Greedy little birds

[Andrew Gabriel]

Have been hanging a 3/4 coconut shell filled with fat from the bird table for about 2 years now. Mostly attracted starlings, and lasted a couple of weeks before it needed replacing.

The starlings are messy eaters and drop bits underneath on the lawn, which resulted in regular visits from a few magpies who waited for the crumbs. Eventually, they too learned to feed directly from the

3/4 coconuts by hanging on to the suspension cord with one foot, although one of the magpies broke its leg about 18 months ago and could still only feed from the lawn - it's recovered now, but still limps with that leg sticking out at the wrong angle. The coconuts were down to just over a week before emptying out.

In the last week, I found they were now empty after just a day. So looking out, I see all the starlings and the magpies have worked out how to build up sugarlump-sized pieces of fat in their beaks, and fly off with them, rather than eating at the table. Unless I can find a cheaper source of fat than buying the 3/4 coconuts, that's it. Tried lard (cheap in supermarket), and they wouldn't touch it. Tried suet, and they liked that more, but it's no cheaper than the preloaded 3/4 coconuts.

[Huge]

My wife buys "fat balls" wherever they're cheap, although we try and discourage vermin such as crows, magpies (crows with "go faster" stripes) and starlings from eating them.

[michael adams]

Britannia dripping from Sainsbury* melted in a saucepan into which is poured cheap garden bird seed - Poundland in winter they seem to stop in Summer - or Wilkinsons. Poured into small cheap poundshop saucepans with the handles removed* and allowed to set solid. This mixture attracts ring neck parakeets, woodpeckers, starlings, blue t*ts, and unfortunately wood pigeons.

It should be possible to pour this mixture into coc-nuts, which can be put in the fridge to harden the mixture off in warm weather. Although as I don't know the price of the coconuts I can't say whether it woold work out cheaper.

michael adams

• hung from branched of trees using jubliee clips and wire coathanger "handles".

• Sainsbury, Tesco, and Asda, all used to sell 500g blocks of this for around the same price. Both Asda and Tesco now only sell

250g blocks at an extortionate price.

[Chris French]

Yeah, we buy big tubs of fat balls and put them in tubular wire cage feeder thing hung up.

Normally only birds up to starling size can hang on this, though I did notice a crow the other day managing it

[Andrew]

Just get some rigid mesh with a large enough gap to allow smaller birds to hop through, and create a cube without a base. Just pop this over the bird table and it keeps pidgeons, squirrels and clever birds like the crow/rook species from stealing everything.

hang the fat balls or coconuts inside the cube. A bit of cane pushed through horizontally near the base allows the admitted birds to hop along it through the mesh.

[dennis]

Your lucky.. the starlings and two crows have eaten a 1 litre fat bar since Monday. I have ordered another 12 starling bars from birdfood.co.uk.

[Richard]

Hmmm. Maybe there should be less readily available fast food available for the birds in the summer months. I'm guessing that there is probably an obese bird crisis waiting in the wings. ;)

[ARW]

Just makes easy pickings for the cat.

[michael adams]

Indeed. It's a piece of piss having to find stuff to build nests and flying back and forth from the nest with food to raise the young. Especially with hardly any insects around as a result of the use of garden pesticides.

Anyone with any knowledge of the subject would know that wild animals don't get obese as they wouldn't have survived very longs as a species in the evolutionary chain, if they did.

The only obese animals you find are either kept as pets or in zoos.

All that putting more food out does, is provide food for more individuals, maybe not only of the "nice" species, but the "nasty" ones that others in our "master species" don't particularly like.

michael adams

...

[Brian-Gaff]

You find the beak stuffing when they have young, normally since they are effectively eating for them as well. Brian

[DerbyBorn]

"Brian-Gaff" wrote in news:mj6s3s$ckj$1@dont- email.me:

I wish people would stop going to our local pond with half loaves of bread for the few ducks that are there. Each person thinks they are the only one feeding them. The end of the pond is a sort of scum of old bread. The ducks have lost the will to forage and are probably bloated. Rats enjoy the left overs. Signs put up to try to discourage the weekend feeders get torn down.