Topic: Feeding the birds

[waggi]

hey all
do any off you have a bird table and nuts and seed for our featherd friends
as we do and some people dont realy like that do they
what do you lot think
matt  ???

[maz]

I feed the birds, hey Im a Cancerian I feed everything!lol.

Just be careful about nuts waggi as they are too big for the fledglings to eat just yet. If they are in a bag so that the birds can only peck at them they are fine.

[Gardenantics]

The people next door are over feeding the birds! They pile heaps of food out all over the garden, the big birds swarm in and grab a crop full, fly to our roof and spit it out to try eat it without a fight, lots ends up in our troughing and germinates blocking the whole thing, and when it rains we get water pouring down the face of the house, and in through any open windows. They have not responded to my request to moderate the feeding, and came out with a very dumb comment on how they tried only feeding the small birds, but the big ones still keep coming, WELL YOU DON'T SAY! I was always told only feed birds in winter.
I suppose we will have to try again, but it is very annoying that some people never give a thought to others. Also the place is covered in birds**t, and smells in hot weather.
Brian

[Emm P]

As well as food - don't forget the water.
We have 4 bird baths in our back garden - and 1 out front.
 :)

[Marianne]

We normally feed the birds, especially so in winter when there is no natural food around.  At springtime, I feed them wet bread, seed and wet scraps,  as the fledglings would choke on dry bread. 

However, we have been increasingly annoyed at the swarms of pigeons and doves landing on the bird tables and gobbing everything up before the little ones have had the time to even get there.  We do realise that you cannot be selective in feeding wilflife,  as EVERYTHING will come down to feed.  For the moment, we have stopped feeding as our patio is full of pigeon poo stains which is very difficult to wash off as we do not have water outside the house. 

Next autumn, when food is scares again, we will purchase some special bird feeders that only the little ones have access to as, believe it or not, the pigeons have learnt to hang onto the smallest of them ! 

[bunnycat]

I feed the birds, too :) It took a while for them to start coming, but I've got quite a few now. I've got a few different bits and pieces in the garden, to appeal to different sorts of birds so I get a nice variety without them fighting too much over the food.

I've got fat balls which the blue tits love, a seed feeder which the sparrows enjoy and a nut feeder (wire mesh) that the tits and sparrows use. I've also got a bird table for scraps of stuff for everyone to enjoy ;D
I usually make a mixture of stale cake and biscuits mixed with grated cheese, soaked sultanas and a handful of seed to go on the bird table and I chuck a handful on the ground for the blackbirds, too.
Oh, I slice up overripe pears and the ocasional apple that's gone a bit soft because the starlings and blackbirds love those. And cooked potato as well - they like that ;D

I very rarely put bread out, unless there are sandwich or toast crusts going begging.

[Mrs Ava]

Used to, but only crusts from kids brekky, bacon rinds and biscuit and cake crumbs....then we had a mice/rat problem so stopped for a while.  Now have fat balls hanging in our tree which the bluebirds and starlings rather like. 

[Roy Bham UK]

I feed the birds, too :) It took a while for them to start coming, but I've got quite a few now. I've got a few different bits and pieces in the garden, to appeal to different sorts of birds so I get a nice variety without them fighting too much over the food.

I've got fat balls which the blue tits love, a seed feeder which the sparrows enjoy and a nut feeder (wire mesh) that the tits and sparrows use. I've also got a bird table for scraps of stuff for everyone to enjoy ;D
I usually make a mixture of stale cake and biscuits mixed with grated cheese, soaked sultanas and a handful of seed to go on the bird table and I chuck a handful on the ground for the blackbirds, too.
Oh, I slice up overripe pears and the ocasional apple that's gone a bit soft because the starlings and blackbirds love those. And cooked potato as well - they like that ;D

I very rarely put bread out, unless there are sandwich or toast crusts going begging.

If I was a Rat I would raise my family in your garden, it sounds like heaven. ;D 8)

[kenkew]

I thought bread was a no-no. It fills bellys but not enough nutrition, especially for chicks. Or did I dream it?

[Emm P]

I had always been led to believe that you hadn't to feed bread, either.
As well as the usual birds, we are getting all of the neighbourhood crows coming for food now.
And what a mess they are making of our fence.
 >:(

[Carol]

I feed the birds all year.  At the moment I am feeding the fledgling blackbirds and they are enjoying soaked Brown bread and (this morning) soaked Oat cakes which I didnt fancy.  They also get the half apples or pears.   Nuts are still hanging along with Niger seed and fat balls.  The RSPB are for feeding all year.  This is not to feed the young really but to HELP the adult birds while they are feeding their young. 
The adult birds pick and choose what to feed their young but inbetween dashing back and forward to their nests they can drop off and feed themselves on stuff we put out for them.  Also got loads of water in various dishes but again the Blackbirds enjoy the proper thing by going into the fish pond and bathing in a plant pot.  The young blackbirds have found their way to doing this as well.  Been trying to get a pic of the Blackbird family bathing in the Big Pond for couple of weeks.  I wont give up!!!

p.s.  Bread is ok for the Birds as long as it is not hard.  If it is hard, soak it first.  I wouldnt throw out huge chunks either but crumble the bread.

[honeybee]

Although i did used to feed the birds, i then developed a problem with mice, so i soon stopped, but in the winter months i do put out fat balls when its very cold.

Even though i dont feed the birds, i have a constant supply of birds feeding on natural sources and i prefer it that way.

I have two bird baths which i check on each day to make sure there is a good water supply and my birds are more than happy with that.

[portway farm]

We have 8 full time feeders hanging up outside our lounge window all year round and they are filled with RSPB organic feed. And boy don't we get told off by the birds when they are getting empty. All of the feeders are crammed full of birds ranging from 20 long tail tits, 5 chaffinches, 3 robbins, 2 blackbirds, wrens, sparrows, great spotted woodpeckers, full range of various tits, bullfinches, goldfinches, siskins, and many many more (some of which we have to look up as we have no idea what they are). Obviously some of those birds are ground feeders but they feed on what falls out of the hanging feeders. We also have 3 bird baths out there and make our own fat balls. So pro feeding birds.

[bunnycat]

I feed the birds, too :) It took a while for them to start coming, but I've got quite a few now. I've got a few different bits and pieces in the garden, to appeal to different sorts of birds so I get a nice variety without them fighting too much over the food.

I've got fat balls which the blue tits love, a seed feeder which the sparrows enjoy and a nut feeder (wire mesh) that the tits and sparrows use. I've also got a bird table for scraps of stuff for everyone to enjoy ;D
I usually make a mixture of stale cake and biscuits mixed with grated cheese, soaked sultanas and a handful of seed to go on the bird table and I chuck a handful on the ground for the blackbirds, too.
Oh, I slice up overripe pears and the ocasional apple that's gone a bit soft because the starlings and blackbirds love those. And cooked potato as well - they like that ;D

I very rarely put bread out, unless there are sandwich or toast crusts going begging.

If I was a Rat I would raise my family in your garden, it sounds like heaven. ;D 8)

There are far too many dodgy takeaways round here for the rats to bother with my bird food :D LOL!!!!!!

[bean]

There's some excellent advice on when to feed birds on the RSPB site:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/whatyoucando/feedinggardenbirds/when_to_feed.asp

along with a lot of other useful titbits on feeding generally, wildlife gardening, identification etc. It's a great site!  :)

I feed 'my' garden birds all year round, and they also have good access to more wild foods thanks to the native plants and the pond I've put in

A pond is such a good thing to squeeze into a garden - mine's only a basic pre-moulded one (picked up for £45 new), 5 x 2 1/2 ft and 18" deep with a couple of ledges and different depths, but it's made good use of by lots of visitors, feathered or otherwise.

[waggi]

i went to the lottie and well all my seed and nuts and fat ball is gone
that is a lot off bird feed