# Wild bird food



## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Can anyone recommend a wild bird food mix that garden birds eat up, leaving no waste?

I’ve tried various mixes over the years but there always seems to be one or more ingredients that get left - causing mess or sprouting weeds.

I’ve recently opted for mixing my own using sunflower hearts, peanuts (whole and kibbled), suet pellets, fat balls and dried insects - all from Wilko.

Just lately though, the sunflower hearts aren’t all being eaten up.

Recommendations gratefully received please


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Interesting that the hearts are being left, they are the first things to go here. The only thing I might say is with it being so wet recently it’s possible that the fat pellets are not keeping entire and covering the sunflower hearts leaving them less appealing. We keep the suet pellets in a separate feeder and I’ve noticed that if they get wet and soggy looking and going claggy the birds start ignoring them.


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

I feed RSPCA suet sprinkles (mini pellets suitable for year round feeding). Ive tried other stuff but they simply arent interested, especially with seeds.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Nonnie said:


> I feed RSPCA suet sprinkles (mini pellets suitable for year round feeding). Ive tried other stuff but they simply arent interested, especially with seeds.


Do you mean RSPB?


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

Lurcherlad said:


> Do you mean RSPB?


Yes, those ones. Fingers took over my brain


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Siskin said:


> Interesting that the hearts are being left, they are the first things to go here. The only thing I might say is with it being so wet recently it's possible that the fat pellets are not keeping entire and covering the sunflower hearts leaving them less appealing. We keep the suet pellets in a separate feeder and I've noticed that if they get wet and soggy looking and going claggy the birds start ignoring them.


The suet getting wet was a problem but I've put covers over all but one feeder now so it stays dry. All of them, including the one ground feeder without a cover are cleared pretty fast of everything bar the sunflower hearts which look clean to me.

Maybe I'm just putting too many out and should reduce the ratio.

The squirrels used to hoover up what was left but maybe they aren't as active at this time of year.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

What birds are you getting on a regular basis. We’ve now got my namesakes, Siskins and a lot of goldfinches. Both just sit on the sunflower feeders and gobble. The pellets seem to interest the various tit species, some go onto the sunflower, but their main interest is peanuts whether as whole in a feeder or bits. Any uneaten seed that fall to the ground are hoovered up by the ground crew which is mainly chaffinches, robins, dunnocks, pigeons and blackbirds. Occasionally get a squirrel, but all our feeders are squirrel proofed and Isla keeps a watch so she can bark at them and try to throw herself through the patio doors.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Quite a variety - Wood pigeons, collard doves, blackbirds, thrush, starlings, magpies, robins, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, goldfinch, garden warbler, wren, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, nuthatch, jays and spotted woodpecker as well as a number of squirrels.

Maybe I have a dodgy bag of sunflower hearts or am just putting too many out at a time. I’ll put out less tomorrow.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

We have had a small amount of sunflower seeds that got hidden away and left for about a year and we did notice the birds didn’t like it so much, so that could be it.
I know a lot of the finches assess the seed before they eat especially gold and green finches, they will pick up a seed and judge it by weight and size, if it’s not up to scratch it will be discarded. Maybe they are able to realise that the seed isn’t right and now are not bothering to even assess it.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

I’ll buy some fresh sunflower hearts this week.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

My friends have recently gone off the sunflower hearts, whereas a month ago the seed was being left.
The best seed I've found is JOHNSTON & JEFF Spring & Summer Wild Bird Seed Mix. Still some waste but not as much.
The trouble is, the feeder feeders always drop some that the floor eaters don't necessarily like

It's always got to be better to mix your own dependent on what birds you are attracting. So a fuss though eh?


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

I don’t mind mixing it - I do a few days worth at a time.

I just hate the waste and the mess it leaves.


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

I've tried lots of differents brands/mixes from the very £1 shop cheap to the garden centre's very expensive !
However my birds seem to prefer the mix from Lidl ! £3.49 for a 5 kilo bag

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/bird-feeders/erdtmann-bird-seeds/p40184


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

I can’t have any viable seeds as they play havoc with the gravel on my terrace and ruin the grass.


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