Best Food To Feed Starlings

Hi Lilly, I feed premium bird seed, peanuts (whole in the feeders at this time of year), sunflower hearts, Niger seed and fat balls/logs/cakes. I have quite a big garden so I have the room for the different feeders, maybe not so handy for your balcony, maybe the seed, sunflour hearts and fat balls. I have found from experience that the cheaper fat balls sometimes have a horrid smell from them, being cheaper they may not have the best of ingredients in them, they can be hard as well and get left. I have been buying mine from the RSPB now, a bit more expensive maybe, but they get eaten, they have a few different ones to choose from, if you spend a certain amount of money you will get free postage, and if you sign up on their website just now for the Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of this month, not only will you get a welcome pack but included is a 20% discount to shop with, so maybe you could treat the birds and yourself and get free P&P

The homemade pasrty is a great sucess, cheap and easy to make, shops own plain flour and fat, mix half the quantity of fat to flour, add to the crumb mix anything you like, chopped apple, suet, grated mild cheese, bird seed, crushed peanuts, sultanas, raisins - add a small amount of water to mix to a pastry, put in a bag in the fridge for an house or so. You can now pull of pieces and squeeze around the railings or anywhere on the balcony that it will stick, maybe roll some in a log shape and put into a mesh peanut feeder (if you have somewhere to hang it). Beware they love it, once they find it they will be back for more.

I love watching Starlings but if you feed them regular you may have trouble getting rid of them when they become a pest and neighbours start complaining. Pigeons and Starlings feature quite a bit on the forum when people are overun with them.

Good point S, I call them the School Bullies, they do squabble and take over anything that is out.

My late mother in law thought of them as bully boys whenever they fed in her garden

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions, I might consider buying the rspb bird food next time I’m shopping for them. I will just use up what I have for now and see what they like and what they don’t. Stuff they won’t eat il give to the birds on the ground as they lap it no problem. 

I have signed up for the Garden birdwatch this year my info came through yesterday with the discount and free p&p wasn’t going to do the watch from my window to begin with but now I get visitors I can :) was gonna go to a park originally. 

Lilly I hope you enjoy your garden birds they have kept the spirits of so many folk in recent times. Maybe they should have been in the New Years Honours list for service to the nation.