Niger seeds are among our most popular products at Love Garden Birds. They do make an excellent delicacy to serve to your feathered friends. But what are the benefits of placing Niger Seeds out in your garden and on your feeders? What should you be aware of? Let’s look closer at this excellent little seed.
Who Loves It?
There’s quite the variety of birds that are attracted by niger seed for its high oil content. You’ll find that a lot of the birds drawn by it are very colourful. This seed is a favourite amongst Goldfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches and bullfinches, each with their own recognisable colourings and bound to prove eye-catching guests. You might even find some bright yellow siskins making themselves known.
As well as this, niger is popular with collared doves, dunnocks and house sparrows. You might also want to keep an eye out for lesser redpolls too, tiny finches about the size of blue tits with distinctive red crests.
Although some of your garden guests won’t be happy by the presence of niger seed. You’ll probably be pleased to know that Squirrels typically ignore niger seeds when fed straight up!
How Should I Serve It?
In our experience, niger seed pairs well with sunflower seeds. A combination of black sunflower seed and sunflower seed heart chips will satisfy the finches as they’re both relatively small seeds and very easy for them to eat. It’s worth serving niger seed in a mesh feeder for hanging birds. We do have a great range of niger feeders that will help present the seed in an appealing away, and even go some way to defend it from squirrels and other seed-pilferers – vital if you’re serving it as a blend.
Also, don’t be alarmed if you find remnants on the ground. As small as they are, niger seeds do have shells. The likelihood is that it’s just the thin shells of the niger seed, not that your birds have rejected it!
How do I keep it fresh?
Your feathered friends want you to keep their niger seed fresh, as they’ll happily turn their beaks from old niger. Birds don’t like it when it dries out; when it goes bad and mouldy it will make the birds poorly. It’s best to replace niger seed every 3-4 weeks if it’s not actively being eaten in the feeder. To prevent clumping and mould, you can shake the feeder on a daily basis to break up the seeds from each other. It’s also important to ensure the niger seed remains dry, you can purchase a weather guard to protect from rain and damp. If bird activity towards your feeder slows, it’s best to only fill the feeder halfway to avoid spoilage and wastage.
But don’t you worry, with the cheapest online prices in the UK, Love Garden Birds can help you keep your niger feeders topped up with the freshest of seeds!
