Goldfinch mini nyjer seed feeder

After 2 years it has still not been used by any of the many greenfinches or other birds, who will use the other seed feeders. Squirrel did have a go_ & promptly chewed off perches.

The feeder has been a success with the birds but now it’s empty I can’t refill it. The website states “it can be refilled with care)”
but how do I do it. Single use plastic is not acceptable in these times!

I’d seen goldfinches visiting the garden from time to time and then vanishing for weeks until returning and then disappearing and so on so I got one of these about 6 months ago. It was ignored for a long time but then about 2 months ago - fantastic- 2 goldfinches were eating off it. They’ve been coming ever since, I don’t know how many because they all look the same to me! However the feeder requires topping up every other day so there are probably more than 2 coming. The only snag(?) is that there is a big pile of seed on the floor under the feeder and whereas the robins, wagtails and sparrows pick up fallen peanut pieces from the adjacent feeders nothing is touching the nyjer seed. Pity that it’s going to waste, it would probably be better to have a tray fitted to catch the fallers.

Don't waste your money. Holes too small for seeds to be accessed. Been in garden for months. No goldfinches, even though other people not far away get them.

We have always seen goldfinches around the area, but apart from one occasion where they visited the waterfall for a bath, they never came into the garden - all that changed after putting this feeder out! After just 1 day on the feeder stand we had a pair visit, and it has been constant ever since with 5 being the maximum we have seen at any one time. It is really great to see these beautiful birds at close quarters, and I couldn't be happier with the feeder price and quality.

I live in town with a small communal garden, mainly grass very few plants. i rarely see the odd goldfinch fly over high but they have been nowhere nr me. i put this feeder out about 30 days ago and this morning i have goldfinches. i tried the tip in previous coments.. 'To get the birds in - soak some nyger seed with water in a small dish nearby to 'release' the smell'

To get the birds in - soak some nyger seed with water in a small dish nearby to 'release' the smell - it worked for me!

A very well made feeder

Absolutely excellent feeder - it has become a victim of it's popularity, It has been worn at the base with daily fill ups - the Goldies queue up.

So I might either buy two replacements or a stronger version - but the use is amazing. Money well spent

Brought 2 of theses feeders one for a friend .Nearly 3 months later still no Goldfinches. We have moved it to different positions in the garden, also putting it near other feeders but still no luck.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, I am sorry to hear you are disappointed with this product. Whilst Goldfinches do love nyjer seed, unfortunately if there aren't any in your area we can't guarantee they will appear, however there have had some great reviews where customers have persevered and after a couple of months goldfinches have started feeding.

I bought this feeder with the voucher for completing the bird watch. Thank you so much! Having never seen one in my garden I now have goldfinches daily in both my front and back gardens although the feeder is situated at the back outside my bedroom window.
It took them a few weeks to spot it but now they are daily visitors.

I can now say that this feeder is a great way to start. Only one or two goldfinches seemed to feed from it - much preferring sunflower hearts ( or else only one or two have learned to use it!) ibut then Siskins appeared and come regularly feeding on the Niger and the sunflower hearts. It is a great success. Give it time ( at least a month) and you will be rewarded.

I bought this feeder in February after reading the reviews. I knew there were goldfinches in this area so thought it was worth a try. I hung the feeder out straight away and it stayed untouched until about a month later. I then saw a bird in the magnolia (where it is hanging) which at first I thought was a tit because the light was behind it. You can imagine how delighted I was when I realised it was a goldfinch! It flew down to the feeder and started eating the seed and another one followed. I was thrilled and now I have them feeding regularly. I am not sure how many there are but I have seen at least four at a time and the seed level drops so quickly that I am having to refill every other day. I am now going to invest in a larger feeder when I place my next order. This feeder is a brilliant idea because it is not too much money to lose if it does not work. I would encourage anyone to buy it.

I hung this feeder on my wooden feeding station 3 weeks ago. I now have Gold Finches....feeding on the sunflower hearts feeder. Not a single bird has tried to feed on this feeder.
I'm glad i tried this feeder instead of paying out on the full size version.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, sorry that the goldfinches did not make use of the feeder. Sometimes there is no obvious reason for this, some people put it up and get goldfinches instantly, others it takes time and some prefer other offerings in the garden(goldfinches love sunflower hearts too, so maybe yours just prefer those). This is why we offer the mini feeder so that our customers can try this size before they commit to the larger feeders.

Already have goldfinches coming regularly to sunflower heart feeder so hung this feeder adjacent to it. I'm sure it is just a question of time before they realise how to use this. Exciting waiting for first goldfinch to use it!

I bought this in January after having invested in seed trays and a huge bag of nyger seed and not seeing one gold finch in my garden but having them fly over to the neighbor's. PLEASE HAVE PATIENCE they will come. After 5 months I gave up and forgot all about this little feeder until looking out my window seeing the food levels move I stood in my kitchen window and we had 4 goldfinches come to feed I was shocked 5 months but so worth it. the bottom is easy to take off and re-fill. One trick though keep it topped up and watch from a distance.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, it can take a while for birds to find feeders. I too have waited a long time for the Goldfinches to come but they did eventually and it was worth the wait. Very pleased to hear that they found it and that you can watch these lovely birds from your window.

We have lived here for over 4 years and have never seen a goldfinch close by let alone in the garden. So I bought one of these mini feeders as a trial, put it on a stand and just left it. Early evening yesterday, after about 2 weeks, a goldfinch appeared on the feeder!!
So yes, it does work!!
Hopefully that will be the start of more goldfinches visiting.

I have had this product for 2 years, it was bought at Saltholme, I have tried to attract birds to it, by putting it in different positions, I have had nothing attracted to it... very disappointing... today I have enlarged the holes a little and covered up the yellow....just to see if they might be being put off by the yellow. Still nothing has come.... I have siskins/goldfinches etc in the garden and they go for the other feeders ok but not this one...

Having noticed some Goldfinches flying overhead I though I would try this on our ""feeding tree"". Once I removed the outer label which covers the seeds and moved it to a prominent branch we had daily visit after 2 weeks of the feeder being up.
Now they know about us I know it is worth investing in a proper Nyjer seed feeder.

It took 6 weeks before Goldfinches would feed from this lovely little item. I found that the trick was to re-site the feeder onto a branch adjacent to a sunflower heart feeder - bingo ! - Goldfinches galore.

I bought one of these at Bempton Cliffs, and it took about three months for the finches to get from the front of my house to the back, now they have found it they love it and clear it out daily. BEFORE YOU LEAVE A REVIEW YOU MUST GIVE IT TIME, THESE FEEDERS WORK... IF THERE ARE GOLDFINCHES FEEDING WHERE YOU PUT THEM! It is not the feeders fault if they are not in an area they deem suitable to feed.

I bought this at the RSPB shop, recommended by the lady, and felt a bit cheated at first, as no gold finches seemed to give it any attention. I have filled up the sun flower feeder, the nut feeder and the normal seeder twice, without seeing any of the little nyjer seed going... but this weekend... wow... lots of gold finches, all over and its now totally empty.
now just the task of finding where I can buy more nyjer seed????

RSPB response: Thanks for the review, we are glad you were rewarded with lots of gold finches! You can purchase Nyjer seeds from our online shop under the 'straight seed' category, or alternatively you can purchase these in an RSPB shop.

I had noticed some gold finches on our estate and bought one of these to see if I could entice them into the garden. I put it up about 3 months ago and nothing happened - but it was summer and activity on my other feeders was slow as well.

I left it in place and forgot about it. This morning I noticed it was half empty, so I sat out in the garden over a cup of tea and was rewarded with 6 gold finches. Now they have found it, there is not stopping them - it was empty by the end of the day.

Very pleased - hoping to get a green finch or two as well as I am sure I have spotted one of them nearby!

I have had it for 4 months now and to my own surprise the birds have not touched it.

Prior to buying it, I already had a sunflower feeder hanging off another window, which was very popular with sparrows and green finches. However, with the start of the summer (the sunflower feeder) has started to attract gold finches on regular basis too.

The Nyjer feeder is positioned round the corner with plenty of bushes to provide the birdies with shelter, however they just seem to prefer their sunflowers instead.

In a way I am reluctant to give this product a low mark as it seems to be designed quite nicely and other people have been having positive a experience with it, however it just hasn't worked for me. I'd love to know why!

I quite regularly see the Goldfinches fend off the bigger birds on the sunflower feeder and you would think they could make their life easier by just using the other one that only they can use :)

much smaller than expected.been up a few months but totally ignored by all birds.would expect better from rspb

RSPB response: Thank you for your review. This feeder is designed to be used as a trial product to see if the birds in your garden like nyjer seed. As it is a trial feeder it is therefore smaller than your average RSPB feeder, the dimensions are listed under specifications.

We bought this to try and encourage small birds into our garden as we mainly get starlings. Took approx. 3 weeks but Siskins have started to appear. As we live in the NE corner of Scotland, I wasn't expecting too much but within a few days of these birds finding the feeder it is half empty

A friend who lives a few streets away encouraged me to try a Nyjer Seed feeder because she regularly sees Goldfinches visiting the one in her garden. We went for this mini feeder just to see what would happen. After three weeks we already have a pair of Siskins & a pair of Greenfinches visiting our garden on a regular basis! Delighted!

Although the goldfinch in my garden spend a little time on this feeder they seem to prefer the sunflower seeds. After a night of strong winds nearly all the seeds were on the ground.....must have blown the light seeds straight through the holes! I think a more robust feeder is needed.

RSPB response:
Thank you for your review. This feeder is designed to be used as a trial product to see if the birds in your garden like nyjer seed. At £3.99 it is not as robust as our other feeders although still good value as a way to 'test the water' without having to buy a whole bag of nyjer and a feeder.

I saw some Finches pass by the garden, so I hoped this feeder might attract them. It was in the garden for months without being touched last year, but then this year Goldfinches have been feeding from it from Spring and all through summer and into autumn. We're zone 2 in London, so it's an absolute joy to see these most gorgeous of birds stop by most days. Often have to refill the feeder every 2 days.

We decided to try this in our garden. It took a few weeks but once the local chaffinches found it, it was a hit. Our feeder is now emptied every two days or so.

After seeing a couple of goldfinches stop in the garden I bought one of these feeders to see if I could entice the finches to visit and feed. I went for this feeder as it wasn't expensive if the gold finches never returned. However the gold finches did return and now do so several times a day, so much so I am having to refill it two or three times a week. It's easy to clean and what's more because the holes in it are so small, as others have said, the seed remains dry inside even during the heaviest downpour of rain. Also the seed doesn't spill out if the feeder pole it hangs from with other feeders for suet balls, seeds etc, get visits and rocked by larger birds like starlings etc. Best buy yet.

Having moved into our house nine months ago we have tried to encourage birds into our small courtyard garden, we purchased this feeder from RSPB put it up and within two days had a pair of Goldfinches.They seem to visit at least twice a day and stay for five minutes or so... great. The feeder is very well made and a good design. Perfect in every way. Just how did these lovely birds know where to find it.

This is the best nyger feeder I have ever had. The birds love it, it is easy to clean and refill - I have cleaned and refilled mine many times. I have 3 in my garden and I have bought them as presents for friends. Sometimes the birds are slow to find them but when they do, they do not take long to empty them! Great value - much better than many more expensive feeders.

This feeder has been hanging in my parents garden for over 4 weeks now and we're yet to see a bird on it. My parent's and their neighbour's garden are regularly visited by Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Greenfinches but they all avoid this feeder, favouring the no-mess mix in the seed feeders. I had high hopes for this feeder after reading all the positive reviews, thinking it would ease congestion around the seed feeder, but so far have been left sadly disappointed.
The garden is in Cheshire - maybe the northern birds aren't used to such delicacies!

Goldfinches passed through my garden regularly, but always ignored my large niger feeder. However they loved this one - found it in days and spent hours eating away! Three months later the VERY persistent squirrels in my garden have chewed through the plastic and ruined it. I'm going to get another and put it in a spare squirrel proof cage I've got.

It's not used much. We've only seen one goldfinch on it and nothing else. It seems to be squirrel proof, though, which is good.

Mostly lesser redpolls on our feeder, though bullfinches, goldfinches, and once a siskin have used it. It is really light, which is good for when you can only hang it on a branch!

10 minutes after hanging this little feeder on my feeding station I heard a 'bird squabble' going on in the garden. When I investigated I found that around six goldfinches were fighting to gain access. Granted some of them were also on my sunflower heart feeder, but I'd never seen them in my garden before. They are feisty little characters and do seem to waste a lot of the sunflower kernels so I have moved that feeder to a different spot. I have just ordered 2 more mini feeders and some refill seed as I am so delighted.

It took 5 days for our flock of Goldies to summon up the courage and land on the yellow perches of this new feeder. Now there's a queue. Some are more patient than others and there are regular squabbles, so it looks as though I'm going to have to add another of these to my next seed order.

The seed is 100% dry due to the top of the feeder being a sealed unit and the birds love it that way. And of course because it's smaller than other feeders it needs filling more often, which again keeps the seed fresh and the birds happy.

All-in-all excellent value for money.

I found this seeder rubbish at first as goldfinches did not even look at it.. Well at last after 3-4 months 1 young goldfinch did use it and even stayed a while on it.. 2 days later we was back...4 days i had 2 goldfinches using it.. Now they seem to be using it regularly and to to see such a striking coloured bird.. Good product but lots of patience needed

After moving to a new house, I'd only seen one goldfinch all year so I didn't want to invest in a full size nyjer feeder, I just mix nyjer in with my regular seed feeder.
However as it is very cheap, I decided to use this feeder as a test . It hung in the garden for about six weeks with no sign of a goldfinch.

I moved it to a slightly more sheltered location whilst doing some pruning and noticed the seed level seemed to be dropping. Three days later I was rewarded by seeing a pair of goldfinches feeding with enthusiasm and they have been back every day since.
I do wonder why the plastic is such a bright yellow - does it help the birds find it? If not important, it would be nice to have it in a less obvious colour.

We've tried many nyjer feeders and all have been very wasteful in that the last few inches of seed have been left, even when it appears to be easy for the birds to get at. It then gets damp and has to be thrown away. As others have mentioned many feeders are hard to clean.
However, we now use 3 of theses little gems; 2 are out at a time with the other having been washed (and disinfected ) and dried and filled, ready to replace the first of the others to empty.
We replace one at least once a day and our flock of about 20 goldfinches uses them all the time. Also we have 2 or 3 redpolls (who will sit feeding from them for over half an hour at a time) and the odd siskin.
I do wonder whether the metal feeders feel cold for birds to perch on?
Also I'd rather there was a little bit of waste from a couple of these than from one big feeder! Perfect!

Seems like a great little feeder but in no time at all the seed got soggy & clogged the tiny feeding holes.
Cleaned it & restocked it & hey presto it went soggy again.
Very little interest at all from my regular goldfinches.
I'll stick to the general feeders & mix some nyger into that seed again.

We have used this feeder for a few months now and we had regular visits from greenfinches in the summer. However, we have found that the nyjer seeds become damp at the base of the feeder in wetter and colder weather. As a result the seed quickly deteriorates. We are currently bringing the feeder in at night to try and keep the seed dry. The feeder really needs more ventilation holes in the base to keep the seed drier.

We had not had a great deal of luck with our large niger feeder in the past, but thought we'd have another shot with this little fellow - and it worked! It took a few days before the first interest was shown but since then the visitors (exclusively goldfinches) have been regular. They also love sunflower hearts - as do ALL the birds - which we buy in vast quantities.
We wondered if the yellow perches had been chosen for a special reason?

I don't know what it is but these just don't attract the birds at all. I bought two of these from the RSPB in June. One is in my garden in Staffordshire and the other in my friend's garden near Chester. Both feeders are still pretty much full.

I have a smallish garden but manage to attract a variety of birds with my other feeders - plenty of finches but the goldies seem to be actively avoiding these. They do like next door's sunflower hearts, however. The only bird I've seen on here has been a bullfinch!

I've tried it in a couple of different positions to no avail. As I say though, it's not just me!

RSPB response - Thanks for your review, and sorry to hear you've not had any luck with these feeders. That's the great thing about these trial feeders. You can try out nyjer seed before buying an expensive feeder. Nyjer seed can help to attract goldfinches, but if they are already enjoying sunflower hearts next door, it could take a while for them to bother looking elsewhere, as sunflower hearts are easier to eat and very nutritious.

I have a regular RSPB seed feeder with sunflower hearts and feeder mix hung right next to this trial nyjer feeder. The goldfinches come but only to the regular feeder - they don't seem to notice the trial nyjer feeder. Well, not yet anyway. It's been up since 2nd July (2012) and I'm now not sure whether the seed would need replacing? I have seen a greenfinch once, but again, on the regular feeder but ignoring this one.
It seems like a good design if only they would realise what it is :)

First a siskin came to it. Now I have two goldfinches visiting regularly. Today I saw a male linnet. Couldn't be more pleased. Think I'll get another one. Very easy to clean

Despite getting many birds in our garden, have always found it hard to attract finches. It took a good few weeks for word to get around, but then results were incredible, many different types of finches regularly seen, really tucking in.

Bought 3 of these little feeders and the goldfinches love them ! Never used to see them in the garden before when I had a large green nyger seed feeder, but now they are on these countless times a day. Maybe the yellow perches remind them of dandelions. Whatever the reason I think they are great and very reasonable. I have refilled them and they are easy to manage, so well done RSPB !

At first I thought it a bit Smarties tube small, but all the finches love it, as other birds can't feed from it so don't compete with them as they did on the other feeders.

The bottom filling is a good idea as well, just unscrew the base and use the tube to scoop up the Niger seed from the bag or tub.

Easy to clean the feeding end as well, unlike with top loading feeders that tend to get wet and moldy at the bottom very quickly.