Following on from my 'I want to feed the birds' post...

[swan_purple]

I have bought a window stick on bird feeder and have literally just now set it up on my window. I am now wondering about how often to change the seed and I have two fat balls on there too. It says on the thing to change any un-eaten food every 2 days and make sure its all clean and everything. But if its going to take a while for me to get any birds interested in my feeder do I still need to change it in 2 days time? And the fat balls too?

Sorry I'm such a novice about all this!

xoxo.

[murraymints]

My tables are cleared within minutes..never have to remove any food..but yes if it is still there after 24/48 hours clear and start again..once they know it is there you will not be able to keep up with them !!!

[bizzylizzy]

My parents had a stick on feeder on the window. It kept dropping off. We feed the birds every day. They get used to a routine and are out there waiting first thing in the morning. We even feed the Rooks and Magpies small pieces of meat. They too are waiting every morning. One of the most successful 'bits of kit' in our garden is a little screw on device that you attach to the end of a used plastic water bottle, we fill it full of seed and the birds get through it every couple of days. We also buy mealworms. You can get 250g on ebay for £2.99. The robins love them. I would clear uneaten fresh food after a couple of days, but fat balls are fine left longer and obviously so is seed. We buy 20k bags of seed which works out a whole lot cheaper than buying smaller bags. Also, be carefully of cheap bird seed in shops. It's often bulked out with wheat which the smaller seed eating birds won't eat. Luckily the local pheasant population will eat that in our garden. But smaller seeds are the best really. Good luck.

[redman41]

Probably not the best place to put a Bird Feeder as the Birds might get spooked by seeing their reflections in the Glass.
It it's the only place available then best of luck, it should not take long for them to spot the Food.
Keeping the Feeder clean is important along with putting water out for them as well

[bizzylizzy]

Ooh yes, I completely forgot. Redman41 is right, water is so so important. We put two shallow dishes out every day and the birds use them all day either for drinking or bathing. People feed the birds, but often forget to give them water. Also meant to say, be careful birds don't fly into your windows as they head to the food.

[Brinjal]

Birds do take time to discover the feeders. I also wouldn't put it on a glass window.

[swan_purple]

Thank you for the replies.

A stick on feeder is great for me as I am so worried about the cats that live in my area, especially with young and innocent chicks flying around at the moment. I don't want them to become some cat's dinner! So a flat wall is great for me to have a feeder on. It's not fallen down as yet but it does have a safety chord on it attached to the inside of the window in case it does fall off.

There is also a space on the feeder for water so I have kept that topped up.

Not had any visitors as yet though!

Thankyou once again.

xoxo.

[ladybirder]

Any luck yet swan? I can tell you I have had my window feeder up here for 3 years and never once has it fallen off so don't worry about it. There are 3 suckers on mine so all 3 would have to fail at the same time for that to happen. Nor has any bird ever crashed into my window as far as I am aware. I don't think the RSPB would be selling them if they were causing fatalities.

What seeds have you put in it?