Seed falling out of feeders (1 Viewer)

[socksitis]

I have seed feeder, thought they were getting through it a bit fast, but I discovered the majority of it on the floor! The chickens think the garden is heaven. What I have is a tube feeder with access holes, thought that was so much better than the ones with a tray at the bottom, but I could be very wrong. Any ideas please.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

I've got three tube seed feeders: two Droll Yankee models and one Gardman. The Droll Yankees are fine but the Gardman is exactly like yours. We had to stop using it as it was wasting so much seed. I think the problem is that, whereas the Droll Yankees have round holes, the Gardman's are like little doors, arched at the top but straight at the bottom. I suspect that the seed escapes because it hasn't got the round bottom corners to hold it back.

I tried emailing Gardman but didn't get anywhere and they just told me it was a tried and tested design.

I don't know if yours is a Gardman feeder but I'm afraid I haven't found a solution yet anyway.

Ron

 

[J Huff]

Hi,

You could try hanging a tray feeder from the bottom of the tube feeders to catch the seed. I have done this in the past and it works very well.

John

 

[KnockerNorton]

it could be due to what you're feeding. If you're feeding mixed seed, the birds will often chuck out all the wheat ect to get at the oil-rich sunflower etc. What you could do is switch to pure sunflower or nyjer. Or it may be a squirrel shaking it to get the seed on to the floor where it can eat it more easily.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

it could be due to what you're feeding. If you're feeding mixed seed, the birds will often chuck out all the wheat ect to get at the oil-rich sunflower etc. What you could do is switch to pure sunflower or nyjer. Or it may be a squirrel shaking it to get the seed on to the floor where it can eat it more easily.

For some reason our birds work the other way round. They discard all the sunflower seeds and eat the rest.

Ron

 

[Jonathan Hare]

I don't find it a problem having the seed fall/ chucked to the ground as I have got loads of ground feeding birds visiting all the time so cleaning up the spill.

 

[Euan Buchan]

I once tried putting seeds in a peanut feeder but that too made a mess so stoped doing that

 

[socksitis]

Thanks for all the suggestions, the chickens are visiting the area below the feeders daily! So ground birds are not having much of a chance. I do think it is the roundness of the feeding holes rather than the seed mix, as to the nyjer seed, would not see that in there very long, would end up being like a sand timer!
Think I will have to buy again, but better!

 

[baggy2508]

Hi.
Could your trouble be caused by Starlings feeding on the tube feeders, the Starling in my garden hang off of the feeders and chuck everything out onto the floor.
Regards John B

 

[socksitis]

I have bought a specific feeder for the nyjer seed, that is ok'ish, but as for the seed feeders, I can see why they sell it in great big buckets! have different brands of hole in seed feeders, pouring through it is, hmmmm, I did get on better with one sort of seed in the feeders, I think they are picking through for tasty morsels.

Please can anyone suggest what style or make is more suitable to mixed seed feeding?

 

[etudiant]

Mixed seed is a challenge simply because birds have very real taste preferences and will sift through and discard the unwanted sorts in order to get at their preferred bits. I threw in the towel eventually and shifted to separate feeders, one for shelled sunflower(otherwise the shells are death to the grass under the feeder), one for nyjer and the third for safflower, preferred by the cardinals. That eliminated the waste almost entirely.