Feeding Wild Birds At Springtime
With this spring being milder than usual you might assume that the high insect levels would be enough to satisfy most wild birds appetites, but the hotter weather also hardens the ground and many wild birds who normally feed off worms such as tits and chaffinches will struggle to find food.
Springtime is also breeding time for wild birds so extra food will always help and can really make a difference to the survival rate of the young, just be mindful that hygiene is important, clean feeders and tables and that certain foods will not last long in the hot weather.
Foods to avoid feeding to wild birds during this time of year include such things as whole peanuts, due to the risks of choking young birds, an exception to this could be through the use of a caged feeder that won’t allow larger chunks of nut through the gaps in the mesh. Other foods to avoid should include bread as this could prove harmful if the older birds feed them to their young.
What can I feed Wild Birds Then?
Some adult wild birds will come and feed from your garden to satisfy their own needs whilst other parents will take the food you have put out back to their young so a plentiful supply of protein rich foods are much needed. Fat products are ideal as these provide the high energy proteins breeding birds require such as fat balls, suet blocks and suet pellets. Fat products also appeal to a wide variety of wild birds so putting these types of foods out in the garden should increase the diversity of wild birds visiting. New production techniques now unable a less messy option in what’s known as Less Mess Suet Blocks, these are ideal as they don’t melt or get sticky in the hotter weather but are still as tasty and appeal to the wild birds.
Live foods such as insects are one of the best sources of protein for wild birds that are breeding, live foods such as mealworms are possibly the most popular live bird food.
Many species go mad for mealworms including robins, blackbirds, sparrows and tits. Mealworms are ideal for feeding in gardens and are made up of over 48% protein and 40% fat and have a high percentage of moisture which is vital for nestlings. Just remember to use special live bird food feeders otherwise your bird food will wriggle away before the birds get chance to eat them.
Don’t like the idea of handling live mealworms but still want to help the wild birds during the springtime then consider using dried mealworms, freeze dried but still containing all the same levels of proteins and fats but much easier to deal with, although during breeding season it would be better to soak in a little water to aid with digestion of nestling birds.
Source:
Vine House Farm bird foods, the online shop which sells bird food, feeders and accessories, and all supplied direct from our farm at low prices. We support the Wildlife Trusts, and grow as much of our wild bird seed on our conservation award winning farm as possible.
About the Author
TSG Creative, a division of Tandem Solutions Group Ltd are a Web Design and Website Optimisation & Web Marketing company that specialises in web design, website development, website optimisation, organic search engine optimisation and internet marketing, whilst we are based in Lincolnshire we are well placed to offer our services to our wide client based nationally around the UK and Europe.
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