Feeding the birds

Recliner

Have a lot of birds around the back..what's the best thing to feed them in this weather..limited with what we have..small amount of bread..and I have some corn cakes..would they be OK?

Recliner

Recliner wrote: »

Have a lot of birds around the back..what's the best thing to feed them in this weather..limited with what we have..small amount of bread..and I have some corn cakes..would they be OK?

Forget the bread its very light in calories. Traditionally, the two things most commonly fed to birds are fat and nuts. In a pinch butter and corn flakes will do.

When I was in the scouts we made bird feeders using empty yogurt pots and I did something similar last night for any birds in my area.

1. Get an oven tray and pour a layer of corn flakes on it
2. Add preferably a stick of lard or real butter to the oven tray,
3. Put the oven tray in the oven at about 50 degrees and leave for 30 minutes or until all the fat is melted

To make the bird feeders(usually best to make 4 or 5 pots in one go:
1. get a yogurt pot, using a needle and thick thread, put a hole in the bottom and pull through the thick thread. Make a loop if you plan to hang it somewhere.
2. When the fat has melted, pour it into the yogurt pot until full. I recommend putting the pots on a plate first.
3. Put the plate in the fridge for 20 minutes or until the fat is hard.
4. Once the fat is hard, hang outside.

New Home

Peanut butter, maybe? Although I'd be concerned about the amount of salt it contains.

Jam, bits of fruit and raisins (provided you've rinsed them thoroughly) would be good, too, I'd say.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Don't use butter. Birds are lactose intolerant and it causes diarrhoea which dehydrates them.

Fruit of any kind. Animal fats, cereals, seeds and nuts.

Markgc

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/106314690

UNSAFE SEEDS: The seeds of apples and the pits of cherries, peaches, plums, pears, apricots and nectarines are all unsafe to give to your birds. They contain varying levels of a cyanide compound that can cause death. ... Unfortunately, birds chew everything, and if given the opportunity to chew open a pit, they will.
So with a little time, it is best to core and remove seeds

Recliner

As I said I'm very limited in what I currently have in, hopefully I can get to a shop tomorrow if there's any open.
But in the meantime I broke down the corncakes and put them out in two separate dishes away from hedges on a garden table so the birds were safe and also put out some water. I had to refill the food a second time. We have crows,blackbirds,thrushes,starlings,robins,tits and I've seen some wrens but not since the snow started. So hopefully that will help a bit..I'll do the same tomorrow, the fat balls sound excellent. Thanks for the advice.

Recliner

This was my first customer earlier..

Sorry the pic is a bit big..

archer22

Recliner wrote: »

As I said I'm very limited in what I currently have in, hopefully I can get to a shop tomorrow if there's any open.
But in the meantime I broke down the corncakes and put them out in two separate dishes away from hedges on a garden table so the birds were safe and also put out some water. I had to refill the food a second time. We have crows,blackbirds,thrushes,starlings,robins,tits and I've seen some wrens but not since the snow started. So hopefully that will help a bit..I'll do the same tomorrow, the fat balls sound excellent. Thanks for the advice.

You can use the bread, it's ok if that's all you have...a hell of a sight better for them than having nothing to eat.

Also I have noticed that some especially Blackbirds seem to like the skins of cooked Potatoes.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

This advice is for pet birds and refers to regular feeding of apple seeds. Apple seeds contain minute traces of cyanide. Wild birds gorge annually on apple harvests. A few apples chopped will do no harm.

Markgc wrote: »

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/post/106314690

UNSAFE SEEDS: The seeds of apples and the pits of cherries, peaches, plums, pears, apricots and nectarines are all unsafe to give to your birds. They contain varying levels of a cyanide compound that can cause death. ... Unfortunately, birds chew everything, and if given the opportunity to chew open a pit, they will.
So with a little time, it is best to core and remove seeds

magicbastarder

finally figured out why the birds in our garden have been roundly ignoring our fat balls for months. they've the consistency of concrete. have been smashing them up in a pestle and mortar and sprinkling them out on the snow for the birds.

there's an amusing division among the birds - the chaffinches are eating the food we're leaving in the front garden - and we would never see them in the back garden. most of the birds in the back garden are sparrows, rarely seen in the front. blackbirds seem not to care about the divide.

Half-cocked

Porridge oats are cheap, readily available, and most birds like them. I soak them first.

dharma200

Half-cocked wrote: »

Porridge oats are cheap, readily available, and most birds like them. I soak them first.

you are not supposed to give birds wet oats. They can stick the beaks shut and cause dehydration ! Only dry oats, which wont stay dry in snow for long.......

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Half-cocked wrote: »

Porridge oats are cheap, readily available, and most birds like them. I soak them first.

I add oats to my seed mix all the time, but don't soak them.

appledrop

Apples are a great option if you have any lying around. Blackbirds adore them along with Blackcaps + you may even get a Redwing.

New Home

Cat food (in small doses) is also appreciated, especially the wet kind. They like the dry food, too, but they need lots of water with it, and in this weather it might not be the best.

fryup

had a bully of a willy-wagtail today who wouldn't let any other bird near the food i left on the back patio, even though he wasn't eating it himself

Masala

so...can i throw out porridge oats(dry) around the garden for the birds as a quick fix for tomorrow til I get ti the shops?

Amalgam

fryup wrote: »

had a bully of a willy-wagtail today who wouldn't let any other bird near the food i left on the back patio, even though he wasn't eating it himself

We have that with black caps too, very annoying, particularly the male.

New Home wrote: »

Peanut butter, maybe? Although I'd be concerned about the amount of salt it contains.

Jam, bits of fruit and raisins (provided you've rinsed them thoroughly) would be good, too, I'd say.

Store bought 'human' peanut butter has toxic amounts of salt for small birds, think of their body volume.

You can get peanut butter specifically formulated for giving to birds, but it tends to be 3 times the price of 'human' peanut butter.

I've been caught short and only have porridge oats, plent of wren activity.

Markgc

Iris Big Sandstone wrote: »

I add oats to my seed mix all the time, but don't soak them.

Yes best not to let them get wet at all. Dangerous for the little fellows otherwise.
Cheers

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Masala wrote: »

so...can i throw out porridge oats(dry) around the garden for the birds as a quick fix for tomorrow til I get ti the shops?

Absolutely!

Day Lewin

I give dry porridge oats, cooked rice (can be oily), stale breakfast cereal, smashed "fat balls", dinner leftovers like fatty offcuts, chopped cheese rinds - sorry, they don't seem to suffer from the dairy content!

Magpies eat literally anything. Pigeons have been gorging on ivy berries. Blackbirds get apple pieces; standard birdseed from the shop gets devoured by robins, thrushes, wrens...and the blackcap is shyly hanging round the garden.

I keep breaking the skim of ice on the little ponds, the water is getting keen interest from ALL birds.

Half-cocked

Markgc wrote: »

Yes best not to let them get wet at all. Dangerous for the little fellows otherwise.
Cheers

What is the danger? They won't go mouldy - they're all gone within minutes of putting them out.

Markgc

Half-cocked wrote: »

What is the danger? They won't go mouldy - they're all gone within minutes of putting them out.

That's fine. Where I live the birds are not constantly around so left oats would get soggy which can harden around beaks.

When feeding during the spring and summer
it is best not to put out food that is likely to create problems during the breeding season.

Therefore, never put out

loose peanuts,
dry hard foods,
large chunks of bread,
or fats

during the spring or summer months.
Ensure all peanuts are fed from a mesh peanut feeder, as whole peanuts can be harmful to young birds.

All these can get trapped in young throats.

Recliner

OP here..think I'll be closing my bird diner now. Sufficient ground space free of snow now that the birds are pecking away furiously on the ground. I've seen a few worms in beaks disappearing into the hedges.
Hopefully I've kept a few birds fed over the last couple of days.
Thanks for all the tips.

Markgc

Recliner wrote: »

OP here..think I'll be closing my bird diner now. Sufficient ground space free of snow now that the birds are pecking away furiously on the ground. I've seen a few worms in beaks disappearing into the hedges.
Hopefully I've kept a few birds fed over the last couple of days.
Thanks for all the tips.

Thanks.
Though if you continue to feed them daily or on alternate days, you will support the population and promote population growth.
Insects are diminishing at an alarming rate due to pesticides and such.
You may even encourage new species into your area. Once they know there is a constant food source they will return again and again. It doesn't cost a lot.
Cheers.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Please all, keep feeding garden birds all year round. They need it and it's enjoyable to watch and record the numbers and species that visit over the years.

Lepidoptera

How big of a problem is wet seed for birds? I was in an area hit very hard with a good 48+ hours of consistent snow. I kept every feeder full and was scattering some on the ground every few hours because there were so many. Lots of seed was eaten, but as it snowed so much, some of it was inevitably covered with the snow that kept falling. There's still a ton of snow - not even close to bare patches yet - but I know when it eventually melts that the seed lost in the snow will get really soggy.

I'm not sure there's much I can do about that at this point, but will they eat the wet seeds and get sick? I'd hate to end up harming them.

Half-cocked

Great fun watching the hierarchy among the thrushes coming to feed on apples in my garden.

The Redwings and Song Thrushes seem to get along but the Fieldfares chase both species away. The Fieldfares also squabble among themselves but it's the resident pair of Blackbirds that are the most aggressive, chasing off all of the newcomers.

There's also one very aggressive female Blackcap that doesn't tolerate any other blackcap of either gender.

11James11

Had a Brambling here all day in west Clare eating from a peanut feeder and sunflower hearts that I spread under the feeder, first time ever seen one.

https://ibb.co/kzQp3S
https://ibb.co/gJjPL7
https://ibb.co/mTVmYS

Markgc

Lepidoptera wrote: »

How big of a problem is wet seed for birds? I was in an area hit very hard with a good 48+ hours of consistent snow. I kept every feeder full and was scattering some on the ground every few hours because there were so many. Lots of seed was eaten, but as it snowed so much, some of it was inevitably covered with the snow that kept falling. There's still a ton of snow - not even close to bare patches yet - but I know when it eventually melts that the seed lost in the snow will get really soggy.

I'm not sure there's much I can do about that at this point, but will they eat the wet seeds and get sick? I'd hate to end up harming them.

If the birds don't like them the won't eat them, especially if they mould. Pigeons will probably take them before that. It's not a problem.

Rosahane

I usually have a lot of sparrows at the feeders but haven't seen any over the last few days. Lots of the other species including a pair of blackcaps and a long tailed tit that arrived early last week.

Day Lewin

Friends of mine who are enthusiastic bird-watchers had a "birdseed garden" that grew up under the branch where the feeders hung.
Seeds that fell from it had lodged in the soil below and germinated: there were all sorts of grasses, cereals, occasional exotics.
So I wouldn't worry about wet seed - any naturally-occurring seeds can get rained on - It's all natural.

gillad

Rosahane wrote: »

I usually have a lot of sparrows at the feeders but haven't seen any over the last few days. Lots of the other species including a pair of blackcaps and a long tailed tit that arrived early last week.

I noticed that too...The sparrows are out again now but they don't seem to like the snow and are living in a wall 10 metre's from the feeder so I know they were not feeding somewhere else,maybe its a type of hibernation as they bunch together in large groups in the nest to conserve heat.
I think its a sign that they are well fed and fat.:)

dogmatix

I have a range of feeders up with fat balls, seed and such. They don't seem to like the slices of golden delicious apples at all. And i wont be using the mealworms again - they look and smell disgusting and they are not too popular. I now have a pair of robins, a male and female blackbird, a collared dove and dozens of very colourful collection of tiny birds of whom I have not idea what they are. Fascinating to watch from the window as they empty a full feeder of birdseed within an hour.

And don't forget a clean source of water for them - a baking tray seems to be very welcome as a temporary bird bath.

Some bloke on the radio over the last few days was suggesting that while bread is not recommended as a feed - bread soaked in the fatty runoff from your cooked breakfast is a good idea. Is it though?

diomed

The birds are singing this evening. They are happy the snow is over.
I had a black cap at the feeders just now, and a grey wagtail mooching around.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

diomed wrote: »

The birds are singing this evening. They are happy the snow is over.
I had a black cap at the feeders just now, and a grey wagtail mooching around.

Is it a Grey Wagtail, as opposed to a Pied Wagtail? I've never had one in the garden and only see them beside rivers.

diomed

Iris Big Sandstone wrote: »

Is it a Grey Wagtail, as opposed to a Pied Wagtail? I've never had one in the garden and only see them beside rivers.

Yes. I looked it up. They have a lemony yellow breast. I think it was a female.
You see pied wagtails in the shopping centre.
I've been getting a few oddballs in the bad weather. I don't see the finches, tits, sparrows so much but they might be arriving and eating early in the morning.
Each day I dump the old seed in the feeders on the concrete and fill again with fresh seed. The pigeons, blackbirds, magpies, and other ground feeders eat off the concrete. I throw two full basins of sunflower hearts on the concrete for the pigeons, and top up during the day if it disappears.

Rosahane

gillad wrote: »

I noticed that too...The sparrows are out again now but they don't seem to like the snow and are living in a wall 10 metre's from the feeder so I know they were not feeding somewhere else,maybe its a type of hibernation as they bunch together in large groups in the nest to conserve heat.
I think its a sign that they are well fed and fat.:)

They were back in numbers this morning hoovering up the huge amount of seed on the ground after the snow melted.

diomed

The courier arrived at lunchtime with my crow buster cage.
I set it up at 14:00 in the garden and hung two sunflower feeders in it.
At 16:00 the birds are in the cage feeding.
I thought all the birds would be scared of it. Not a bother.