Acceptable seeds and cereals
For urban pichugs, commonly used cereals can be considered as food. When you go outside, you don't have to wonder if birds eat rice. You can safely take with you a bag of millet, wheat, rice and oats.
In addition, birds will not refuse the seeds of such vegetable crops:
- watermelon;
- pumpkins;
- melons;
- corn;
- sunflower.
Forest birds love pine cone seeds and acorns. If, while going for a walk, a person takes with him a small piece of white bread, then before feeding it to the birds, he needs to crumble it.
Additionally, birds can add crushed eggshells , which will become a source of calcium for them. Chopped apple pieces, cottage cheese, and small pieces of raw beef can also be added to bird feeders.
Is it possible to feed rice to poultry?
Most inexperienced farmers are interested in whether it is possible to add rice to bird feed. It seems that it is the same grain as barley, wheat and others. A limited amount of rice, rich in carbohydrates, minerals and B vitamins, will not harm the bird and will have time to be absorbed. However, overuse of this cereal can cause paralysis and even death in chickens .
It is recommended to feed rice to birds during the daytime .
Mix it, for example, with vegetables, grass or other feed. Occasionally feed the birds with boiled rice diluted with milk .
Chickens especially love this delicacy. They quickly get full and become energetic. It is useful to feed birds rice flour and chaff :
- Mix rice (preferably unpolished) and other food in a ratio of 1:3.
- Dilute a little with water or milk.
Feeding rice alone or its frequent use is unacceptable . The productivity and well-being of a bird depends on the diversity of its diet.
What is the best way to feed birds in bird feeders?
Experts recommend buying food rich in vegetable fat, such as rapeseed and flax . More budget-friendly options include raw, clean sunflower seeds (seeds). The birds will eat them without leaving a trace and will be satisfied.
Sample “healthy eating menu” for street birds:
- Lard (visceral fat). It must be raw, and in no case smoked, salted or peppered. Raw lard helps birds stay full for a long time due to its caloric and nutritional content. It is not necessary to chop it, just hang a piece by a wire. Then it will be convenient for the birds to sit on it and peck in small portions.
- Coconut and unsalted butter are very good food for insectivorous birds (great tits, nuthatches, blue tits, blackbirds, etc.). You can add a mixture of various grains and seeds to butter, freeze it, make a hole in the prepared form and thread it through a rope.
- Dried berries of red and black rowan, serviceberry, elderberry, hawthorn, blueberry, etc.
- Dried fruits (apples, pears). They are popular with starlings, waxwings and thrushes.
- Unroasted melon, watermelon, and pumpkin seeds.
- Woodpeckers and nuthatches prefer chopped nuts (walnuts, peanuts).
- Lightly salted cheese, cut into small cubes.
- Dry crumbs of white bread are a real treat for sparrows.
- Ready-made mixtures for birds from the pet store.
What to feed birds
What food should you not give to tits?
It is important to note that the titmouse
you need to adhere to a certain “diet”. Prohibited: Any bread baked with yeast, which causes fermentation in the stomach, Fried foods, everything salty, spicy, sweet.
Interesting materials:
How to choose the power of an LED floodlight? How to choose an Anti-Cat mosquito net? How to choose a motorcycle for a beginner? How to choose a surface-mounted lamp? How to choose mattress filler? How to choose a TV wall stand? How to choose a real bamboo blanket? How to choose a suspended ceiling for the kitchen? How to choose a suspended ceiling for the bedroom? How to choose headphones for running?
How to feed tits?
It is very important to maintain regularity. If you decide to support the birds, then you should add food once or twice a day at a certain time. Small birds very quickly get used to the feeder, and if at the right time they don’t find food in the usual place, they may get confused and not have time to get it somewhere else, especially when it’s evening and it’s frosty outside. Therefore, if you have a choice - to arrange a one-time “feast for the whole world” or to feed little by little constantly, you should always choose the second. If you are not sure that you can add food regularly, pay attention to lard, it is consumed little by little, you can hang it up and change it only as it is consumed. In general, options are possible. The main thing is good will - and the desire to help birds in difficult times.
Seeds, peanuts and nuts are the best choice for tits
These three types of food are taken away by tits first. The seeds and nuts are easy to grab and fly away to peck in a cozy place. Tits often store food; they especially like to hide cosmos seeds. A couple of these little blackies visit my feeder every day in the winter.
But great tits rarely store food, but prefer to eat it right away (on the spot or by flying to a neighboring branch). Small Muscovites, apparently, cannot compete so quickly and decide to visit the feeder more often in order to hide the seeds in reserve. In addition to Muscovites, chickadees and tufted tits engage in stocking activities. Research shows that tits can stock up throughout the year.
Read about when to feed the birds in this article - When to start feeding the birds: Autumn is the time to fill the feeders!
Sunflower seeds are an ideal option for feeding birds all year round:
- they do not deteriorate in the sun and under the influence of oxygen. Only moisture can cause them to deteriorate, so place the seeds in a covered feeder;
- rich in nutritious fat and easily digestible by birds;
- sparrows prefer smaller grains, so tits have fewer competitors (but it is necessary to protect food from pigeons - they will quickly destroy all supplies!);
- Other beautiful birds also feed on the seeds - greenfinches, crossbills, goldfinches;
- you can put a lot of sunflower seeds into the mesh feeders and provide birds for a long period;
- long shelf life - you can buy a large bag once and it will last for the whole winter.
A great tit pecks at a sunflower seed.
Tits like nuts and peanuts even more, but the cost of these foods makes feeding tits very expensive. Nuts should be placed exclusively in mesh feeders so that birds cannot drag them up the tree - most often the titmouse will not completely peck the nut, but will throw most of it into the snow. And from the mesh feeder, the birds are forced to peck out pieces little by little.
In addition to the cost, shelled nuts have another disadvantage - the fat quickly oxidizes in air and goes rancid. It would be doubly disappointing if such expensive food spoils and the tits are never able to enjoy it.
Where does a sparrow usually live?
You can meet sparrows almost everywhere. They massively populate the centers of cities and towns. Habitat _
wide,
the sparrow
is found from Western Europe to the Sea of Okhotsk, in East and Central Asia. It is widespread even in Siberia.
Interesting materials:
Where was the television first invented? Where are Philips TVs assembled in Russia? Where are cherries grown in Russia? Where is the microphone in a smartphone? Where are old TVs accepted in St. Petersburg? Where is the front camera on the phone? Where is the voice recorder in a Samsung phone? Where is the app store on a Samsung TV? Where is the air conditioner located in the carriage? Where to hang the towel holder?
Literature used in the article:
- Aggressive behavior of the great tit Parus major when defending the nest. V.A.Koshcheev // Russian Ornithological Journal 2022, Volume 28, Express Issue 1822
- Once again about the eating of soap by the great tit Parus major. V.G.Prokhorov//Russian Ornithological Journal 2022, Volume 26
- Food storage in tits Parus spp. and the nuthatch Sitta europaea. A.V.Bardin // Russian Ornithological Journal 2022, Volume 27, Express Issue 1585
- Great tit Parus major feeding on the carcass of a rock pigeon Columba livia. N.N. Berezovikov, A.N. Filimonov // Russian Ornithological Journal 2022, Volume 27, Express Issue 1574
- On the feeding of the great tit Parus major by honey bees Apis mellifera. V.P.Ivanchev // Russian Ornithological Journal 2016, Volume 25, Express issue 1277
- About the consumption of unusual food by great tits Parus major - soap and corn grains. Knysh N.P. // Rus. ornithol. magazine 23 (970): 2014.
- Relationship between the great tit and the urban landscape in winter. Kovalev V.A. Prisada I.A. // Magazine Berkut No. 5, 1996.
- Seasonal dynamics of the food supply and diet of great tit (Parus major) chicks. T.A. Ilyina // Materials of the I All-Russian Scientific Conference “Evolutionary and Ecological Aspects of the Study of Living Matter”. Cherepovets, February 8–9, 2022
Why do we give rice to fighting birds?
A special diet is being developed especially for fighting cock breeds , since their body needs an increased rate of protein and vitamins. It is based on mixed feed. There are all kinds of additions to it: dairy products, herbs and even meat. Rice cereal is also added.
Due to the high content of vegetable protein, rice stimulates muscle growth and saturates the body with energy. Another of his merits is strengthening the skeletal system.
Is it worth feeding tits?
We need to start with the fact that feeding tits is not only possible, but also necessary. Everyone is familiar with the great tit from childhood - the same titmouse bird from books. So, great tits are active fighters against various harmful insects, and during the warm season they destroy a huge number of forest and garden pests: aphids, caterpillars, weevils, bedbugs. Any gardener and gardener, without even realizing it, uses the services of these little crop protectors every year. Someone will say that tits can also cause harm: they try to steal the insulation at the dacha, or feast on ripe sunflowers. But, to be honest, this cannot be compared with the benefits they bring, and the cheerful chirping of these elegant birds enlivens any area.
Even in winter, titmouses continue to look for insects in crevices and cracks of the bark.
With all the small invertebrates hiding for the winter, times are tough for insectivorous birds. The mortality rate among them in cold weather is very high. Previously, it was often written that out of ten tits, only one survives by spring. The latest research says that about half of these birds die during the winter. In any case, the numbers are very gloomy. So both summer residents and just all lovers of wildlife should think about helping tits (and other small birds) survive harsh times and feed them on their plots, in parks, on the streets, or even just outside the window.
Why do tits love lard?
Small birds have very fast metabolisms and require a lot of energy just to survive. This is especially true in the cold season, when additional energy costs for protection from the cold are added. Three reasons why tits eat lard:
- they are predators, lard is their natural food;
- fat contains a lot of energy, which is so necessary for tits;
- lard is available - every second fan of feeding birds in winter hangs lard for tits.
As a child, I read a book that described an ancient method of tanning hides. After preliminary mechanical cleaning, the animal skins were hung in the barn. At the same time, access was left for tits. The birds flew up freely and pecked the remaining meat and fat from the skins, as a result of which they became softer. Perhaps the tradition of feeding tits with lard has been going on for a long time.
What are the advantages of feeding tits with fat:
- high nutritional value;
- lard is cheap, in meat departments they give pork skins for practically nothing;
- it is easy to buy, even in comparison with seeds;
- you can use any fat (pork, beef, lamb);
- the lard hangs on the branch for a long time, which allows you to feed the birds at your dachas, where you appear once a week;
- tits stay on the piece for a long time, which makes it possible to observe them well;
- the lard also attracts other birds.
Disadvantages of feeding birds lard:
- it can only be hung in cold weather - lard spoils in the heat;
- You cannot feed tits with salted lard;
- pieces of lard on the branches do not look aesthetically pleasing;
- Fat can be stolen by cats and large birds (crows, magpies, rooks), so it is better to tie it to a branch. I have a video about the rook’s attempts to steal lard.
General rules for complementary feeding
Once you start feeding birds, make it a habit. Regularly delight them with healthy treats. Birds quickly remember the place of feeding and get used to it . Don't forget: we are responsible for those we have tamed!
Important! The more varied you organize your menu, the more species of birds will be interested in your feeder.
From time to time, empty the feeder of leftover food. Rot and mold are fertile ground for the development of harmful microorganisms .
What should not be given as food
Birds are prohibited from feeding spoiled food supplies that have fermented and are covered with mold. But there are also a number of restrictions that apply to products familiar to humans. They can cause irreparable damage to the health of birds and even threaten their lives :
- Salted seeds , pistachios, cookies, crackers. Birds do not have sweat glands. The entire burden of removing excess salt from the body falls on the kidneys, so they may refuse heavily salted food. The musculoskeletal system also suffers, because some salts tend to be deposited in the joints. Then any movement of the bird will cause severe pain.
- Roasted nuts . This is where fats can cause harm to the body. When oversaturated with them, the organs of the digestive system (pancreas, liver) suffer.
- Rye bread . Due to the accelerated fermentation process, a situation often arises when the bird is blocked from breathing due to gases. This happens because the goiter begins to compress the trachea.
- Fresh wheat bread . It is dangerous because in a humid environment it turns into a sticky substance. It has difficulty moving through the digestive tract and causes indigestion.
- Cherry , peach, apricot kernels, as well as almonds. They are easy to poison because they are rich in hydrocyanic acid.
- Old, rancid millet . Harmful fats accumulate on its surface.
- Potato . The alkaloid solanine, which is found in raw tubers, causes poisoning in birds. The high concentration of starch in boiled potatoes creates an unwanted burden on the stomach.
- Mushrooms . When consuming mushrooms, there is a high probability that spores of clostridia, the causative agent of botulism, will enter the bird’s body.
- Canned food . When preserving foods, sugar, salt, and vinegar are used that are harmful to poultry health.
Interesting things on the site:
Beneficial properties of oats for the stomach
Calorie content and beneficial properties of brown rice
What birds eat millet?
birds need human help the most
– tits, bullfinches, thrushes, nuthatches, redpolls, goldfinches, grosbeaks, sparrows. They have problems with food in winter. And feeders are most often made for them. Bullfinches and fieldfare thrushes can also feed on berries.
Interesting materials:
How to properly feed a Rottweiler puppy? How to dye your hair roots correctly? How to paint roots correctly? How to paint with magnetic varnish correctly? How to properly dye regrown hair roots for blondes? How to properly dye regrown hair roots? How to dye short hair correctly? How to dye your hair whether it's clean or dirty? How to dye your hair correctly? How to dye your hair correctly, where to start?
How to get kids involved in bird feeding
It is best to feed birds in winter together with children. This way they will learn to care for our smaller brothers and love nature. To do this, you can turn feeding tits and sparrows into a game.
For example, one piece of lard can be tied to a branch, and from the bottom you can make a small swing from another piece. This way the birds will have lunch, and the children will have fun seeing a titmouse on a swing.
If you wait long enough, the bird will take food even from human hands, but for this you will need to be patient.
Alternatively, you can take the pine cones and roll them in bird treats, and then hang them on tree branches. Simply put, the act of simply feeding birds during the winter season can lift spirits even in inclement weather. Everything, of course, depends on a person’s imagination.
