Putting food out for the birds…

I have few leftovers but never throw away anything which the birds will eat. They won’t, for instance, eat vegetables other than potatoes (or at least ‘mine’ won’t). Any suitable leftovers I put on the lawn for them when I feed them each morning. They know when I will appear and swoop down straight away. It’s soon gone.

MayBee70

Babs03

@Maybee this is just an argy bargy, is not a deal breaker, if his throwing food on the lawn annoys you just thank your lucky stars this is all you have to moan about.
And in order to sort it out once and for all, get a composter in the garden and put any bits left over in there.

I had a composter at my house and ended up with rats living in it. I do everything I can to avoid throwing things in the bin.They still come searching for tiny bits of eggshell because I didn’t realise it attracted them. I know it isn’t a bit deal; that’s why I put on the AIBU thread.

We got rats nesting in our compost heap so stopped putting vegetable waste out, just garden weeds and grass.

I'm guilty of throwing food on the lawn today but it took me longer to chop it up than for the gulls to come down and eat it. 30 seconds and it was gone.
I'd never leave it out overnight.

The food waste goes to produce electricity here so I don't feel guilty recycling it.

No grapes, no fruit cake in case the dogs visit.

My problem is that I started feeding the sparrow population because their numbers appeared to have dropped drastically - the result now 10 years later is that I am feeding the entire population of pigeons in Sussex plus all the piers’ and marinas’ starlings - I’m a stop off breakfast point on their way to the downs about 10 secs as the crow flies away. I also have a very healthy sparrow population.

The pigeons a very gentle creatures but they are coming in their hoards. I haven’t the heart to stop feeding them and in any case they would raid the small bird feeders.

Talk about a rod for my own back!

P.S. spare food goes to the foxes.

I feed the seagulls every morning they love bread soaked in milk, potatoes in gravy or sliced/ mashed Sweet potatoes they eat bits of sprouts porridge more or less anything that’s left over
I put it on the square concrete pillar at the corner of my garden Then the starlings, crows, come to find any bits left over and the sparrows usually seem to find some small bits
I love my gulls

Good grief. Rat heaven. Birds are wild creatures and unless we have a prolonged cold snap are perfectly capable of finding their own food.

Putting food scraps out like this is a vermin magnet, including rats, squirrels, as well as pigeons and yes, sea gulls.

Crazy. Eat your own food yourself and don't waste it.

keepingquiet

Good grief. Rat heaven. Birds are wild creatures and unless we have a prolonged cold snap are perfectly capable of finding their own food.

Putting food scraps out like this is a vermin magnet, including rats, squirrels, as well as pigeons and yes, sea gulls.

Crazy. Eat your own food yourself and don't waste it.

👏👏👏

BlueBelle

I feed the seagulls every morning they love bread soaked in milk, potatoes in gravy or sliced/ mashed Sweet potatoes they eat bits of sprouts porridge more or less anything that’s left over
I put it on the square concrete pillar at the corner of my garden Then the starlings, crows, come to find any bits left over and the sparrows usually seem to find some small bits
I love my gulls

I love my gulls
🙂

I don't love them, but they do eat leftovers very rapidly.
Rats with wings - or shite hawks, as DH calls them.
Excuse the salty language.

But you don’t know them Allira they are highly intelligent, they mate for life which can be 30 years (unlike humans) they are good parents and have the intelligence to fly to the Atlantic and arrive back to exactly the same chimney pot they left a few months later. They have a small red spot on their beak both dad and mum and that’s a guide for the baby to know where their food is when they are nestlings.
They are much maligned and a beautiful bird bright as a button
We have made them into food thieves by removing all their natural food … fish …and pushing them inland When I grew up by the sea we never had any problems with seagulls they were too busy at sea following the fishing boats for their food we have taught them instead how to follow people eating in the street and dropping their food all over the place, greedy, slack, street eating people are what your husband should be calling rats
They are a beautiful intelligent bird

They were there straight away this morning; my ‘parliament’.

Lovely photo MayBee.

First & will be the last time I put food out for the birds we had a rat 🫣

I have a seagull who sits on next doors garage every morning and quietly asks for food - I give it a handful of mealyworms.

Next door cat clears away any potential vermin - although I’ve never seen a rat, but have seen a mouse, who get caught either by Tofu or trapped in my humane trap and relocated. And of course I’m getting my very own cat today - so hopefully she will be a hunter (when she is allowed out), as a stray she must have had to make ends meet.

Sadly our neighbour had a bird feeder which ended up attracting rats which then lived under my neighbours decking. They got rid of the feeder and the rats went. The other thing you need to watch is squirrels. They may look harmless but climb really well. My other neighbour got them into her loft ( we think someone was feeding them). It's taken years to get rid of them and the smell is awful. That is using a proper pest controller too. They are still at it after about 2 years, trying to get rid of squirrels from their loft.

If I had a view like that Maybee I would be feeding deer, rabbits, the lot, it looks lovely

Are all you people mad? Throwing food out is a terrible waste —don’t cook so much, freeze any left overs, turn bread into breadcrumbs for many recipes, or put out in the food waste bin if your council supply them.

It encourages vermin who carry disease.

Predator birds such as rooks and magpies will destroy the eggs and fledglings of birds. Have you ever seen a magpie tear a baby bird apart? It is not a pleasant sight. Seagulls have multiplied and are a menace - they swoop down and viciously snatch food out of people’s hands. They make a raucous noise and leave droppings everywhere.

Furthermore it is not recommended to feed birds on your wasted food as most of it is not good for them. If you really care for the birds grow plants with seed heads they can eat in the winter and buy proper bird seed to go in squirrel and rodent proof feeders, and mealworms.

As you have said, it is his house he can do what he wants to.

25Avalon

Are all you people mad? Throwing food out is a terrible waste —don’t cook so much, freeze any left overs, turn bread into breadcrumbs for many recipes, or put out in the food waste bin if your council supply them.

It encourages vermin who carry disease.

Predator birds such as rooks and magpies will destroy the eggs and fledglings of birds. Have you ever seen a magpie tear a baby bird apart? It is not a pleasant sight. Seagulls have multiplied and are a menace - they swoop down and viciously snatch food out of people’s hands. They make a raucous noise and leave droppings everywhere.

Furthermore it is not recommended to feed birds on your wasted food as most of it is not good for them. If you really care for the birds grow plants with seed heads they can eat in the winter and buy proper bird seed to go in squirrel and rodent proof feeders, and mealworms.

No, I’m not mad
I occasionally put out bread crusts but mainly it is suet balls suet blocks and mealworms, I hope that meets with your approval
But if not, I won’t be losing any sleep about it…😴😴😴😴

I’ve been banging this drum ever since I moved to the suberbs from the Cambridgeshire boonies, Avalon. I was horrified at one of my neighbours putting out food for foxes in the garden of the empty house between us - the one to which I’m attached. Well, Thanks Very Much!!

I was the one with the vermin problem, eventually having to get pest control involved. Magpies saw off what few garden birds were daring to venture into my (now) carefully managed wildlife friendly garden.

New people are about to move in. Obviously I want to be on good terms with them but my heart will sink to my boots if I see them putting out food in the garden.

Are all you people mad? Throwing food out is a terrible waste —don’t cook so much, freeze any left overs, turn bread into breadcrumbs for many recipes, or put out in the food waste bin if your council supply them.

Probably mad yes.

What I threw out the other day was the remains of a pork joint (yes I know!) but it was bought with the intention of sharing it with family but that didn't happen and we just didn't want the end bits after eating it for two days.
Plus the crusts from my sandwiches (my hair's curly enough).

And use the food waste bin.

We put out proper bird food too.

Allira

^Are all you people mad? Throwing food out is a terrible waste —don’t cook so much, freeze any left overs, turn bread into breadcrumbs for many recipes, or put out in the food waste bin if your council supply them.^

Probably mad yes.

What I threw out the other day was the remains of a pork joint (yes I know!) but it was bought with the intention of sharing it with family but that didn't happen and we just didn't want the end bits after eating it for two days.
Plus the crusts from my sandwiches (my hair's curly enough).

And use the food waste bin.

We put out proper bird food too.

Predator birds such as rooks and magpies will destroy the eggs and fledglings of birds.

Yes, we've got a sparrowhawk too.

Nature, red in tooth and claw.

Aside from the feeders for the little birds, I always put out any bits of meat/fat.

The crows are usually down to scoff it - picking up as many bits as they can cram into their beaks! - almost before I’m back in the kitchen.

Our garden doesn’t really have room for a compost bin, so all other food scraps go in the food waste bin, collected weekly.

We have very little food waste. Maybe some excess pastry from a pie, maybe a potato and the fat from a joint. The crows and seagulls are there within seconds to take it. I put out bread and proper bird food every day. They’re watching, ready to hoover it up. It doesn’t hang around,

All the seed heads and berries in my garden had been stripped long before the recent cold snap Avalon. No matter how bird-friendly your garden, it won’t feed them when they really need it.

I plant bushes which produce berries that the birds are supposed to love but they don't eat them.
We have seed heads, catkins etc.
The woodpeckers must have eaten all the ants.

According to the RSPB bread does not contain the necessary nutrients and proteins that birds need. Feed them on proper approved bird food if you wish to be kind. I say proper as peanuts unless processed can cause disease and death.

There are more predators birds as they can no longer be culled and in many areas there are now so many to the detriment of smaller bird species. I’ve counted 10 magpies in the garden but all the smaller species are far far fewer as a consequence.