Topic: Feeding birds

[Borlotti]

I bought some bird food from Morrisons yesterday and some wild bird seed today.  Have been putting bread out.  Does anyone here know the best bird feeder to get (have got one cat) but will keep him in when feeding birds.  Is there anything in the cupboard I could make for them, don't want to kill them.  They liked one of my Xmas cakes, the one that went wrong, but haven't given them the one with brandy in it, as we are eating that.  Have loads of raisins, sultanas left, would it be OK to give birds that. Don't normally feed them but feel they need something in the snow. Also do they need water, or can they drink the snow.  Had a quick look on the internet and they suggest cooked rice or porridge.  I know there are plenty of bird lovers on here, I live in a very built up area but could hang something on the tree out the front so that the cat doesn't get there, have never seen him up the tree or out the front, or perhaps with the cat around shouldn't encourage the birds.  Not even sure if one is meant to feed them at the allotment in case they eat the crops in the summer.

[Spireite]

I use variations of
Stale bread/crumbs...cake crumbs
Dried mealworms
Raisins/sultanas/currants (currently chopping dried prunes!)
grated cheese
suet
bird seed
sunflower seeds
stale crackers
uncooked porridge oats
cut off cooked bacon rinds/ham joint fat

I also put fresh water out at the moment, in a shallow aluminium tray, sometimes 2/3 times a day when I am in to keep it from freezing over, I have seen the robins/squirrels drinking from it, but the blackbirds and starlings I have seen drinking snow...so long as the snow is fresh and isn't yesterday's frozen over.

In the past I have melted fat and added seeds, but it is easier to just buy the suet trays I find :)

[Froglegs]

Blackbirds love apple.

[carolinej]

I heard on TV once that they will eat cooked pasta. They ignored it

I generally give them bread, raisins, cheese, lard and bird seeds.

Yesterday, I had been grilling sausages and took the drained fat, mixed it with some particularly nasty tasting weetabix from Aldis that seemed like  a bargain. The birds loved it. 

I'm making pancakes later, so I'll make some for them too :o)

I have lots of porridge here, so may try the idea of cooking it up.
 
 

[jesssands]

Here is a link about feeding birds

 http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whatfood/index.aspx

There is a bit on there about not using fat from cooking meat.

I ask my butcher for some spare fat, he usually gives me a big old chunk of beef fat, which I then bring home cut into several smaller pieces and freeze it. I can then just get out one at a time and chop into tiny bits for my birds.
I also feed them some fat off my bacon, before I cook it, that saves me eating it! and also, dried meal worms (robins love them)
My blackbirds like fruit, apple, kiwi and grapes, also like dried ones like sultanas and raisins.
Just put out this week some stilton and apricot cheese that was left over from xmas, seemed to like it.

Another bit of advice, don't put out more than they can eat in a day. Or you will get rats!!

[lillian]

Uncooked porridge oats mixed into melted supermarket lard seems to go down well and its cheap. Dried fruit, cooked porridged, cooking oils are not recommended for bird feed.

[Debs]

Never cook porridge before giving it to birds
Advice from RSPB . . .

Porridge oats must never be cooked, since this makes them glutinous and could harden around a bird's beak. Uncooked porridge oats are readily taken by a number of bird species.

[GrannieAnnie]

I read in Birds and Bees magazine that birds like if you take a piece of stale bread and sop up bacon grease after cooking bacon.