably be leaving my feeders down longer than the recommended 2 weeks and scrub them down on a good back day after it warms up a bit. I live in an rv with tinted windows so the birds have no idea I'm here and I watch them a lot that way too, it's nice. Sorry yours are so nervous!

 

[Engineeringtech]

Revising my initial post. I don't think the squirrels or my mourning doves like the safflower seed. I currently have 20 lbs of white safflower, 20 lbs of golden safflower, 16 lbs of striped sunflower, and about 16 lbs. of white mullet in the house - all fresh and purchased within the last month. I've been mixing it with black oil seed, cracked corn, and sunflower chips, and putting out anywhere from 3 - 6 lbs a day in hanging platform feeders and deck mounted trays. My birds (mourning doves, bluejays, Juncos, Carolina Wrens, Titmice, Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers) don't touch either variety of safflower or the millet. And they rarely eat the striped Sunflower. Wasted money, especially the golden safflower which is hyped as more nutritious and easier to eat safflower. I haven't even seen a cardinal go for the stuff!