Bird Suet I have a bird feeder stand and need bird feeders to go with it?

by ghbrett

Question by Milana: I have a bird feeder stand and need bird feeders to go with it?
I have a bird feeder stand with a water bowl, a suet cage, and 3 hooks. I have one bird feeder that looks like this :http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=16747236&lmdn=Wild+Bird+Feeders&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo. Any idea what the best bird food to put in there? I also was ganna buy a humming bird feeder and hopper feeder for the stand. Any clue what to put in the hopper feeder to attract more birds. Also any good suet recipes. Thanks ! I live in Charlotte NC, and it’s Fall\Spring right now ( September ) if thats helpful.

Best answer:

Answer by Grandma Laura
Here is a site of -suet recipes for birds – I just went and typed that in and pages popped up.

https://www.google.com/search?q=suet+rec…

You should check out this list of birds of North Carolina so you will know what kind of birds are in your state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_North_Carolina

I had to redo this part- google has some problems with reposting this (i went and checked and anyone tapping the post line URL – got tourist junk)- so just type in = what bird seed to chose= and pages come up. This way you can find out what seeds are worthwhile to stock -going by which seeds attract the most different kinds of birds or if you only want to attract certain birds – what feed to put out and which feeders to use-and which seeds are the most nutritious- some seeds are cheap but not nutritious.

Here is a site about bird feeders -that gives you a basic idea of bird feeders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_feeder

The simplest type of squirrel proof feeder is a tube-like feeder surrounded by a metal cage. These feeders also offer protection from larger and more aggressive birds. Tube seed feeders are primarily made of clear plastic tubes with plastic or metal caps, bases and perches. Hopper bird feeders look like a house and attract a wide range of birds such as finches, cardinals, blue jays, sparrows and titmice.

choose which birds you want to attract and then figure out what they like to eat – to stock your feeders.
Remember to clean all bird stuff regularly. do not put out too much(I did and ended up feeding hundreds after 20 years -that died when i moved- because you should only put enough to supplement – not make them totally dependent).

this is an article about this problem
Prior to the publication of the Wall Street Journal article, Canadian ornithologist Jason Rogers also wrote about the environmental problems associated with the use of bird feeders in the journal Alberta Naturalist.[16] In this article, Rogers explains how the use of bird feeders is inherently fraught with negative impacts and risks such as fostering dependency, altering natural distribution, density, and migration patterns, interfering with ecological processes, causing malnutrition, facilitating the spread of disease, and increasing the risk of death from cats, pesticides, hitting windows, and other causes.

this being like I said – I put out too much and the birds became dependent on the food- and the area was not able to supply the natural food for them. I did not do the research and put out cheap non-nutritional food that i got at walmart- Milo has little nutritional value. My mother altered the migrational pattern of the hummingbirds- and they died when they had no food in the middle of winter.

This one says differently about no change of migrational pattern (which I do not agree) but is really great in explaining what seeds are nutritional and which bird prefers what type of seeds.

http://www.massaudubon.org/printwildlife.php?id=10

Please do not put out hummingbird feeders- My mother did for years and the humming birds started to hang around all winter instead of migrating – then she went on a trip one winter and when she came back there were no humming birds. They are territorial and they stayed and died of starvation in the middle of winter because she left and had nobody stocking the feeders- she did not believe me, but no humming birds ever came back- moral of the story if you want to feed humming birds- okay but bring in the feeders in the fall when they migrate.

Here is a site for humming birds and make your own nectar.

http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/nectarrecipe.htm

Winter feeding is very much appreciated by many birds that do not migrate- but once you start- you should always remember them -even if you go on a trip (have someone stop by and put out feed and fresh water)- so the birds that depend on you will not starve or get sick from lack of food. The same thing is true of water- put a water heater in the water dish when it starts getting cold- birds really appreciate unfrozen water.
Thank you for caring -and have an enjoyable time watching the birds.

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Tags:bird, feeder, Feeders, need, Stand, Suet