Feeding birds.

[LadyMaureen]

I decided to encourage birds to visit our garden,so bought some squares of fat and hung them up.

We had crows,starlings, jackdaws and magpies.........greedy blighters they were too ! Each block finished in a day.

Now, I had intended to get the small birds to visit,but they couldn't get near,so now I'm not inclined to try any more.

Anybody got any ideas how to attract the little ones?

We don't get sparrows any more,but there are blue tits and robins around.Plus of course,the friendly GREY squirrel!!

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

At the moment Maureen theres no need to feed them, in fact its a bad thing. This time of the year they feed on their natural foods and the fledglings learn from this. I understand its also bad to feed peanuts while birds are rearing young because the fibres swell up in the nestlings stomachs.

 

[LadyMaureen]

Thank you for that information......that's what I like about this site.Every day we have the opportunity of learning something new )

 

[JandP]

Maureen have a look at www.rspb.org.uk and search under 'feeding'. They recommend feeding birds when there is a general food shortage but they say that as this can occur at any time it is ok to feed year round. They have lots of advice on what to feed but, they say, do not feed fat, bread or peanuts in the summer. We find sunflower hearts, in a hanging plastic feeder, are ideal for attracting tits and finches and we get lots, of all varieties, even in an urban area (but watch out for squirels who will wreck it unless, like our local one, they have learnt to lick the seeds out through the hole). It is advisable to soak any dry food this time of year because the babies in the nest cant get water except what the parents bring. Unfortunately all these birds also atracts the sparrow hawk and I have seen him take one of 'my' starlings this afternoon, very distressing but just another part of the natural world. Jim.

 

[LadyMaureen]

Many thanks Jim for your answer.....that was very helpful of you.

 

[JandP]

Maureen have a look at www.rspb.org.uk and search under 'feeding'. They recommend feeding birds when there is a general food shortage but they say that as this can occur at any time it is ok to feed year round. They have lots of advice on what to feed but, they say, do not feed fat, bread or peanuts in the summer. We find sunflower hearts, in a hanging plastic feeder, are ideal for attracting tits and finches and we get lots, of all varieties, even in an urban area (but watch out for squirels who will wreck it unless, like our local one, they have learnt to lick the seeds out through the hole). It is advisable to soak any dry food this time of year because the babies in the nest cant get water except what the parents bring. Unfortunately all these birds also atracts the sparrow hawk and I have seen him take one of 'my' starlings this afternoon, very distressing but just another part of the natural world. Jim.

By the way you can get sunflower hearts from most pet shops and at the moment they are on offer (2x1Kg bags for

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

May I add that the most important thing at this time of the year regarding birds is making sure they have clean drinking water :O)

 

[JandP]

Yes and dont forget a bird bath so they can keep their feathers in good condition but remember that when they are wet they cant fly so well and are particularly vulnerable. Jim.

 

[joeby]

Hi Maureen i allways put nest boxes on a 4"x4" post, site the boxes about 6' from the ground facing east if you can so they get the sun first thing in the morning ,you can put 4 or 5 of these up , dont buy any boxes with a perch on as the blue tits will fly straight in a 1 inch diametre hole ,and watch out for cats ,i chased one off the other evening that had climbed up the post and was by the box ,and dont put any feed out, as the blue tits will try to feed the fledglings with it and because it does not contain enough moisture like there natural feed of insects & lavea they could die of thirst ,bye the way 4 blue tits left one of our boxes yesterday , i caught them all on video as they all dropped out like paratroopers

 

[CliveV]

If you go to specialst pet shops you can buy meal worms and other prepared insect food that really help wild birds when they are raising young.

The dangers of dry food has been covered so the importance of "wet" food cannot be emphasised enough. Fledglings in the nest have NO access to water and so must get their liquid from other sources.

Having had the joy of feeding a Robin meal worms from my hand in my own garden - I can certainly confirm that such effots are appreciated.

Also have a look at the various websites about "insect gardens" - a few sticks left to rot provides the habitat that insects need to thrive - and of course, then so do the birds that feed on the insects.

There is a lot we can all do with very little effort

 

[JandP]

CliveV you have got me worried now! I feed sunflower hearts in a hanging plastic feeder, shop bought fat balls in a hanging wire feeder and mixed seed which I soak and put on the bird table (this seed also contains some whole peanuts but is mostly eaten by the wood pigeons). During the winter I also put out peanuts in a hanging feeder. We get loads of birds (including the sparrowhawk) but is any of this wrong? I do not soak the seeds in the feeder because they would get stuck inside it but I assumed that these are no different to the seeds that the finches etc would collect from the wild. Dont have any meal worms but I've got plenty of dog food (tinned and dry), can I use this? Jim.

 

[CliveV]

I do not think sunflower seeds are a particular problem - but certainly peanuts are during the breeding season.

It may not be for the squeamish but a nice big juicy catapillar or worm is far better for young birds than a diet of just dry seeds. Hence the problem of the use of pesticides on gardens - you either remove a valuable food source or poisen it for the birds

If you have a look at the RSPCA sites as well as English Nature and others - they have some excellent ideas for increasing the insect life within a garden. Gathering a few sticks and old bamboo canes and placing them under plants encourages the "helpful" insects. The bird population then benefits as well.

We put a small water feature in our garden a few years back at it was immediatly colonised by frogs. Prior to that we had a real problem with snails and slugs.

We still have them of course but nothing like in the numbers we did have - the frogs eat the snail & slug eggs.

I just love chucking a few mealworms down for the Robin!

 

[CliveV]

Meant to add that whilst tinned pet food is popular with birds - certainly our resident "Mrs Blackbird" likes to have a bit of tinned cat food - I am not sure about the dried food - I would not think it beneficial tho'.

Probably better to get some info from the RSPCA or RSPB. Large pet stores are OK but I do feel they are happy to sell you anything unlike our local small independent pet food guy who is a real enthusiast as well as a businessman.

The other problem my Mother in Law has when she started throwing out uneaten cat food for the birds is that after a while she was getting rats.