I feed 98 % sunflower seeds. Some saflier . One cup of unshelled unsalted peanuts for the blue jay. I believe I have almost every species of birds in central Pa in abundance. Everyone seems totally happy.
Peanut butter & cornmeal smeared on home made feeder(log) is always enjoyed. I drilled. 3 one inch depressions for the peanut butter, and nailed 3 nails for perches. ❤
Great video. Having some nyjer seed mixed in with the fine sunflower chips also helps to maintain flow and avoid clumping - I agree, around 75% chips : 25% nyjer (by volume) is a good ratio. I use a tube finch feeder with tear-drop shaped holes that allow the chips to pass freely without spilling out. All that gets discarded is what remains of the flaky pellicle (the membrane surrounding the kernel 'meat') still attached to the chips. Without doubt this is the most efficient way to feed hulled sunflower seed to finches and other birds with small beaks.
I have many species of birds. Quail and doves that feed from the ground, so I put out a mixed seed for them in a ground feeder. Black oil sunflower seeds in another hanging feeder and a Nyjer in a Nyjer sock for the finches, a lot of yellow finches. A hanging nut log for the stellar, scrub jays, and woodpeckers. Suet as well in the winter. In another suet cage I make a cake for them with crunchy peanut butter mixed with seed and a few oats which the birds eat that up in a day!
We live in West TN and very seldom see goldfinches. I have in the past gotten excited at seeing them at times only to never see them again even though I had nyger feeders up. They never visited them. I now understand that in winter they don't have bright yellow plumage. I began to wonder if the seed, even though it's not spoiled or moldy was too old if that's possible. It's now January and after watching your video on nyger seed I put out feeders with sunflower bits. This is a learning process for me. I bought coarse sunflower bits and hanging tube feeders (not the ones with small holes for nyger seed). The house finches love me. I just ordered the proper goldfinch feeder and fine sunflower bits from your site. My question is about goldfinch populations. Is it possible that we just don't have goldfinches in this area?
You certainly have them there. It may be a question of habitat near you. Goldfinches love weedy fields and field edges for natural seed supplies. They are not forest birds and sometimes it is that you may live in an area that is too far from their prefered natural habitat. Good luck.
@@MarksBackyardBirds Thank you very much for your timely response. As luck would have it I believe that I did see some at the feeders today. They were promptly chased off either by the house finches or purple finches. The birds are all hungry in this cold weather. Can't wait for the feeder and seed I ordered from your site to arrive. I still don't understand why they won't visit the nyger feeder. I don't have weedy fields with a lot of seed bearing plants near me but I do grow a lot of zinnias and leave the seed heads for them. I have in the past seen them feeding on these. Thank you for your great youtube site and all the info I've gotten from it. Jim
Do you sell upside down feeders? I live in St Louis and often in the winter my feeder will be overrun with House Finches and House Sparrows and after watching one of your other videos, I was thinking an upside down feeder might be the way to go. The House Finches in particular will just perch on the feeder for long periods of time and prevent native small birds like goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice from perching. I actually will have to scare them off. Haha
Could I still feed nyjer, because I put a no-mess blend on my platform feeder that has sunflower chips in it. I also have a hopper feeder that has a mix of black oil sunflower, safflower, and striped sunflower. I try to have a variation of food types for different birds. I would like to feed just straight nyjer. I have also heard that house finches don't like nyjer as much as goldfinches. I would just like to know if they would even eat it if I put it out in a tube finch feeder.
That is a good question. I have seen a strong trend away from Nyjer the last several years. Most who still feed it, do it because of what doesn't like it (squirrels, grackle, House Sparrows, etc). House Finch do eat it but they prefer safflower seed. Sunflower kernels (fine, mediums or whole hearts) are higher in oil and fat thus better nutritionally for all birds. Goldfinches are pretty timid birds so the lack of activity at a Nyjer filled feeder may be appealing to them.
do bird bath heaters exist that don't require a plug-in? all I usually find is tbe plug in kind, but we don't have an outdoor outlet, and i can't keep a door or window ajar all winter to run an extension cord through, but i do want to maintain a water source during winter. i have a resin bath, hanging in a tree.
Unfortunately, they really don't. If you live in the southern US where temps seldom fall below 20 and sun shines a lot, you can often get by with a black bowl. Here in the Midwest, the temperature often cause a shallow birdbath to freeze overnight and the skies are often overcast. Solar technology is not where it can melt that type of ice. I've been told by manufacturers of bird bath de-icers that the technology is not even close yet.
Both species are irregular visitors most winter in the central and southern parts of the US. Redpolls are very uncommon this far south most years. This winter’s projections were for low numbers of siskins due to good food up north. They are generally mixed in with goldfinches when we do see them so Nyjer and sunflower chips are your best bets.
I feed 98 % sunflower seeds. Some saflier . One cup of unshelled unsalted peanuts for the blue jay. I believe I have almost every species of birds in central Pa in abundance. Everyone seems totally happy.
That is a great combination.
Peanut butter & cornmeal smeared on home made feeder(log) is always enjoyed. I drilled. 3 one inch depressions for the peanut butter, and nailed 3 nails for perches.
❤
That is a great mixture for many birds.
Mark, we use your Black Tie mix for our Goldfinches. They absolutely love it!
Thanks Jim. I go through a bunch in my yard each winter!
Great video. Having some nyjer seed mixed in with the fine sunflower chips also helps to maintain flow and avoid clumping - I agree, around 75% chips : 25% nyjer (by volume) is a good ratio. I use a tube finch feeder with tear-drop shaped holes that allow the chips to pass freely without spilling out. All that gets discarded is what remains of the flaky pellicle (the membrane surrounding the kernel 'meat') still attached to the chips. Without doubt this is the most efficient way to feed hulled sunflower seed to finches and other birds with small beaks.
@@BryWorYT Absolutely! 👍
I have many species of birds. Quail and doves that feed from the ground, so I put out a mixed seed for them in a ground feeder. Black oil sunflower seeds in another hanging feeder and a Nyjer in a Nyjer sock for the finches, a lot of yellow finches. A hanging nut log for the stellar, scrub jays, and woodpeckers. Suet as well in the winter. In another suet cage I make a cake for them with crunchy peanut butter mixed with seed and a few oats which the birds eat that up in a day!
You have so many more dove and quail than we do here in the Midwest
We live in West TN and very seldom see goldfinches. I have in the past gotten excited at seeing them at times only to never see them again even though I had nyger feeders up. They never visited them. I now understand that in winter they don't have bright yellow plumage. I began to wonder if the seed, even though it's not spoiled or moldy was too old if that's possible. It's now January and after watching your video on nyger seed I put out feeders with sunflower bits. This is a learning process for me. I bought coarse sunflower bits and hanging tube feeders (not the ones with small holes for nyger seed). The house finches love me. I just ordered the proper goldfinch feeder and fine sunflower bits from your site. My question is about goldfinch populations. Is it possible that we just don't have goldfinches in this area?
You certainly have them there. It may be a question of habitat near you. Goldfinches love weedy fields and field edges for natural seed supplies. They are not forest birds and sometimes it is that you may live in an area that is too far from their prefered natural habitat. Good luck.
@@MarksBackyardBirds Thank you very much for your timely response. As luck would have it I believe that I did see some at the feeders today. They were promptly chased off either by the house finches or purple finches. The birds are all hungry in this cold weather. Can't wait for the feeder and seed I ordered from your site to arrive. I still don't understand why they won't visit the nyger feeder. I don't have weedy fields with a lot of seed bearing plants near me but I do grow a lot of zinnias and leave the seed heads for them. I have in the past seen them feeding on these. Thank you for your great youtube site and all the info I've gotten from it. Jim
@ You are welcome 🙏. Thanks for watching
I hesistate to use mesh feeders in autumn/winter. Rain, snow, ice.
@@mairwaugus5203 I agree.
Do you sell upside down feeders? I live in St Louis and often in the winter my feeder will be overrun with House Finches and House Sparrows and after watching one of your other videos, I was thinking an upside down feeder might be the way to go. The House Finches in particular will just perch on the feeder for long periods of time and prevent native small birds like goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice from perching. I actually will have to scare them off. Haha
We do: shopbackyardbirdcenter.com/collections/starling-resistant-suet-feeders
We also have the upside down finch feeders.
Could I still feed nyjer, because I put a no-mess blend on my platform feeder that has sunflower chips in it. I also have a hopper feeder that has a mix of black oil sunflower, safflower, and striped sunflower. I try to have a variation of food types for different birds. I would like to feed just straight nyjer. I have also heard that house finches don't like nyjer as much as goldfinches. I would just like to know if they would even eat it if I put it out in a tube finch feeder.
That is a good question. I have seen a strong trend away from Nyjer the last several years. Most who still feed it, do it because of what doesn't like it (squirrels, grackle, House Sparrows, etc). House Finch do eat it but they prefer safflower seed. Sunflower kernels (fine, mediums or whole hearts) are higher in oil and fat thus better nutritionally for all birds. Goldfinches are pretty timid birds so the lack of activity at a Nyjer filled feeder may be appealing to them.
do bird bath heaters exist that don't require a plug-in? all I usually find is tbe plug in kind, but we don't have an outdoor outlet, and i can't keep a door or window ajar all winter to run an extension cord through, but i do want to maintain a water source during winter. i have a resin bath, hanging in a tree.
Unfortunately, they really don't. If you live in the southern US where temps seldom fall below 20 and sun shines a lot, you can often get by with a black bowl. Here in the Midwest, the temperature often cause a shallow birdbath to freeze overnight and the skies are often overcast. Solar technology is not where it can melt that type of ice. I've been told by manufacturers of bird bath de-icers that the technology is not even close yet.
I have been having trouble with attracting pine Siskins and redpolls during winter. Do you have any tips?
Both species are irregular visitors most winter in the central and southern parts of the US. Redpolls are very uncommon this far south most years. This winter’s projections were for low numbers of siskins due to good food up north. They are generally mixed in with goldfinches when we do see them so Nyjer and sunflower chips are your best bets.
I think I will buy a 50/50 finch blend instead. Hopefully they will eat they nyjer out of it too.
They eat it at my house but it’s do like to add more fine chips to the mixture
I don't like the House Finches.
I understand that. In certain areas they are very numerous and drive off the goldfinches