Discussion
I have been feeding the birds in this cold weather as well as leaving out bowls of water. So far they have had a diet of bread, hot cross buns and blueberries. Are birds able to digest rice as I have some salmon risotto left over this evening that I thought they might find rather tasty in the morning?
If the rice has been cooked they may eat it, no reason why not imo. Don't give them uncooked rice though. Also don't give them chocolate as it's poisonous to them. Oh, wholemeal or brown bread is better for them then white bread which is basically bread with all the goodness removed.
Our left-overs chain goes: Us - dogs - birds - compost heap.
Hardly anything gets to the end. Some bird or other will eat almost everything you put out, veg are the only thing that gets left, not high energy enough (too heavy to lift if you fly).
I also sometimes get stuff from the reduced counter at the supermarket. Forget £2.50 for a bag of seeds when you can get loaves of bread etc. for 10-20p.
Hardly anything gets to the end. Some bird or other will eat almost everything you put out, veg are the only thing that gets left, not high energy enough (too heavy to lift if you fly).
I also sometimes get stuff from the reduced counter at the supermarket. Forget £2.50 for a bag of seeds when you can get loaves of bread etc. for 10-20p.
JulesV said:
I have been feeding the birds in this cold weather as well as leaving out bowls of water. So far they have had a diet of bread, hot cross buns and blueberries. Are birds able to digest rice as I have some salmon risotto left over this evening that I thought they might find rather tasty in the morning?
I was always told not to feed small birds with bread, since the same causes cancer. I feed my blue tits, robins, jays, finches, black birds (I know my birds), with bird seed, bird nuts and fat balls.The birds have been great to watch this last week or so.
We have a number of feeders out attracting all sorts .
Our friendly pheasant, Philip , comes looking for me every morning for his breakfast , he gets a good corn based feed and also some warm porridge which we also make for the chickens .
One way of making sure he stays with us , nearly 2 years now.
We have a number of feeders out attracting all sorts .
Our friendly pheasant, Philip , comes looking for me every morning for his breakfast , he gets a good corn based feed and also some warm porridge which we also make for the chickens .
One way of making sure he stays with us , nearly 2 years now.
Edited by Busamav on Wednesday 13th January 09:21
FourWheelDrift said:
If you want to attract Robins or Wrens try cheese, birds can digest processed dairy (but not milk).
A couple of summers ago, we had a robin who got so tame (s)he'd take cheese from my hand. Supermarket 'value' grated cheddar (cheap & convenient) seems to go down a treat.garycat said:
My wife puts out bread soaked in leftover fat but we just seem to attract seagulls.
I can see it may cause a problem in the future when we are having BBQs in summer if the seagulls know our garden is somewhere they can get food.
How can we feed the 'nice' birds but not seagulls?
I've been looking after some swans and ducks and noticed the gulls don't seem to eat corn. So you could buy a 20kg sack of corn for about £8 or buy a kilo at a time for about 85p and give that a whirl. Small birds probably can't eat it so you'll need smaller seed for them. Oh, pigeons will eat corn so you may find they become your next problem I can see it may cause a problem in the future when we are having BBQs in summer if the seagulls know our garden is somewhere they can get food.
How can we feed the 'nice' birds but not seagulls?
Hereward said:
Busamav said:
Our friendly pheasant, Philip , comes looking for me every morning for his breakfast...]
No way! We have Phil and occasionally Phyllis! Beautiful creatures.we get a Phylis every now and then .
Phillip will walk around the garden with me like a little dog ,as you say great creatures , he will also feed from the hand now.
I have been feeding the birds too. Have seen some birds that I haven't seen before. Saw 6 Redwings yesterday in my parents garden in SE London having a bath in their pond. Saw a Fieldfare last week in my garden. Its lovely to see them. I went to buy some more seeds from the supermarket but they had sold out - which was annoying, but a good sign as a lot of people must be helping the little fellas out.
mrsshpub said:
A couple of summers ago, we had a robin who got so tame (s)he'd take cheese from my hand.
I breed my own mealworms for this purpose. Quite easy to do - just keep them in a bin with a mixture of bran, shredder paper (I use the waste from the office paper shredder) and the odd slice of stale bread.My robins follow me round as soon as I step out of the door, these days!
Being cynical, but if you want to tame them to the point where they take food from your fingers, the recent weather conditions are the ideal time to do it, since the poor little b
ds are so hungry that they will overcome their fear almost instantly if they see something wiggling and edible in your hand.garycat said:
How can we feed the 'nice' birds but not seagulls?
You can buy a range of feeders that pigeons and gulls are simply too large to feed from. The RSPB do a range. Also - look up "Ground Feeders" for blackbirds and the like that might not go to a hanging feeder - these sort are, essentially a cage that only smaller birds can get in and out of. This protects them from pouncing cats and keeps off the pigeons.RSPB
Sam_68 said:
My robins follow me round as soon as I step out of the door, these days!
At my previous house the Robin was so friendly I'd have to be careful not to spear him with the garden fork (they love freshly turned earth for the grub opportunity) or stand on him.He was affectionately known as The Crap Robin. This was because he was crap at being a Robin. He had to circle the garden three times to get enough height up to get over the fence...
JulesV said:
I have been feeding the birds in this cold weather as well as leaving out bowls of water. So far they have had a diet of bread, hot cross buns and blueberries. Are birds able to digest rice as I have some salmon risotto left over this evening that I thought they might find rather tasty in the morning?
Be careful putting out Salmon - Heron can smell it miles away then they'll spot your pond again.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff