Think I've got some dodgy fat balls because they are not the garden birds no 1 food, even in this cold spell, they are not getting too much attention. I was thinking if I bought a big block of lard and melted it down with some kind of food mixed in it might be better. Any ideas as to what to mix in with the melted lard.
I used to make 'bird puddings'. Suet, lard, cheap porridge oats, chopped nuts, raisins, currants etc. Any leftover Christmas stuff like figs or dates + chopped apple.
I am finding exactly the same just now and it is not the Fat Balls. I have a huge big tub and they were going like hotcakes (a whole feeder full in a day) and now they are not going near them. I broke some into smaller irregular pieces and put them on my bird table and they scoffed those but the ones in the metal mesh tube are being ignored.
Birds are surprisingly intelligent when it comes to feeding. If they're ignoring perfectly good food, it is likely due to the positioning. Before using a feeding station, they will case it out from a safe distance. If they decide that there is an ambush opportunity for a cat, they will ignore it. So consider overhangs and obscured corners where a predator could lurk. If there's any way a predator could ambush the birds while they're feeding, the food will be ignored unless they're really starving.
The fatball feeder is next to the sunflower seeds, and they are going for them all the time. Maybe its just the wrong food for the time of year? and its mostly starlings that go for the balls along with blue tits. But its all peanuts and sunflower seeds ATM.
Same here, fat balls next to sunflower hearts but totally ignored, even the Starlings aren't going for them. Peanuts are popular, Sparrows and Blue tits are on them all day Ground feeders are, Pigeons, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Pied Wagtails.
The fat ball feeder is in its usual place. The starlings will normally come right up to the window to feed. In fact, they rattle the window as they are fighting for access. The balls may be frozen now but they weren't a week ago and they were still ignoring them. The sparrows and tits are currently feeding on seed. They also visit the peanuts which they didn't do for a while. I think it is just a case of eating what it is they currently want. This was a few weeks back. I have since removed the Mealworm feeder.
I've never seen the cotoneaster berries disappear so quickly! A couple of blackbirds stripped it bare in the last two days. Blue tits, sparrows and robins are getting through the fat balls like lightning, so off to get some more, and peanuts and sunflower seeds, tomorrow. It's not a giveaway anymore...the price of cat food, chicken food and in fact, all food, has rocketed recently.
The birds here aren't touching fat balls either. I think the 'recipe' has been changed, they certainly look different. Even the Woodpeckers are ignoring them and they usually get through them quite quickly. I won't be buying any more. A dozen or more Long Tailed Tits are here for just the fat balls at this time of year. I saw two last week but none since. Most birds will eat sunflower seed because it's oily. Blackbirds will eat those too and love the handful of raisins I throw out for them every morning. There are around ten of them and they sit waiting in the trees for me to put in an appearance.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the recipe. I bought a huge tub and they tore through the first half then just stopped eating them. I couldn't keep them going on dried mealworms. I was spending more on them than I was on ourselves. I just stopped getting them.
Our bird feeders only have seeds and nuts. They're going like hot cakes Sparrows (a few, but they're coming back more now), lots of different tits and finches, robins, woodpeckers, a couple of nuthatches which only seem to come for the seeds and nuts in the winter as do the wrens, plenty of pigeons, doves, magpies and the crows, pheasants and squirrels clearing up underneath.
