FINCHforum

Ok, got the new cage up and going. Got them into it. I decided to use a hanging bird feeder with 6 feeding stations on it hanging in the middle of the cage.
So far I have not seen any of them at it in 24 hours. They polished off the millet and have spent a bunch of time on the cage bottom searching for seed.... which some was spilled there when I installed hanging feeder.

They have been all over the cage on everything else.

Do I just wait and let them finally find it or ?

I am not putting any more millet in until they learn the feeder. I have bumped it and let them see seed fall.....

Ideas?

If they've never seen a feeder they don't know how to get the seed. You need to keep a dish of seed near the hanging feeder and they will learn over time, but in the beginning, they can starve because they don't know what to do for food. If they were always fed with a suspended feeder, they'll teach babies etc.

Ok, thanks! Will get a dish in there....

maybe hang some small bits of millet on the hanging feeder, so they will land there for the millet, and then discover the seed in the feeder?

But yes, until they are eating from the feeder consistently, keep a dish of seed in there also. They need time to adjust to the hanging feeder.

Good idea about the millet on it! Going to try that today!

My recent wildcaughts didn't know where the seed was in the seed hopper, I even saw them pecking at the sides of the hopper, where they could see the seed but not reach it. Until your birds are using your feeder, the trick of placing small pieces of spray millet on the feeder works to get them to try the feeder. Once they figure out how to get the seed, they will be fine, but I agree with the others, keep a small dish close by so they don't starve. You can remove the small dish from the cage for several hours at a time, so they are forced to look elsewhere for food, but then give it back to them until they are comfortable with the feeder.

Wow Sally. I never would have even thought about wild caught imports being confused by a feeder. It obviously makes sense. I always worry about new birds figuring out where seed and water are in their cages. The last birds I got from Helen it was days before I saw some of them eating. I was nearly frantic. They were in flights with other birds so I know they watched them eat and knew where it was.

Also I agree with the above suggestions for getting them to try the feeder. Just like wild birds take a few days/week to discover feeders in your yard, our birds are unfamiliar with this new method of obtaining seed as well.