can anyone give me some advice on how to stop starlings emptying my bird feeders on a daily basis, we have tried gaurded feeders, but they hang on to them & eat the lot . we use seed &meal worm mix they chuck the seed on the floor & just eat the meal worms .
Gazza, when I saw your question, I thought, this is one for Sparrow. It took a while but she persevered and 'trained' her many starlings. You can't go wrong if you follow her advice.
I too have had problems with starlings emptying feeders and now have a feeder guardian from CJ Birdfoods and that seems to be OK.Granted my starlings have also vanished for the summer so have not had the usual hordes.
One thing I noticed is that once the starlings had found my feeders I also seemed to get a lot of other birds around,a lot picking up food that the starlings scatter but am also wondering if other birds feel safer with starlings around,they are quite vocal and if there is any sign of danger they are off so good as an early warning system!
Sparrows advice on feeding is spot on,I scatter food on my front lawn but have my feeders in the back garden.
Rachel
It's not always easy to hug a hedgehog.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.
Thanks Brenda and Pipit for those kind words! Time will tell if I still have them trained when this year's juveniles come back as fully fledged teenagers!!!
Sadly I had to stop using the bird table I had for the starlings and bigger birds due to a neighbour complaining about the pigeons, and had to make an area for them on the front lawn away from the neighbour, which is working well at the moment. I now have another area for the starlings in the back garden with some fat balls and peanuts. This seems to work. An odd one will try the other feeders but they are hard work for them so don't bother too much, and they leave the other fat ball feeders alone on the whole as long as their own one is full..
My guardian feeder was never used by any of my birds, so I discarded it after months of trying. Some people on this forum have had success with these guardians, and others haven't. It seems to depend on what species of birds you have.
I agree with Rachel that the starlings bring in other birds. They certainly bring the sparrows with them.
If you scatter mealworms on the lawn, the starlings will see them, so I would only put enough there to keep the starlings happy!! They are best hidden under bushes. The little birds will find them and will go to the same place looking for them every day. It's quite sweet watching them looking just before I go out to scatter some.
Cheers, Linda.
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Hi I have a gaurdian mealworm feeder which has proven starling proof They do try but only suceed in getting any spillage that smaller birds have left as they cannot get in or reach in far enough. You should be able to find a supplier if you google itI only put sunflower hearts in the ordinary feeder and a seed mix on a small wire ground tray for the blackbirds etc
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
My family or should I say extended family as there are about 70 in total that wait for me every morning at 7.30am to put their scones out, they also have fat balls, pastry , biscuits and mashes spuds, the sparrows also join in.
I know I spoil them, but I love them so much, they have their own feeder, and then I have another feeder for the tits & finches.
My blackbird has a handful of currants a day, when the weather was really bad last winter, I could set my clock by them, as they were all waiting.
I probably spend about £6.00 per week, but the enjoyment I get is worth every penny.
This is massively helpful. Love all the comments. I can’t keep up with the food. One minute there. Next gone. But like the comments say, I shall embrace them. I have put a secret stash where the robins fly in from and they love this. So they don’t miss out. Plus Robins seem to come first thing in the morning. So get what they need before chaos descends. Thanks for all the comments and great post. I have learned loads ! I am new to this so thanks for all your help.
This is fantastic advice