Feeding the Birds

mrsr

I dont know what im doing wrong the birds havn't touched a crumb of anything i have put out

Mummyroo

I don't know if I should be upset or pleased that my attempt at turning alot of left over boiled rice into rice pudding was so disappointing that my mum put it out for her birds to eat and they cleared the lot!

toni_

i always give the birds a few slices of bread, raisins (thats have been soaked in water) , suet which they love! and grated cheese, i then poor on some warm water so they can eat the bread easily and put it on the bird table, they love it

valk_scot

They like Christmas pud. Hubby had left half of one out uncovered and it had set into a brick, so I stick it on a butchers hook and hung it up in the apple tree. At one point there were six little tits of various sorts hanging onto it and fighting for a share. Very funny....I may even buy another pudding, just to see it happen again.

amazon_spice

valk_scot wrote: »

A bit of bread mixed in with other foods is fine, I would have thought. It's more when ducks and swans and such at the local beauty spot get fed dozens of loaves of bread a day by the local toddlers that problems creep in. The birds are too full up with bread to want to go and seek out more normal foods which would give them the wide range of necessary nutrients.

But if it's a choice between the birds dying of starvation and folk putting some bread out mixed with other more nutricious scraps just to bulk up the calorie count...well, go with some bread, I say.

Voice of reason. Totally agree.

ixwood

What can you feed the ducks, swans and geese that's healthy?

*zippy*

Its world war 3 out our garden today, the fieldfare is still trying to guard HIS tree, but the sparrows have had enough and as soon as he tuns his back to enjoy his apple the tree is full of them, he has spent all morning getting very annoyed with them :rotfl:

I made a nice big bowl full of food to throw on the front lawn only to find a neighbours cat tucking in, shooed him away and theres a mistle thrush out there now :T

fedupfreda

Hi everyone :hello:

Loving the thread.

I always keep a jar by the sink to tip melted fat into - saves blocking the sink - and when I have enough I can mix it into dry oats and bird seed to make my own version of a suet block to feed the birds with. I press the mixture into the suet block mould which came with the holder and pop it in the freezer until firm. I gave up on fat balls when I found out about birds getting their feet trapped.:eek:

One thing I would say though - be careful of build ups of dropped food, unlikely in this weather, I know - but when the snow melts - and it will - any dropped food is likely to encourage rats. Use a bird table if at all possible.

scotrae

I think perhaps I've been watching the birds a little too intensively over recent days...

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted a very bright green bird moving in the branches of the neighbour's overgrown shrub. I watched for about 60 seconds as it pecked the branch then lifted it's head again, thinking perhaps this must be some rarity - or perhaps an escaped canary (although it was larger). ThenI noticed many more ... as a branch got blown back exposing the underside of the leaves shining brightly as they caught the light.

Doh!:o

conradmum

*zippy* wrote: »

Its world war 3 out our garden today, the fieldfare is still trying to guard HIS tree, but the sparrows have had enough and as soon as he tuns his back to enjoy his apple the tree is full of them, he has spent all morning getting very annoyed with them :rotfl:

I made a nice big bowl full of food to throw on the front lawn only to find a neighbours cat tucking in, shooed him away and theres a mistle thrush out there now :T

Fieldfares are very aggressive aren't they? The one we had was spending so much time chasing the other birds away from the food that he didn't have time to eat any of it.

In the end he gave up, picked up a crust or something and flew off to enjoy it in peace in another part of the garden. :rotfl: