Sunflower heart mess (2 Viewers)

[Deb London]

It took many years for me to attract finches to my city garden, so I'm not complaining. BUT I'd dearly love to think of a way to reduce wastage beneath the feeders that the Goldies use, without encouraging disease. They are attracted to the sunflower heart feeder, and eat only a portion of each individual heart. The rest ends up on the floor.

Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mary]

Welcome, Deb! I use some off-cuts of perspex/plastic sheets under the feeder to catch most of the bits, then just rinse it off each evening down the drain, disinfect each week. Gets rid of the mess and droppings. It depends really on where your feeders are sited. Sunflower bits are so oily they can build up quite a 'gunge', so if I have a seed feeder in the front garden in winter, I have it on the empty flower bed, so I can turn the soil over and let the worms do the cleaning!

 

[nick scarle]

I agree, it's very frustrating when you buy sunflower hearts to cut down on the waste/mess from ordinary sunflower seeds. But the Greenfinches and Bullfinches still eat the hearts by stripping off the outer husk even though it's not there!

Nick

 

[Deb London]

Thanks very much to you both.

I am toying with the idea of switching to Nyger seeds. Will this reduce mess, or at least make any easier to clean? One feeder is over concrete - this is the one with the most Goldies. At the moment I shovel waste into the compost bin.

Deb

 

[catbasket]

You will be amazed at how much mess goldfinches make with Nyjer or thistle seeds! It almost looks like there's more waste than the actual amount of seeds they eat. This is one day's worth of mess -



One method I've used to reduce mess from sunflower hearts is to use an oversized home made (from a plant pot saucer) tray under the feeders -



That's a ten inch(ish) saucer in the pic. A 'problem' with that is the larger birds can stand on the tray to use the feeders. We've had two woodpigeons on that feeder at the same time.


Edit - There are lots of 2mm holes drilled in the saucers for drainage.

 

[Deb London]

Thanks catbasket. :t: Thanks for showing me the Nyger/thistle seed waste. Nice feeders, and clean too. Do you brush these to get rid of the leftovers?

I don't mind the larger birds feeding, but I am worried about the disease 'trich'. If I could devise a method by which leftover seed ignites as it drops to the floor, that would suit me fine. But (back in the real world) I want to minimise the time I spend cleaning, and reduce the temptation of susceptible birds to feed on second hand seed.

Do Greenfinches eat Nyger?

 

[etudiant]

Hi Deb,
Nyger is a big favorite for finches and siskins. They just sit on the perches and shovel it in.
I've found that if you put the feeders upside down, so the bird has to hang from the perch rather than sitting on it, they tend to be a little more careful to consume each seed before pecking at the next one. If you can do that for your sunflower hearts feeder as well, it will cut the spillage.
Do note it will also prevent sparrows and starlings from hogging your feeder, unless they can perch right on the seed opening rim.

 

[catbasket]

Do you brush these to get rid of the leftovers?

One brush for the saucers and outside of the feeders which are done daily, and another for the inside of the tubes which are cleaned weekly. The outsides also get wiped with [the anti-bacterial thing I've forgotten the name of] every couple of days.

But (back in the real world) I want to minimise the time I spend cleaning, and reduce the temptation of susceptible birds to feed on second hand seed.

A difficult balancing act for most people. I'm lucky in that I have plenty of time available for cleaning ... though I'm not looking forward to the winter!

Do Greenfinches eat Nyger?

"Allegedly" - I only ever see ours eating sunflower hearts.

 

[Deb London]

Thank you both very much.

Interesting idea, etudiant. My permanent feeders rely on a reservoir of food higher up, but I can sometimes find smaller and very cheap feeders from the supermarket. I think I will have to conduct an experiment this winter.

Thanks for all the advice, catbasket. I've been using kitchen bleach spray. Of course, I rinse the bleach away.

I'm lucky in that I haven't seen any sick birds here. But I'm becoming more aware of the dangers.

:eek!:

 

[barnstormer]

Nyjer seed is fine over concrte or paving but a definite no-no over garss as it turns the grass sour and you get growth too. I know because it happened to me.

 

[Deb London]

Cheers brainstormer. :t: I never would've imagined that it would do that.

 

[Jonathan Hare]

Do Greenfinches eat Nyger?

One thing I have found that House Sparrows around my area have tastebuds for nyger seed.

 

[theconstantwalker]

I have a couple of Wood Pigeon hoovers i could lend you. Nothing goes to waste with them around. :t:

 

[Joe1980]

I also find that house sparrows love nyger also. About the nyger growing: I don't know the laws over there, but here in the US, all nyger seed must be sterilized to prevent spread of exotic plants. I've never had it sprout, which is why I use it over areas I have landscaped and don't want weeds growing.

 

[NoSpringChicken]

I have added a seed tray the bottom of my feeder to catch some of the waste seed. The birds seem to be a bit wary of it though. Yesterday I emptied out the waste seed from the tray onto the grass for ground feeding birds. When I came home last night I discovered a Hedgehog eating it, which was a pleasant surprise.

Ron

 

[barnstormer]

I've got sunflowers growing in ther garden from waste sunflower hearts and stuff started growing from dropped nyjer as well as turning the lawn sour.

 

[Tony Knight]

I've got sunflowers growing in ther garden from waste sunflower hearts and stuff started growing from dropped nyjer as well as turning the lawn sour.

i have the same problem. As soon as i add a tray to the niger or sunflower feeder the pigeons sit there and empty the feeders so thats a no-go. Last winters "gunge" killed a large area of grass, went mouldy and had to be raked away. Putting down sheeting isn't attractive and, if waterproof, stops the water supply to the grass below. its a real pain !

Tony

 

[etudiant]

Nyjer seed spillage can mat up and get moldy pretty easily if you have active feeders.
I finally just put the feeders in the flower bed, the spillage was not as obvious and the soil gets reworked every spring anyways, so no more aggravation.
Pigeons on feeder trays are just vacuums, so either block the lower seed ports on the feeder or learn to love them.
I tried to use a hanging seed tray suspended from the bottom of the feeder, but it was a flop, the wind ensured all the collected spillage was redistributed more widely.

 

[Tony Knight]

i'd do the same but my feeders hang from tree branches over the lawn. the trees give them some protection from multiple sparrowhawk strikes and, as my garden slopes downhill, it means that though the feeders are 10 feet up, they're at eye level from the kitchen.

 

[Denny Woodthorpe]

My problem is niger seed. I can't quite be sure whether it the actual seed or husks, but my feeder is on a gravel bed and by the end of the winter, there is a black layer of "muck" on the floor which acts as a good growing bed for weeds. I now have the feeder hanging above a bird table and clear the bits away periodically. No other seed is placed on the table, just the occasional apple.