Putting food out for the birds…

keepingquiet

No it is just a gentle suggestion...

Ok!

Well, I'll try.
But school dinners put me off some of the more unpalatable bits.

The sparrowhawk that visits us seems to target fairly small birds, although there are loads of big fat pigeons around.

The largest thing I've seen it eat is a woodpecker. We've found feathers every now and again from goldfinches.

It once flew into a pole holding bird feeders and knocked itself senseless for a few moments. It shook it's head, wobbled to it's feet and just sat on the path. It noticed us sitting nearby in the garden and gave us a dirty look as if to say 'this is all your fault' then after a few minutes flew away.

Farmor15

We live in a rural area and have lots of birds - big and small. The magpies and crows don't seem to affect the numbers of smaller ones - they're all part of nature. We also have cats- but the current ones have no interest in birds, so in the recent cold weather I started throwing bird seed out on the patio - handier than filling feeders.

We have a compost heap - never had a rat problem (cats?) and have little food waste, but I do throw odd bits outside where they disappear - birds, foxes and sometimes hedgehogs dispose of them. I can see that throwing food on the ground could cause problems in built up areas, but not in countryside.

The food I throw out is usually greasy though as I mix stale bread with the fat from the chicken that I cook for my dog each week. I never know what to do with chicken fat. We buy a large M&S chicken each week( they’re supposed to be treated more humanely ). They’re so much more expensive than those from other shops so I try not to waste any of it; and also, in a Native American sort of way, out of respect for the bird. And she scavenges for any food that’s on the lawn: being a hound she’ll eat anything ( and I mean anything: the more disgusting the better). What I don’t understand is that he always puts the hedgehog food in a bowl. I think he doesn’t like handling the bowl that the birds have been eating from because of avian flu, but I always disinfect it.

That’s a good idea for using chicken fat MayBee. Thank you. I share your respect for the animal.

A lot of it is guilt because, although I personally don’t eat a lot of meat my dog does. And I have to admit that, much as I’d like to be, I could never be a vegetarian. I think I’d end up craving meat the way that I do chocolate if I tried.

I sympathise there MayBee and I don’t like to think that any creature has given its life in vain. I won’t even put a dead garden bird into the landfill bin. We have various out of the way places in the garden where they may be laid respectfully. My husband would never become a vegetarian and we have pets to feed, but I do my best …

Although I said I was concerned about the dogs getting hold of the chicken wings. I was concerned about whole chicken wings
I have always fed raw chicken wings to the dogs occasionally when we have a chicken It is my present two that concerns me one eats them without chewing. I still feed them but break up the bones with a clever before doing so. Never had a problem.
You can get dried chicken wing tips which along with biscuits make a good doggy take away if out for the day.
As the saying goes. Everything but the squeak. I don’t believe in waste

I don’t believe in waste either but would never feed anything containing chicken bones to any animal.

Barleyfields

I don’t believe in waste either but would never feed anything containing chicken bones to any animal.

I always make stock out of the carcass which I then mix with my dogs food or add to soup. I then put the bones into the freezer till brown bin collection day and put them in the bin as I don’t know how else to dispose of them. Even then I worry that a dog might get to them so put them in a biodegradable bag. Winnie will only allow me to dremel her claws for chicken: no other treat will do given that having their claws trimmed is, to a sighthound, the most evil and terrifying thing that anyone could possibly do to them

One of our dogs used to sulk after Christmas and refuse to eat his normal food because he developed a taste for turkey.

AreWeThereYet

The sparrowhawk that visits us seems to target fairly small birds, although there are loads of big fat pigeons around.

The largest thing I've seen it eat is a woodpecker. We've found feathers every now and again from goldfinches.

It once flew into a pole holding bird feeders and knocked itself senseless for a few moments. It shook it's head, wobbled to it's feet and just sat on the path. It noticed us sitting nearby in the garden and gave us a dirty look as if to say 'this is all your fault' then after a few minutes flew away.

I've seen the sparrowhawk catching and eating a pigeon. It chased the pigeon, which hit the window ! then grabbed it when it was stunned.

A magpie was menacing the woodpeckers but they saw it off!

A mother blackbird was feeding her fledglings on the patio one day. I put an apple out for her. But one of the babies moved into the centre of the patio and a gull swooped down, picked it up and dropped it from a height. It died in my hand as I was willing it to survive. It is buried in the garden with a little headstone and I feel totally responsible for it’s death

I don't consider pigeons, squirrels, rats or anything 'vermin'. Everything has to eat to live. I feed the pigeons (feral) and the 3 or 4 grey squirrels in my garden. Last summer a family of rats was around, getting their share, the babies were so cute! I cook economically, don't have much food waste, and use a composter - plus I don't over-feed in the garden and I think it all balances out,

I hate food waste. Maybe try and just cook the amount that you need or do a few days worth and freeze them with leftovers. I used to put some food out for the birds until we had rats eating it.

My neighbour was an avid bird feeder - scattering seeds , bread etc on her lawn and having fat balls hung on her trees.Unfortunately a colony of rats made their home under her decking and became a nuisance.She finally got rid of them by spending a fortune on pest control. The pest control company said that rats are very common nowadays because of overuse of bird feed.

I’ve stopped putting fat balls out for the birds as the squirrel eats all of them. He also digs up any bulbs that I plant if I don’t cover them with mesh. The pigeons eat anything on the ground and then poo it all out onto my drive and car…excuse the graphic picture. I have to keep my bins at the front of my driveway. I really struggle to keep on top of it…

Perhaps when you take your dog out,put the leftover scraps in a bag and scatter them in a grass area for the birds.

Birds. Especially ducks should never be fed bread.

There are quite a few feathers flying on this thread & I don't necessarily mean from the birds!
Not to mention, quite a few Angry Birds on this post too. I wonder if it's like this on Twitter! 🥴

Grandma24

Perhaps when you take your dog out,put the leftover scraps in a bag and scatter them in a grass area for the birds.

The birds ate them out of their special bowl yesterday! The dog will find any scraps in the garden. She’s a hound and their life revolves around running and finding disgusting things to eat that will make them sick. Back home again now anyway where she has her own fenced off garden area. I don’t have much in the way of food scraps at home and, if I do I have a brown bin. It’s only when I’m at my partners and struggle with meal planning for two people as there is only a small freezer compartment and we can only leave non perishable food in the fridge; he doesn’t have a brown bin collection either. I’m terrible for cooking too much rice for meals, even though I do try to measure it out and the dog can always have some of it. I don’t like to reuse cooked rice.

Where I live we are envoraged not to scatter unwanted food or as you do place in a container. Can cause rat infestation plus of course the bord poop can be a problem. Think the RSPB also recommends not feeding otger than with bird food. Does your LA not collect and recycle food with garden waste?

We had a neighbour who used to throw out food on the back garden at night, until her next door neighbour was bothered by rats they even chewed through some brick work. The local council environment office had to intervene to get the neighbour to stop putting food out a night. We put food on either our bird table or the hanging bird feeds that are high enough that any cats can’t reach the birds.

My next-door neighours were putting food out in bowls in their front garden, it can attract vermin, particularly rats. I emailed the Environmental Health Department. They no longer put food out in bowls in their garden. You should not put food out in that manner, wrap it up well and put it in the bin.

MayBee70 and anyone else worried about re-using cooked rice- it's fine to use if it's put in fridge after cooling. I often keep for a week, covered. I re-heat in microwave, or make into fried rice with some veg. Rice can occasionally cause food poisoning, but cases were caused by large heaps of rice, left out for about 2 days, in careless restaurants! (I'm a retired microbiologist).
If I have a lot of leftover rice, after a party, I put in 2 portion size containers and freeze.

Cats are the biggest menace to birds accessing feeding tables and seed feeders etc …and squirrels are vandals!

I no longer put stuff out such as uneaten stale cake even though the birds would love it, because I don’t want to encourage rodents.

I acknowledge that Uk garden birds have evolved and adapted to seek out their own sustenance in winter but those that say providing feed is unnecessary seem to forget that people actually want the birds to be attracted to their garden so they can admire them…….just perhaps not so very many flipping pigeons/magpies and crows.

I rarely see a Starling anywhere nowdays whereas thirty odd years ago Magpies were quite rare but so were grey squirrels near our garden.
They are getting something that was obviously previously abundant in the parks and fields, but is no longer available.