Jim R
SMF Supporter
Chicks are growing nicely. We had a slight frost this morning. Sunny but very cold.
Love your updates.
Jim
Love your updates.
Jim
Lee Drennen’s Hobby Farm & Garden
- Thread starter Lee Drennen
- Start date
Jim thanks I know you enjoy this thread and I enjoy posting on it although its not a big farm it’s big enough for me to have fun and manage.
Late yesterday evening I filled my bird feeders for the last time till next October. I love sit in my easy chair in the evenings and weekend mornings watching the birds feed and working on models. There’s been some beautiful birds feed here wish I would have took more pics. Maybe this fall I’ll focus more on it. Here’s some that I took this winter and yesterday.
Great stuff. Quite exotic to us in the UK....are the red ones cardinals? The pair in the second picture look like woodpeckers? I get greater spotted woodpeckers in my garden too. Nearest I get to cardinals are goldfinches.....at least they are quite colourful, but not as splendid as the cardinals!
Tim. In the second pics is two Hairy Wood Peckers the others pics are Cardinals, Cickadees, TitMouse, and others like finches.
Don’t get many of those round here. We get titmice by the hundredweight. Great, Blue, Long tailed, Cold, and Willow Tits all show up regularly. I’d be hard pressed to see a chickadee and not break into a WC Fields impression though 
Yep, sparrow central here as well. We get a good fifty plus at times....
GerryW
Rest In Peace
Can't believe how they've multiplied - 5 years ago, we had a couple, and about 15+ blue/great tits and a family of 8 longtailed tits, since the rise of the sparrows, the tits have dropped in numbers (5 longtailed during this winter)
Tim & Gerry. I have removed the offending posts from Gerry and myself, as it was only going to go one way and also detracted from Lee's thread. Hope this is ok with you both.
Jim R
SMF Supporter
Hi Lee
The weather looks as if the birds will appreciate your efforts. It is quite exciting to see what the food attracts. I reckon our feathered friends need all the help we can give them.
Jim
The weather looks as if the birds will appreciate your efforts. It is quite exciting to see what the food attracts. I reckon our feathered friends need all the help we can give them.
Jim
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- Bob
I started feeding the birds about a yr ago now its twice a day, greedy buggers lol
Most exotic is a woodpecker, but all welcome. My cats are too lazy to have a go at them.
Most exotic is a woodpecker, but all welcome. My cats are too lazy to have a go at them.
GerryW
Rest In Peace
Wait till you get to the stage that we've got to - buying seed by the 12.5 kg, peanuts by the 25kg and fatballs by the 150 box, about every 2 months - 4 feed stations (2 front garden & 2 back garden)
they still empty them within three days (2 of the seed feeders are over a foot deep!
)
Thanks for the complements Guy’s. I’ve used around 75 pounds of seed this year. I just stared using the suet cake a couple weeks ago my Mother in law gave it to me. That cold winter day it was -14 degrees with 13” of snow on that’s the most birds I’ve seen feeding since I started feeding them about 20 years ago.
so Bob your right they need a lot of help in the winter months. I’ll try to get a pic of Red Bellied Woodpecker. Those are Downy Woodpeckers in the pics they like that Suet Cake. Here’s a pic I took just before I came in for the evening.
so Bob your right they need a lot of help in the winter months. I’ll try to get a pic of Red Bellied Woodpecker. Those are Downy Woodpeckers in the pics they like that Suet Cake. Here’s a pic I took just before I came in for the evening.
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Hi Lee, I'm a "Big Bellied Human" can I have some cake too? 
.........got all the varieties you mentioned and Gross Beaks and Cross Bills as well..........My Missus chases off the Stellar Jays as they scare off all the smaller birds and take over the feeder and generally make a mess all over our deck. My favorite little bird is the Nuthatch....we have both varieties as well as Pine Siskins.......smallest birds out there and they try to bully the finches or anyone else that comes to the feeder. Great fun to sit in the window having our coffee and watching the drama unfold. Rick H.
.........got all the varieties you mentioned and Gross Beaks and Cross Bills as well..........My Missus chases off the Stellar Jays as they scare off all the smaller birds and take over the feeder and generally make a mess all over our deck. My favorite little bird is the Nuthatch....we have both varieties as well as Pine Siskins.......smallest birds out there and they try to bully the finches or anyone else that comes to the feeder. Great fun to sit in the window having our coffee and watching the drama unfold. Rick H.
Rick. Those cakes are tempting Lol. Like you I enjoy drinking Coffee and watching the Bird in the Morning. There’s not much fighting at my feeder the seem to get along I like watching the finches and chicadees.Hi Lee, I'm a "Big Bellied Human" can I have some cake too?
Hi Lee
We, are like you, are constantly buying sunflower seeds to feed our visitors. I see you have a Nuthatch in the last picture we get a lot of them, as well as chikadees. woodpeckers, red pols, cardinals and in the spring lots of Grackles, blue jays, juncos and black birds. Interestingly, since we live on a river we have found that ducks love sunflower seeds. Through the winter the Mallards are our most frequent customers and come the spring we get the Canada geese, wood ducks and Megansers who come back.
Got to love living in the countryside.
John
We, are like you, are constantly buying sunflower seeds to feed our visitors. I see you have a Nuthatch in the last picture we get a lot of them, as well as chikadees. woodpeckers, red pols, cardinals and in the spring lots of Grackles, blue jays, juncos and black birds. Interestingly, since we live on a river we have found that ducks love sunflower seeds. Through the winter the Mallards are our most frequent customers and come the spring we get the Canada geese, wood ducks and Megansers who come back.
Got to love living in the countryside.
John
A very busy day on the Hobby Farm today. First I got up early and transplanted my Zucchini squash plants. Next I feed the baby Ducks my wife got me yesterday evening. Got the tractor out of the garage and hauled some wood and brush off. I’ve been wanting to pull this old dog pen away for some time I was going to reuse it for a duck pen but it’s been in the ground so long it fell apart when I pull it out of ground. After that I took a ride up in my field picking up rocks getting ready to cut it next week. Last I till the garden. To top off a hard days work on the Hobby Farm my Beautiful Wife made homemade Chicken and Dumplings.
A very busy day on the Hobby Farm today. First I got up early and transplanted my Zucchini squash plants. Next I feed the baby Ducks my wife got my yesterday evening. Got the tractor out of the garage and hauled some wood and brush off. I’ve been wanting to pull this old dog pen away for some time I was going to reuse it for a duck pen but it been in the ground so long it fell apart when I pull it out of ground. After that I took a ride up in my field picking up rocks getting ready to cut it next week. Next I till the garden. To top off a hard days work on the Hobby Farm my Beautiful Wife made homemade Chicken and Dumplings.
John. Thanks for sharing I love hearing you guys stories on feeding the birds. I buy a mix with bird seed with sunflower seeds in it. The Grackles of I call them “ Cow Birds” invade the feeders. I’ve seen up to 5 blue jays at the feeder at one time very beautiful. We get different Nuthatch all the time also. I bet that’s neat to watch the ducks eat at your feeder and your right Country living is very nice I’m so blessed.
Love these bird tales. As I said, these are all exotic species to me. Birdsong at dawn and dusk must be fantastic!
We do get nuthatch, but there is only one variety in the UK. I’ve seen lots of Raptor species from my house though....my favourite being Red Kite and Hobby. We have also just started getting the African migrants, Swallows and Martins are now flying around in ever increasing numbers. Don’t seem to get Swift’s around here though, more of a town bird I think. We have also had a heron pay a visit. Haven’t seen him, but the bloody goldfish have gone out of the pond!
We do get nuthatch, but there is only one variety in the UK. I’ve seen lots of Raptor species from my house though....my favourite being Red Kite and Hobby. We have also just started getting the African migrants, Swallows and Martins are now flying around in ever increasing numbers. Don’t seem to get Swift’s around here though, more of a town bird I think. We have also had a heron pay a visit. Haven’t seen him, but the bloody goldfish have gone out of the pond!