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Talkback: Feeding the birds

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
I think its ok to feed the birds cause if we dont and they die we wont have any at all if its a bad or wet winter,ok we dont know if it is junk food but what is the alternative ? birds adapt to different food, and it isnt really long till spring so lets feed the birds and help them
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  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I feed the birds all year round with peanuts for the small birds and apples, sultanas and muesli for the ground feeders like blackbirds. In the winter I also hang up a fat ball. This is all nutritious food which is good for the birds. I sometimes throw out bread and other scraps which probably is junk food but this does fill them up on a cold winter's day. Surely birds are like humans in that occasional junk food won't harm them? They are never going to eat only junk food, they will always supplement it themselves with other more natural food.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    i agree with the first comment, i put steak and kidney pie, chips and mushy pea's out for the birds every friday, and last saturday, 2 robins invited me out for a pint.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    i have just browsed the new gardeners world magazine and there is a project to make a nesting box from an old teapot, whoever thought of this doesnt know much about birds, even if a bird did lay eggs in it they would fall prey to all sorts of prededitors including woodpeckers
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    we are not allowed to feed the birds in my area as it encourages rats (milton keynes has a large rat population) also people in my nearby allotment site keep chopping the trees and hedges down so locally we have a very sparce bird population much to my disappointment.
    Therefore those that can feed our birds please continue.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    we are lucky enough to live in a rural county, we have may visiting birds aswell as 'locals', we keep all our feeders and bird table topped up with nuts seeds apple rasins and so on,this time of year.I have put out a mixture of home made fat balls,the birds seem to have pecked out the seeds etc, and left most of the fat! However we must all remember to clean the feeders and bird tables to keep them free of diseases.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I feed the birds all the time I always have,black sunflower seeds are the most popular sparrow seed mix next followed by peanuts and last robin mix. I also put out dried mealworm, cooked chopped fat off any meat,the odd scone, biscuit and bread. A worrying thing I have noticed is the dunnocks which never ate anything I put out in the past now pick about anything thats there.Two years ago they would be constantly up and down the boarders from early til late and always fed their young this way even in the wet summer last year they never touched anything I put out this year I've seen some of the young constantly feeding from whats out for the other birds.Is this due to the lack of insects or are they just changeing with the times, nature needs all the help it can get with all our seasons and weather upside down and back to front.By the way none of the birds that feed in my garden like fat balls I've tried many different ones to no success.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    2 years ago we put up our first Nijer seed feeder. We hadn't seen a Goldfinch in our garden for years. Within a few days we had 3 goldfinches visiting regularly. We progressed to a larger feeder and now have Goldfiches nesting in the Ivy I'd planted to conceal a power supply pole in the garden. Yesterday we had 14 of the little beauties on or near the feeder. I'd call that a real success story for feeding on a regular basis. I would be concerned if we wern't able to continue feeding them nijer seed but then again 14 birds is a stronger population than the zero before we started. The bonus for us is their constant chiter chater and minor squables over who has the top perch on the seed feeder.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I allways try to help out birds by leaving out bread crumbs, bird food such a: Peanuts, and usually suit and berry as i find that swallows go crazy for it. They come in there hundreds and totaly cover the my garden. I have to agree with the top article. Only about 30 people out of 100 feed birds so when they birds can get a bit of easy food its got to be a good thing.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    If you're really that concerned that what you are feeding to your garden birds is the equivalent of avian junkfood, then there are a few simple steps to take to ensure they eat healthily. Firstly, only buy types of bird food that is best suited to British birds. I replaced peanuts with sunflower seeds many years ago, and haven't noticed any drop in numbers at the feeding stations in my garden. Nyjer seed for goldfinches is ideal, as it mimicks wild thistle seed, their favourite food. I, too, am a bit concerned that the suet and lard in commercial fatballs may make them ill, but you could try replacing it with a vegetable equivalent (non-hydrated of course), or if you are lucky to have a local butcher that sells organic meat, then ask them for some suet. I make my own fatballs, and add pinhead oatmeal, raisins, hips and haws (collected earlier in the autumn), de-husked and chopped sunflower seeds, grated cheese, apple, plus anything else I think would be good for them to eat. I avoid putting out bread, as it can swell up in them, making them ill. Pastry, made from wholemeal flour, is good though. I would never give them pasta, cooked or dried. The best thing we gardeners can do is plant lots more native trees, shrubs and plants that not only provide cover and nesting places for the birds, but ones that also give crops of seeds and berries that they like to eat. Also, don't be too tidy in the garden, as this provides a huge larder of tasty edibles for insect foraging birds like wrens, and robins. Don't use conventional slug pellets to kill these pesky molluscs, try other wildlife friendly solutions, and you might find that your garden becoms a haven for thrushes too! Nothing like the glorious song of a thrush to cheer a world-weary heart.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I can remember when the blue tits had peck through the milk bottle tops on the door step and stolen the cream from the top, no longer can they have their daily dose of fat so I suppose it's up to us to give them the best we can but bread and pastre shouldn't be among the healthy food supplied, seeds mealwormsand a little fat but not in quantities to stop them from forreging.
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