Fat balls - why not crush em for the robins etc (1 Viewer)

[scodger]

I don't know if other people do this but as well as hanging them up I also
crush them fine and scatter on bird table or wherever - they are them much easier for everything especially birds like robin, dunnock and blackcap. If they are finely crushed the bigger birds don't find it so easy pinching it so quickly. But you will go through more as they are popular if presented like this!

Can tend to be a bit greasy if you do this so put inside a plastic or paper bag first

( if you are seeing Tree Sparrows please let me know here using a simple online form, thanks! http://www.treesparrows.com/sightings.php )

 

[KC Foggin]

I do this for my ground feeders that don't perch well on the side of a tree to feed from the suet feeder.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

Yes David. I do this too. The corvids fight over the hanging feeder but the small birds get their share too.

 

[Steve Dudley]

I feed all sorts of food, including crumbled fat products, on the ground under a large metal cage. Anything up to Blackbird size can get in but it keeps out the Collared Doves and Pheasants.

 

[devon.birder]

Crushing up fat balls for Robins and others is a good idea scodger. My bird table is covered by an old freezer drawer so birds like Blackbirds can access the food but it keeps larger birds out. I have though seen Crows perched on top and reach down to pinch the food. I have two hanging fat ball feeders as well so Tits etc are not excluded. Roger

 

[Joe1980]

If I did that, it'd all be eaten by crows and squirrels. Let me tell ya, a crow will eat a LOT of suet. In fact, I had to build an upside down style suet feeder to keep the crows and starlings away. Before I made it, with just a regular suet cage feeder, a block of suet would get wiped out before noon, and I'm not willing to pay that much to feed starlings and crows.

 

[Steve.B]

Yep I crush the fat balls as well and mix in a few meal worms the robins love it....

 

[Joe1980]

I hear all these stories of the neat things some of you do and am quite jealous. It's a shame, because I live in a small town about 1/2 mile from a 33,000 acre wildlife refuge, so you'd think I'd get to indulge in the neat birds that come with it. now don't get me wrong, I do have a diversity of birds because of it, but I also have the birds that ruin it, namely house sparrows and starlings. I tried mealworms once, and they were quickly found by sparrows, and a few starlings, and wiped out. If I leave suet easily accessible, same deal, the starlings somehow find it and gobble it up. I don't even see starlings but a few times a year, and they're not too big of a problem here, but they seem to have a 6th sense for finding suet. I put up a few nest boxes, and all I get is house sparrows. They will chase off any other native bird that shows interest. If I don't provide millet for them, they will take over my other feeders. I have to feed them in order to keep my other birds fed at their feeder. I'm at a crossroads with it now. I appreciate all birds and their individual unique ways, but as I've said in other posts, I fantasize about a yard full of pretty native birds, and having them beable to use my nest boxes. I don't know where to go with my current situation.

 

[wildlifelove]

I will be trying this! Sound's good to me! and it's always good seeing the small birds like robins getting some feed!

 

[Marmot]

I get 50 to 100 fat balls at a time and you can always guarantee there is going to be a squashed few out of them so they are always put on the ground for the ground feeders that otherwise would not get them. When I got my delivery the other day a Robin made short work of the bits that had crumbled off them in the container.

 

[wildlifelove]

I will be crushing some up 2 morrow morning when i put out my new feeder i made (Home made) and can put some crush in that along with some raisins, oat's and some un eaten cheese biscuit But will be put in water before hand

 

[wildlifelove]

Had no luck on the ball's in a feeder and then crushed one up put it out and had intrest in the space of 5 mins! GOOD tip...I would try
Only thinng it was not a robin but a blackbird! ahah