Feed the Birds

[spider8]

We don't see many tits up here (no tittering please) but have had Coal Tits and Long Tailed Tits in Orkney. I miss my tits - Blue Tits and Great Tits - but then we get Oyster Catchers in the garden and lots of Waxwings which are so beautiful. My hubby is training to be a bird ringer and he'd love to get his hands on some tits as they are a species he hasn't handled yet.......oh this is bound to sound so smutty .

[Millymollymandy]

I'll swap you my tits for your waxwings!

[Keaniebean]

I love feeding the birds, we didn't get any when we first moved in to our house 5 years ago. Now we get blue tits, great tits, green finches, robins, magpies, starlings and of course bloody pidgins, unfortunately still no sparrows which is such a shame.
They are great entertainment as we have a feeder right outside the kitchen window. Really worth the effort and expense in my eyes.

[TheGoodEarth]

I love great tits. They are welcome in my garden any time.

[bonniethomas06]

I am glad I saw this, I had always assumed that the birds would eat the hen food, but now I come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen it happen - perhaps because the pellets/corn are far too big for the little ones.

I will buy some fat balls and seed at the weekend. We always used to put peanuts up in a metal wire tube thing, but it was last seen in the mouth of a naughty badger, running off down the garden.

[spider8]

I would recommend that if the fat balls come in net bags, that you remove those as the birds often get their claws and legs tangled in them. We make our own with seed and melted lard, lovely messy stuff.

[pelmetman]

Good point Spider.

And yes they can be messy, Dave makes bird cakes in cups and hangs them from branches, fine when its cold but we had them all melt the once and we had lovely fat dripping all over the plants below - mind you Troy liked it.
Sue

[Millymollymandy]

I am glad I saw this, I had always assumed that the birds would eat the hen food, but now I come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen it happen - perhaps because the pellets/corn are far too big for the little ones.

I will buy some fat balls and seed at the weekend. We always used to put peanuts up in a metal wire tube thing, but it was last seen in the mouth of a naughty badger, running off down the garden.

I have sparrows, chaffinches and moorhens queuing up for my duck pellets every morning. Even my cat eats them!!

[oldfella]

Got a lot of Pig skin of the butcher; chopped it into strips and hung it in the bushes, lots of birds about and they seem to like it, I hope its Ok for them.

[spider8]

Just something to point out and I'm sorry if you think it's rather obvious but........please don't put out dry bread for the birds, wet it first (yes I know it's freezing out there) 'cos you want the bread to swell up before it goes into the birds and not after, it can be very bad for them. However, nutritionally bread isn't that good. Yes it fills them up but it doesn't contain much protein and fat so don't put out loads of the stuff. Oldfella, the pig skin should be okay as long as it isn't heavily salted. We've had a Skylark on the patio for three days running - beautiful .

[MKG]

I completely agree with Spider8 - but I'd add that anything is better than nothing. We put out bread, stale cake (stale anything, actually), fat balls, suet pellets, sunflower seed, niger seed, peanuts - and I'm sure I missed something - (yes, I did - mealworms, but not too often as that can cause a dip in your bank balance - oh - and water - please don't forget the water) and we're rewarded with blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows, robins, blue, great and long-tailed tits, the mob (that's starlings), greenfinches, chaffinches, collared doves and wood pigeons, an increasingly regular woodpecker, the sparrowhawk shortly after everything else disappears, and we've had the singletons - a tree creeper, for instance, to name but one. Oh - and rooks and jackdaws, goldcrests (I'm doing this just by looking out of the window) ... it goes on. We also have the added joy of a couple of families of voles and the occasional squirrel helping themselves when they feel like it. And I forgot the wagtails.

Looking out of the window is a million times better than watching Strictly Come Dancing (mind you, what isn't?).

Feeding the birds is highly recommended.

Mike

[spider8]

You can breed mealworms and this is explained on the RSPB web site. Just put 'mealworms' in the search box. We know how expensive they are to buy so perhaps this is something to try.......now all I have to do is convince my OH!

[Shirleymouse]

The birds don't seem interested in my bird feeder. I filled it up this morning and looked out of the window to see blackbirds, robins, blue tits and a redwing as well as the mandatory pigeon all pecking about in the snow but completely ignoring the bird feeder. At least the snow has brought some interesting birds to the garden - normally we only see pigeons and magpies!

[Millymollymandy]

If you don't feed them regularly they may not know about it, I've found upon moving house and starting to put out food for birds they can take up to a fortnight to realise that there is food there. Once they've realised though, you can never stop!

[Shirleymouse]

I normally feed them by chucking crumbs and things out on the lawn but I thought that would get covered by snow so I put the feeder up - looks like I'll have to be patient! I like watching the birds so I hope they figure it out soon!

I saw on TV last year that you can put out cooked rice but when I've put it out the only takers were the foxes!