What makes this hanging fat ball feeder so brilliant?
We don’t like to compromise on quality when it comes to keeping our local wildlife happy and our hanging fat ball feeder is no exception. It’s been carefully designed to hold the balls firmly in place to make for easy pecking by your feathered friends.
It is 30cm in length which means it can hold 5-6 fat balls at once which means more food for the birds and less refilling for you!
Made with cast iron and other strong, safe materials, this feeder really is the best of the best in terms of quality. It can also be disassembled for easy cleaning to prevent the spread of diseases. The whole thing is rust-resistant and can be hung outside all year round.
You can also use a bird table to serve fat balls - just crumble them on and let your feathered friends peck away!
Where shall I put my hanging fat ball feeder?
Be careful where you hang your fat ball feeder to keep potential predators at bay. Ideally, they should be hung from tall, thin strong poles which cats can’t climb, around two metres away from bushes or trees.
Which fat balls should I use?
We would always recommend using high energy fat balls which are made by Johnston & Jeff. They contain everything a wild bird needs to stay fit and healthy – good fats, natural minerals, protein, fibre and most importantly no cheap bulking agents, Johnston & Jeff monitor and test all the ingredients they use to make certain they are safe. They clean all their raw materials to a purity level of 99.9% to ensure no contamination with fungal toxins. They also don’t come wrapped in wasteful plastic nets.
However, if you have found another brand you and the birds like and they do have net bags around them, don’t forget to remove them before you put them inside the feeder.
Can I use the hanging fat ball feeder for anything else?
Not only is our hanging fat ball feeder the perfect way to provide healthy, nutritious food for wild birds, it can also be used to help them make their nests warm and cosy too! Add a bag of our sheep wool nest material to your order and stuff it inside a feeder so your feathered friends can collect it and make a snuggly nest.
How can I help the wild birds stay healthy?
Make sure you clean and disinfect all your wild bird feeders regularly, so the flocks of visitors stay fit and well. When you do this, empty away any uneaten food so it can’t accumulate at the bottom of the mesh tube.
You can also add variety to your bird feed, for example putting out sunflower hearts and peanuts in a hanging bird feeder for them to peck at. Some birds don’t like to feed from hanging bird feeders, so our ground bird feeder offers a great alternative.
Whatever way you decide to feed your local wild birds, once you’ve established a bird feeding routine, stick with it. They’ll learn to look out for fresh supplies of food and water and come to rely on you. You can learn more about what to feed birds safely on the Johnston & Jeff website or from the RSPB.
How else can I keep the wildlife in my garden happy and thriving?
There are all sorts of things you can do but one of the best and simplest things is to provide them with safe little homes! Loss of habitat and therefore loss of safe places to nest and breed is one of the biggest threats to our wildlife here in the UK.
We have a great selection of homes for birds like our bird box with nesting wool and our special robin and blackbird open-fronted nesting box.
Birds aren’t the only garden wildlife we can help though! We also have a range of homes for hedgehogs, bats and insects too.