Feeding the Birds

oldtractor

lard balls? melt a block of lard in a pan and add some seed,cubed bread and old hard cheese and a few raisins. pour into a pudding basin and put some string into it. when it cools place in fridge to harden. tip out and hang in a tree with the string.

valk_scot

I grow giant sunflowers in the summer and use the seeds for bird food in the winter. And I grow plants like angelica in the allotment. They produce a lot of seeds and the birds love them. Apart from that I just leave things like apple cores out on the bird table in summer. There's other foods availible for the birds at this time of year.

kymbogs

My mother in law could do with reading this thread! She pleads poverty constantly, however buys tons of bird food all year round and feeds every cat in the neighbourhood, stray or otherwise (roughly 10-12 cats twice a day!).

Emuchops

many thanks for all your reples-I shall use some of your advice!

song_of_calliope

We give our chickens the seeds from pumpkins and squash that I use in cooking - I'm guessing wild birds would like the same thing - save these over the summer and give them out in winter. You can also buy birdseed at poundland for £1 per kilo.

TravellingAbuela

In late summer we pick mountains of elderberries and rowanberries. We keep in a big container in the spare overflow freezer in the garage and pop a handful out daily on the birdtable. (The other foraged berries we keep for ourselves for jam, chutney etc!!)

Agree the price of bird seed has shot up recently. I went for a sack yesterday and it's now £10.50, whereas it doesn't seem long since it was £7.50. I am wondering whether I should stockpile it!! As far as fat squares go, in Jollyes yesterday the Dawn Chrus ones were £1.55 each - in Home Bargains the self-same ones were £1.79 for a pack of three!

GeDink

I tend to use the fat that has collected in my grill. Mop it all up with bread, pop in fridge to harden and then put it out for the birds.

The birds seem to love it!

[Deleted User]

We have had so many folk feeding pidgeons in our local precinct that its now an offence with a £80 penalty as they are becoming quite a nuisance with the mess and dive bombing folks heads .Birds are pretty resiliant creatures and rarely do they starve, especially at this time of the year

zippychick

as this has dropped down the board, i've merged it with our older thread on feeding the birds

Zip