What can you feed baby birds besides worms

3. Fledglings . These are chicks that are trying with might and main to fly (although it does not always work out). They themselves jump out of the nest and try to fly. As a rule, these chicks are sufficiently adapted to adult life, they know how to peck food themselves, and quickly run away from a possible enemy. Parents continue to feed them even on the ground. Between feedings, the chick sits in a secluded place. It is better to leave such a chick alone, it is almost an adult bird, its chances of survival in nature are very high. The maximum is to plant it on some kind of elevation, where predators like cats and dogs will not get it. Unless, you notice that the chick is injured, then the sparrow can be picked up. Such a chick has quite a lot of chances to adapt in the wild again. Moreover, he may never get used to you, trying to escape at any opportunity.

Nurturing the chick

First, make a “nest” for the chick from a soft, lint-free cloth. You need to wrap it so that the chick is in a semi-inclined position: the breast rests against the edge of the nest, the paws are at the very bottom. So the chick will be comfortable and comfortable. And don't forget to regularly check the cleanliness of the nest.

In general, you will have to forget about rest until the chick learns to feed on its own. Every 15-20 minutes during daylight hours, you will need to feed the chick, and until it is satiated (stops opening its mouth, demanding another portion). Due to the high level of metabolism, chicks, having not received food at the right time, simply "burn" their resources. Leaving the chick without food for 3-6 hours, even if after that you start to feed it intensively, you doom the bird to death due to metabolic disorders.

Most small songbirds (including sparrows) feed their nestlings with insects. Therefore, your chick also needs animal feed. Ant cocoons, flour worms, fly larvae, chicken eggs, cottage cheese are suitable. Do not howl about a variety of vitamin and mineral supplements. In addition, it is impossible to completely replace insects in food, for example, with cottage cheese.

We feed correctly

Since the sparrow will have to be fed very often, you need to either be near him or carry him with you. The second option is not very good, as it is additional stress for the chick. The first two days (if you picked up a newborn chick) you will also have to provide heating for the pet. You can make a heating pad from a flat bottle filled with warm water.

Small chicks can be kept in a box until they start trying to get out. For older chicks, it is better to find a small cage. In any case, soft, dry bedding, such as dried grass or moss, is necessary. Temporarily they can be replaced with cotton wool, but then try to make sure that the chick does not get tangled in it or swallow the fibers.

The best way to feed a chick is with tweezers. Try to get the chick to open its mouth by itself (there will be no problems with small ones). This can be achieved if during feeding, bringing tweezers, slightly shake the nest or touch the feathers on the head or the corners of the mouth with tweezers. You can even lightly click on the beak.

If it was not possible to force the chick to open its beak, the first feeding will have to be carried out by force, opening the beak with your hands. Once having taken food from the tweezers on its own, the chick will continue to willingly beg for supplements until it learns to feed on its own: as soon as the chick begins to pick up food from the floor of the cage, the food can be moved to the feeder. By the way, by this time the chick needs to pick up a large cage so that the sparrow can run, jump and fly.

Preparing chick formula

The health, appearance and even life of the chick depends on the quality of the mixture and the completeness of the nutrients it contains. Below is a recipe for a complete mixture, nothing needs to be changed in it, this mixture is not so difficult to prepare.

1). Grate a medium-sized carrot on a fine grater, squeeze the juice as hard as possible. You only need the squeezed pulp.

2). We rub one boiled egg on a fine grater.

3). Grind boiled veal, beef or chicken with a knife, tear into thin fibers.

4). Grind some greens (lettuce, wood lice, dandelion leaves, but not spicy herbs).

5). We take 10 grams of low-fat and non-acidic cottage cheese, let the curd flow around, you can squeeze it out if possible.

6). Put 2 tablespoons of boiled crumbly millet porridge without salt and without oil.

7). Add a teaspoon of daphnia (dry fish food).

8). Add calcium glycerophosphate (proportions - 1 tablet per liter of the mixture).

9). Add half a teaspoon of finely grated eggshells.

10). Mix all ingredients thoroughly. If the mixture sticks to your hands, you can add some cereals and cereals ground in a coffee grinder.

Leave the mixture to stand to equalize its moisture content, then mix again. The feed mixture should roll into small balls that do not stick to the hands. The serving size for feeding is smaller than a cherry pit. Since the mixture is quite a lot, it can be stored in the freezer in the refrigerator and defrosted, if necessary, a portion for the day.

Also don't forget to water the chick (from a pipette), preferably during feeding (1-2 drops of water for each ball of food). The pipette can simply be substituted to the tip of the beak without opening it.

This is the main thing you need to know if you decide to feed a sparrow chick at home. We hope everything works out for you.

What do sparrow chicks eat. Sparrow chick - what to feed and how to care for

Sparrows cannot be called an exotic bird

Sparrows are not exotic birds at all. They can often be found in parks, squares, playgrounds, their flocks fly in to sit on a balcony or windowsill. However, what should you do if you find a sparrow chick during a walk?

Our site already had a general article on how to behave in such cases (look for it). But, judging by how many comments and questions about how to get out the found chick of a pigeon, crow, swift, not everyone is still aware that it is not worth interfering in the processes of nature.

But, if you still picked up a sparrow chick (because you thought it would die without you), learn to give it the right help. And how to feed a sparrow chick, how to care for him - we will tell you in our today's article...

Why the sparrow ended up on the ground

The sparrow could fall out of the nest. After all, the parents of this species of birds themselves rarely throw away their children. Other birds could "help" him to leave the nest. Among swifts, starlings, crows and, of course, sparrows, quite often there is a feud over the best nests. And getting rid of its permanent residents, the invaders are ready to throw away their offspring.

If the sparrow was lucky and didn't crash while falling to the ground, then he really needs your help. Especially if you see other birds (not sparrows) circling above it. Even if you drive them away, they may return, or the chick may become a victim of other animals.

Therefore, if there is no way to return it to its parents (by the way, sparrows do not smell human smell, therefore, you don’t have to worry that they won’t take the chick back), you will have to take care of it. And most importantly, do it right.

How to determine the age of a sparrow

To properly care for a chick, you need to determine its age at least by eye. And our tips will help you with this. So,

• if the sparrow was recently born, then his body is not yet covered with feathers, his eyes can be closed, and the dimensions are very miniature. Just want to note that he is very helpless and needs protection. That's just, you need to feed him every 2-3 hours. It is unlikely that you, a busy person, will have such an opportunity day and night. Therefore, as an option, in order not to leave the bird to its fate, you can throw the sparrow into another sparrow's nest.
• Yellowmouths - the body of the chicks is already covered with fluff and feathers, but the beak is decorated with a yellow stripe, which indicates that they are still very young. Therefore, they still cannot get their own food. They need to be fed.
• Fledglings are teenage birds ready for independent life and learning to fly. In principle, if there are no predators nearby, and bad weather is not approaching, they do not need your help.

What to feed a sparrow chick

A sparrow chick, like any other, needs special food and water. It would be better to feed him with a pipette or with a syringe without a needle. This must be done very carefully so as not to injure the beak, and so that the bird does not choke. By the way,

young birds cannot drink on their own. They will either choke or die of thirst near water. Therefore, they need to be forced to drink several times a day.

Sparrows are omnivores. And it pleases. Therefore, as soon as you bring the bird home, make sure to feed it lean meat, minced meat, boiled egg, cottage cheese or fish. In the future, you will need to take care to find flour worms, larvae, small insects. From human food, you can give cottage cheese, eggs, meat, fish.

It is very important to feed the passerine chicks on time. Otherwise, due to the rapid metabolism, they begin to burn their own resources of the body. Therefore, get ready to feed newborn birds every 15-20 minutes, and after 2-3 hours feed yellowmouths.

How to prepare a feed mixture for a sparrow chick

It is quite understandable that you may not be able to feed fresh insects to a chick every day. But so that you don’t worry about feeding your feathered guest poorly, try to make the following mixture for him:0005

• squeeze juice from grated raw carrots,
• boil an egg and mash it,
• cut small boiled meat (beef, chicken or veal),
• take greens and chop them,
• add some cottage cheese (10 grams is enough),
• add 2 tablespoons of water-cooked wheat groats (without oil and salt and sugar),
• add a teaspoon of fish food,
• add 1 tablet of calcium glycerophosphate to the eggshell (it must first be ground).
• Thoroughly mix the resulting mixture of individual ingredients until smooth, roll it into small balls, the size of a cherry stone. Feed these balls to a sparrow chick during the day. This is quite a complete diet for him. By the way, such balls, so that they do not deteriorate, can be stored in the freezer.
• Before feeding, they will need to be thawed, and a few drops of water should be dropped on them - so the sparrow will eat and drink immediately.

The article will tell you how to properly prepare food for wintering birds in the feeders.

A person often feels a desire to take care of "our smaller brothers". If you can't afford to volunteer at animal shelters or send monthly donations to voluntary animal welfare organizations, then you can feed the local birds during the winter season. By creating a feeder in your yard or on your balcony, you not only give food to small feathered creatures, you give them a chance to survive, extending their lives for several days, weeks, and a harsh winter.

Of course, you should not expect gratitude from little creatures, they will help you at another time - in summer, when they start eating harmful insects (mosquitoes, larvae, flies, ants, aphids and worms), which prevent you from growing decent crops. Yes, and you must admit that feeding the birds will not hit your pocketbook, but will bring a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to feed your birds during the winter season, when it is difficult for them to find food for themselves, it is important to know that their diet in winter is significantly different from summer. Birds need high-calorie food, but not harmful (otherwise you will simply kill them).

What can you feed:

Food:	Features:	Who eats:
Sunflower (seeds)	Seeds should make up almost 70-75% of the total feed (they are nutritious and high in fat)	Tits, woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches and other granivorous birds
Millet
Millet	Dry food (often sold as pet parrot food in pet stores)	Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivorous
Oats	Raw or boiled cereals (without spices and oil)	Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivorous
Wheat	Raw or boiled cereals (without spices and oil)	Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivorous
Rice	Raw or boiled cereals (without spices and oil)	Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivorous
Meat	Pieces of raw or dried meat, finely chopped. Without any salt and spices!
Salo	Raw lard without salt! It can be strung on a thread and hung	Tits, nuthatches and other species (crows, jackdaws and magpies may arrive)
Beef or chicken fat	It can be mixed with bread or put separately in the feeder. Fat should not be salty!	Tits, nuthatches and other species (crows, jackdaws and magpies may arrive)
Dried mountain ash (viburnum, hawthorn)	Berries should be prepared in advance and dried from autumn. They can be put in a feeder or hung with beads.	Bullfinches, waxwings
Maple seeds (lionfish)	They should be collected in autumn when they fall from the trees. In winter, such food is often inaccessible to birds, as it is covered with leaves. Mud and snow	Bullfinches, waxwings
Cones	From various types of coniferous trees, should be collected in autumn	Woodpeckers, crossbills
Nuts	Any fresh nuts, not salted (as store-bought peanuts are) and not roasted	Jay woodpeckers and other species
Acorns	Gathering in autumn	Jays
Corn	Dried
Watermelon and melon grains	Good source of fats and nutrients (harvested in summer, dried)	Bullfinches, jays, woodpeckers
Pumpkin seeds	Good source of fats and nutrients (harvested in autumn)	All granivorous bird species
Chicken egg shell	Serves as a good calcium supplement (you can put a piece of natural chalk in the feeder)	For all kinds of birds

What not to feed the birds in the winter in the feeder: a list of products

What you need to know about unhealthy food for birds:

• Of course, in winter, birds need fatty foods such as meat and lard. However, in no case should these be salty foods, since such food can kill small creatures, provoking dehydration and intoxication in the excretory organs.
• Meat, lard and fat should be given neat , you can mix these ingredients with other foods (grains, boiled cereals or bread).
• Black bread must not be given - this product, prepared with rye flour, can cause upset and diarrhea in birds, leading to their death. There is a lot of salt in black bread, and it also leads to disruption of the kidneys and liver in birds.
• Rye bread can ferment in the goiter of birds and kill them, since there is much more yeast in it than in wheat.

What should not be added to the feeder:

• Salty products
• Fried food
• Spicy food
• Sour products
• Citrus fruits (even peel)
• Banana peel and fruit
• Milk
• Roasted nuts
• Spicy products

Why can't you feed the birds with salted fat, roasted seeds?

Any disease that affects a bird in the winter season becomes much more dangerous for it than it would be in summer. Gastrointestinal diseases in birds happen quite often, as in harsh winters they can eat junk food in search of survival. This food is offered to them by a person who knows little about the peculiarities of animal nutrition.

INTERESTING: It turns out that chewing gum thrown out by humans is often perceived by birds as a piece of bread. They peck it, but after that they die, as the chewing gum completely slows down and clogs their digestive tract.

When offering titmouse and other birds with lard, make sure you cut it out from the salty part. Salt is poison for birds. Their kidneys and liver cannot digest and excrete it, and therefore such a product will be certain death for a small creature.

It would seem that sunflower seeds are the most useful food for birds. But only if the seeds are raw. Roasted seeds absorb too much fat and the gastrointestinal tract of birds cannot absorb it, causing poisoning, diarrhea and indigestion, which is very detrimental to most species.

Which birds come to the feeder in winter, and which bird will not appear at the feeder in winter?

When setting up a feeder, you should be aware that it is always a source of waste. Therefore, there is no place for feeders on windowsills and balconies of houses (your neighbors may complain). It is best to install it on trees at a height where they will not be accessible to children who want to misbehave and knock it down (or add junk food).

It is possible that along with "good-natured" birds, you will be able to notice "arrogant" thieves like crows, pigeons, magpies and jackdaws. However, most often they still eat in feeders:

• Sparrows
• Bullfinches
• Titmouse
• Nuthatch
• Jays
• Goldfinch
• Klest
• Pika
• Waxwing

What is better to feed sparrows, titmouses, bullfinches, woodpeckers, waxwings in the winter in the feeder?

If you can afford to buy bird food, do so from time to time at the pet store. There you can easily pick up food from a mixture of millet, oats, wheat and sunflower seeds. This food can be combined with dried rowan berries, slices of white bread (or breadcrumbs), animal fat and lard.

IMPORTANT: The feeder should be updated as the feed is eaten. Do not pour too much food at once, because the birds very often empty themselves right during the meal and this spoils some of the food.

Which birds eat mountain ash in winter?

Bright red rowan berries often attract birds. These berries, dried by a person and sprinkled into a feeder or left hanging on a tree, serve as food for:

• Ryabinnikov
• Drozdov
• Bullfinch
• Waxwings

What kind of cereal can be given to birds in the winter feeder? Is it possible to feed birds in the winter feeder with millet, corn, wheat, pearl barley, barley groats, buckwheat, oats, oatmeal, rice, oatmeal?

Groats are a satisfying, nutritious and healthy food for all granivorous birds. It can be sprinkled in raw and dry form, boiled, brought to half-cooked. It is important not to add salt to porridge during cooking, not to add sugar and spices, not to pour in oil (the exception is a small amount of natural animal fat: beef or chicken).

Which cereal can be given to wintering birds:

• Buckwheat
• Millet
• Oatmeal (hercules, flakes)
• Barley
• Corn
• Wheat

Is it possible to feed birds in the feeder in winter with pumpkin, watermelon, sunflower seeds?

Saving gourd seeds from the summer is far from difficult when you eat watermelons, melons and pumpkins. To do this, they should be washed well with running water and dried in the sun from moisture. Such seeds are an excellent nutritious and healthy food for all wintering birds, because they contain dietary fiber and oils. It is easily digested and gives the birds a boost of energy for the winter.

Is it possible to feed birds in the feeder in winter with crackers, bread, fresh bacon?

As already mentioned, bread is not ideal food for birds, but acceptable. However, we are talking only about white and unleavened bread. It should be dried or crushed. It is also allowed to add white bread crackers to the feeder, hanging them on dense threads.

IMPORTANT: If you put pieces of raw, unsalted fat and meat into the feeders, it is also recommended to string them with beads so that the birds do not lose this food, do not drop it from the feeder, do not try to swallow it whole, but pinch off a piece.

Video: "Winter Birds"

If you find a house sparrow chick, you should learn how to care for it, but make sure it is an orphan before you take it for yourself. The mortality rate among captive-bred birds is high, so if possible, it is best to return the chick to its parents.

Steps

How to Avoid Common Mistakes

Make sure the chick is really left without parents. If it has feathers, it is a fledgling that is learning to fly, so it should be left on the ground. Take the chick only if it is threatened by a predator or if the parents do not return within an hour. If the chick has no feathers, it must be in the nest, so look for a nest somewhere nearby. Carefully lift the bird and return it to the nest.

Take care of your health. Pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should not handle wild chicks. They can be carriers of infections (for example, salmonella), which is transmitted to humans.

• Always be hygienic when handling birds. Wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling the bird. Place trash in a disposable bag.

Feeding the chick

1. Start feeding puppy or cat food soaked in water. Add some baby food to the water. Wet cat and puppy food has a higher protein content and is more similar to what chicks eat in nature. Mash the food until pureed in a shallow bowl.

   • If the chick is not yet able to eat by itself, cut the food into small pieces and feed them with tweezers.

2. Add as many insects as possible to your food. Sparrows eat dry food (insects and seeds) and also collect live spiders, snails, aphids, caterpillars and other small invertebrates. Chicks prefer live food.

   Add vitamins and minerals to living foods. You can use special additives in powder, which are sold in pet stores. This will make the diet complete, since living food lacks nutrients.

   Feed frequently. If the chick is small, put food with tweezers in the open beak, and if the bird can already eat by itself, leave the food in a shallow plate. Remember that it usually takes about two weeks for a bird to learn to eat on its own.

   • If the chick is very small and without feathers, it should be fed every half an hour. Grown up chicks can be fed every 1-2 hours. When the chick is hungry, it will begin to squeak and open its beak. When he is full, he will stop doing it.

3. Give water only from the drinker. Little chicks don't know how to drink from a bowl - this can lead to drowning.

Birds wintering in the middle lane need human support. However, the question of how to feed the birds in winter is not so simple. Habitual food "from the table" and even compound feed for chickens are not suitable for wild inhabitants of the forests. Find out everything about why it is so important to feed and not feed pichugs, what you need and what you absolutely can’t treat them to, what kind of food you can prepare in the summer. Read the recommendations for choosing a diet for tits and sparrows, pigeons and ducks, so as not to harm the birds instead of good.

Why birds need more food in winter

Of the existing strategies for survival during prolonged cold weather: climb somewhere into a deep hole for hibernation, fly away from the frosty extreme and actively resist hypothermia - the birds chose the last two. Moreover, the species remaining to overwinter are excellent evidence that cooling is not the main reason for their migrations.

Winterers do not care about cold if there is plenty of food

Thick down and dense feathers provide sufficient protection of the body from heat loss, but are not able to create it. Birds get energy to maintain their high temperature, reaching 42 degrees in some species, from food. At the same time, the lower the thermometer falls, the more actively the atmosphere takes away heat, which means that more food is required to replenish energy costs.

On the other hand, the winter days are shortened, and the birds stop active activity at dusk, so they have much less time than in summer to find enough food. If the bird remains hungry, by morning it will inevitably freeze to death.

Having time to eat before night is the main condition for the survival of birds in winter

Do all birds equally need help

Before you start gathering food and hanging up the feeders, you need to find out who exactly needs an increase in “food allowance”. According to food preferences, birds wintering in middle latitudes can be divided into the following groups.

1. Insectivores. The vast majority of birds that specialize in feeding on invertebrates fly away, only those who can get spiders, springtails and larvae of various insects that have fallen asleep in the cracks of the tree bark remain. These are kinglets and pikas. Offering them millet and bread crumbs is pointless. Even if a pika joins a gang of tits, she will do this not for the sake of expanding the diet, but for the greater security that the flock gives.
2. Nomadic lovers of soft fruits. These include thrushes, waxwings and bullfinches. They prefer to pick berries directly from trees and shrubs; they rarely visit feeders. Bullfinches can sometimes eat sunflowers, but after a week and a half they will still continue their journey.
3. Nomadic granivorous. By winter, the seeds of plants such as burdock, thistle, mountaineer, birch do not crumble, but remain on the shoots and attract goldfinches, siskins, oatmeals, greenfinches, tits and tap dances. These passerine birds will gladly visit feeders, but, apart from tits, they will prefer to see them outside the city limits. Conventionally, this group can be attributed to the nuthatch, which feeds on insects in summer, and switches to seeds in winter.
4. Sinanthropes. This is the name of birds and other animals that have adapted to man to such an extent that they can no longer do without him. These are pigeons, sparrows and that part of the waterfowl population that was fed in autumn and did not migrate south.

Waxwings and other nomads can perfectly feed themselves. Helping these birds to maintain their numbers means creating unbearable conditions for nightingales, finches and other songbirds, whose nests are ruthlessly destroyed by corvids, eating eggs and chicks.

The three main rules for winter bird care

Setting up feeders is an intervention in the life of wildlife, just like picking mushrooms or mowing grass. A man watches how the birds dear to his heart are fed, and thinks that he has saved them from death. But he does not see what will happen next, how his actions will affect the birds themselves and the entire ecosystem. He does not assume that he is acting as a new factor in natural selection, and an incredible selection that helps the weak survive. “Do no harm” - this medical principle is put into three important rules for winter care for birds.

Drawing of a feeder

The rule is paradoxical - birds cannot be fed

Feeding and top dressing are completely different things. Feeding means that the person takes full responsibility for providing the bird with nutrients, as is the case with domestic and caged species. There are two serious dangers in this approach to wild birds.

The first is that, getting used to free treats, the bird ceases to collect food on its own. Why bother: peeling the bumps, breaking the bark - if there is a whole mountain of food right next to it. At the same time, the diet of pichugs is greatly depleted. They choose the tastiest, like sunflower seeds, and ignore everything else. The intake of fats into the body increases, and vitamins decrease, as a result, the bird has every chance of simply not surviving until spring.

These beauties should eat as varied as possible

An example illustrating this state of affairs is the care of village chickens. They are only fed, and they have the widest possibilities of finding a variety of natural food, which is why they grow strong and healthy.

The second danger is expressed in the fact that the birds quickly get used to eating from human hands and lose their skills in the operational search for pasture. If people suddenly abandon the feeders, their wards will waste the precious time of a short winter day visiting empty sites and may not have time to saturate the body with energy. Only 2-3 hours without food - and the bird cannot survive the frosty night. That's why you shouldn't feed the birds in winter from time to time.

The unmerciful rule is to fill the feeder once a day

An empty feeder for most of the day is not a crime, but accustoming birds to a certain feeding regimen that will force them to devote the day to self-searching for food.

Conditioned reflexes in birds are developed quickly. It is enough to pour top dressing at the same time for 3-4 days, and the birds will remember it. When to do this depends on the obligation of the person and the degree of his employment. It is recommended to fertilize about two hours before dusk, so that the eaters are guaranteed to go into the night full.

Visitors to the canteen are well aware of its opening hours

But if there is a possibility that the feeder will be forgotten or left, for example, during a vacation, it is better to fill it in the morning: the birds will have a chance to eat before dark in another place.

Restrictive rule - what should not be in the feeder

Of course, spoiled, fermented, moldy dishes should not be fed to birds, however, there is a large list of products that are familiar to humans, but harmful, and sometimes deadly for the feathered population. What not to feed the birds:

• Salted seeds, pistachios, croutons, lard, biscuits. It is difficult for birds to remove excess salt from the body, because they do not have sweat glands. All the work falls on the kidneys, and they may not withstand the increased load. In addition, some salts are deposited in the joints, which will disrupt the musculoskeletal system of the bird and cause her severe pain.
• Roasted sunflower seeds and hazelnuts. The danger is represented by fats, the excess of which affects the liver and pancreas, as well as the carcinogens of such food.
• Rye (black) bread. He very quickly begins to wander, often already in the goiter of the bird, making it difficult, and in some cases blocking breathing, since the goiter expanded from gases presses on the trachea.
• Fresh wheat (white) bread. Can birds be fed bread? It causes indigestion because it turns into a sticky mass that is difficult to move through the digestive system.
• Kernels (seeds) from pits of cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. They are rich in hydrocyanic acid and even for humans, their excessive use is fraught with poisoning.
• Millet. Cleaned from membranous shells, it is covered with fine bitter dust, which the housewives wash off with hot water before cooking. Especially dangerous is old, rancid millet, on the surface of which oxidized fats are present.
• Potato. Raw tubers contain the alkaloid solanine, which a bird needs a little for serious poisoning. Boiled potatoes can be considered as almost pure starch - a food that is very difficult for the bird's digestive system. The same applies to rice - you should not feed birds with it.
• Mushrooms. These organisms actively accumulate heavy and radioactive metals and can carry Clostridial spores that cause botulism.
• Canned food. In addition to the product itself, they contain vinegar, sugar, salt, spices, preservatives and flavors that are completely unnecessary in a bird's diet.
• Soft and granular food for cats and dogs, especially economy class. They contain soy, yeast, fat and attractants - flavor enhancers designed to make the animal eat unnatural food for it.

Seeds - the main feeding of wintering birds - must be unroasted

What kind of feed to prepare yourself

Most of the feedings: sunflower seeds, canary seed, millet - are purchased at specialized pet stores. You should not purchase seeds from gardening outlets: they can be dressed to protect against pests. A small number of purchased seeds are recommended to germinate. If the seedlings become covered with mold, then the seeds were infected with spores and are not suitable for birds to eat.

The question of what to feed titmouse in winter, you can ask yourself in the summer and make it a rule to cut a watermelon or melon, collect the seeds, wash them and dry them. In the same way, pumpkin seeds, overripe zucchini, squash and cucumbers are harvested. Birds like bundles of dried fruits. They are made by stringing pieces of dried apples and pears, rose hips on a strong thread.

During autumn you can collect a couple of kilograms of watermelon seeds

But it is not worth collecting mountain ash, viburnum, birch, alder and weed seeds, it is better to leave them to wild birds for self-feeding.

The guests are flying to the feeder - it's time to set up a treat

For most small birds, grain mixtures can be pre-mixed and divided into bags at the rate of one bag per feeder per day. The basis of such a mixture is, as a rule, seeds, to which oats, millet, and more expensive, but nutritionally valuable linseed, hemp and canary seeds are added to diversify the diet.

Instead of oats, you can use hercules, but not instant, but the one that is denser. Crushed wheat and barley (barley) will be appropriate. A certain amount of dry crumbs of wheat bread is acceptable.

The feeder can also become an original decoration of the garden

Peculiarities of top dressing of tits

Tits are the only birds for which an increased amount of fat is not dangerous, so for them the feed mixture can include unsalted bacon, raw meat, cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs and even frozen butter. To prevent other species from reaching the elite blue table, feeders for these birds are made swinging, and pieces of fat are simply hung on tree branches with a string.

It is useful to teach tits to take high-calorie fat not from the feeder, but from tree trunks. To do this, the fat is melted, drawn into a confectionery syringe and poured onto the bark. Of course, it is more convenient to do this if top dressing is organized near the house, otherwise the fat will harden along the way. But such a treat will attract not only tits, but also pikas, nuthatches - those who like to look for food in cracks in the bark.

Treats for birds

Bird pie can be prepared for tits. To do this, put pieces of unsalted bacon in a deep frying pan, melt and pour the following mixture:

• sunflower seeds;
• thick oatmeal;
• watermelon and melon seeds;
• dried fruit pieces;
• crushed nuts (walnuts, pine nuts or hazelnuts).

Tit patties made from lard and grain additives

The mixture is stirred evenly and allowed to set. You can pre-make several holes in it for the ropes, for this, 3-4 pencils are stuck into the still warm lard to the bottom of the pan. The frozen "pie" is taken out and hung on a tree.

How to please sparrows, tap dances and greenfinches

Finding something to feed sparrows and other small birds in winter is easy. The basis of the grain mixture are millet and oats. Barley and wheat are harsh for them, so it is better to offer them in crushed form. Seeds in the mixture should be less than half the volume, since many birds choose them and do not eat the rest, which depletes the vitamin composition of the feed.

Hard watermelon seeds are not suitable for sparrows, because, unlike tits, they are too lazy to crush them with their beak. You can add pumpkin seeds, peeled and lightly crushed with a potato masher, to top dressing.

Calcium supplementation is recommended to keep bird bones healthy, and small pebbles for proper digestion. To do this, crushed eggshells or shells, pieces of school chalk or plaster, washed river sand are added to the usual mixture.

The best sparrow feeders have a roof to keep snow out. Huge "restaurants" attract pigeons, and the roof will not allow a blizzard to fall asleep grain. Sparrows, although smart, will not be able to dig it out from under the snow.

Is it worth feeding wild pigeons

How to feed pigeons in winter and is it worth it? Due to its size, this bird easily swallows any grain: barley, wheat, oats, crushed corn - and also digests bread, even fresh, more efficiently than passerines. Barley is considered the most useful food for pigeons, but it will cost quite cheaply, provided that it is purchased from livestock breeders in rural areas.

Keep in mind that pigeons form large flocks in the city. Regular feeding attracts new birds and increases the survival rate of chicks, resulting in flocks that become truly gigantic and begin to cause inconvenience to people. The area selected for feeding, as well as the areas under the wires around it, and even the windshields of cars parked nearby, will quickly become covered with droppings.

Pigeon food can be sprinkled directly on the snow or asphalt

In some countries, such as Austria, there is a small but annoying fine for feeding pigeons. Local authorities believe that these "citizens" in terms of food should be left to themselves so as not to increase their population.

How to help the Gray Sheika and other waterfowl

Of the Anseriformes in the non-freezing waters of the middle zone, you can often meet the common mallard and swans, occasionally there are goldeneyes, crested ducks and other ducks. All of them are migratory birds, but do not migrate for various reasons: they are fed, injured, sick, too old to fly, or, conversely, did not have time to change the nestling feather to an adult one.

Their natural food consists of underwater parts of plants and small invertebrates, which remain active in the relatively warm water for winter in various settling ponds and spillways. But with an extreme drop in temperature, waterfowl, especially swans, need help. From dressings they can be offered:

• any germinated grain;
• carrots and apples, finely chopped;
• oatmeal with boiled vegetables;
• Chinese lettuce.

Brown-feathered swan is still too young and needs help in winter

If swans overwinter systematically, you can prepare hay for them in advance and gradually throw them into the water. It will swell and be closest to their natural diet.

Winter feeding is a noble thing, but it requires careful attention. Even just pouring a handful of grain on the windowsill, a person affects both the health of an individual and the state of the gene pool of the whole species. Choose the right bird food, place and time of feeding - everything must be carefully considered in order to avoid harm to wild birds.

The tradition of feeding the birds in winter comes from my grandmother - she always put millet and crumbs on the windowsill for the birds, and in the morning they saw how she was swarming in the kitchen and flew in and pecked at the glass.

We feed the birds with crumbled fat - remains after cutting meat, millet grains rich in microelements, bread crumbs from the table, cereals left after dinner, etc.

I don't know how useful this food is for them, but they come to eat every day.

And we always leave mountain ash and viburnum on the trees - by spring they peck clean. We ourselves like to watch this process - chubby bullfinches jump on branches, and in recent years crossbills have become more frequent - so we study bird species.

Bread is not a very healthy food for birds, so it is better not to feed birds with bread, there is simply no choice, so they peck it. And it is better to feed with seeds of different plants: sunflower, pumpkin, melon, watermelon, corn, hemp, quinoa, succession, as well as wheat, oats, millet, millet can be. Grass seeds then need to be prepared in advance, as well as seeds of melons, watermelons, etc. You can lard, but always unsalted. The most versatile food is sunflower seeds, but not fried and unsalted. I regularly buy such seeds for birds (we sell substandard seeds especially for birds - a little garbage, small). Nuts are also suitable for both birds and squirrels.

Birds in winter will be grateful to you for any food that you put in the feeder.

If you fill the feeder with millet, millet, oats, rice, you will attract birds such as tits, sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons and others.

Tits, woodpeckers, pigeons are very fond of sunflower seeds.

Everyone probably knows that tits love fat. You can tie a piece of lard on a rope and hang it on a tree branch.

But crossbills and woodpeckers will like nuts.

In general, you can put any cereal that is in the house into the feeder.

In winter, and at any other time of the year, you can feed birds (sparrow, tits, pigeons and others) with sunflower, pumpkin, melon, watermelon seeds. Give them cereals, lard, bread or bread crumbs, grain. You can give them specialized commercial bird food. It is better to prepare food from the summer, I also recommend making you a convenient bird feeder.

In winter, the birds need our help, because the insects are hibernating, there is no grass, the berries have fallen, and the birds want to eat.

Tits can survive without our help, they are rarely seen in the city, they live more often in the forests. But the sparrows are the inhabitants of the city. But there is one BUT. If we feed, then we give a chance to survive to the weak, who will give birth in the spring, the number will increase and there will not be enough food for everyone.

It is necessary to feed the birds in winter, and not to feed them. If there is always an abundance of seeds and fat in the feeders, then the birds will stop looking for food on their own, and these are larvae, berries, seeds.

If there is a choice of food in the feeder, then sparrows will choose seeds, as they are the most nutritious, and an excess of fat will lead to liver disease.

It is necessary to establish a feeding ration, fill the feeder once or twice a day and in small portions.

Sunny, fried seeds, millet, salted fat, black bread should not be given.

You can give sparrows wheat, white bread, pearl barley, oatmeal, barley.

Sinitsam - low-fat cottage cheese in a small amount, boiled eggs, seeds, lard, beef, butter.

For tits and sparrows, place dried seeds of sunflower, pumpkin, watermelon, melon in the feeder. You can also treat the birds with millet, spicy white bread, apple slices and boiled eggs. For these birds it will be very useful to peck at grain cottage cheese, a piece of lard or boiled meat, butter. Sunny, fried and spoiled foods should not be given to birds, because they poison the body of birds with toxins. As a result, the birds can get sick and die.

We feed titmouses, sparrows, bullfinches and other small birds with grain and bread. You can also hang, for example, bacon on a string, they also like to feast on it, the main thing is that it is not salty, and in general, as far as I know, nothing salty can be given to birds.

Every winter I make a feeder for titmice, bullfinches, and many other small birds, I put millet, bread, small corn, and also millet in the feeder. I hang bacon on a small wire, titmouse love bacon more, and then they collect grain and bread.

Feeding the birds in winter is sometimes very difficult, as the feeders are very often literally filled with snow, but still this is fixable, the main thing is to put your efforts and a piece of your soul. You can feed with any grain, such as millet, and also do not forget about ordinary bread, and even simple sunflower seeds. When you look at such birds, it even becomes pleasant that they feed with your help.

And this is clearly a question from an animal lover! Yes, it is desirable and very necessary to feed our smaller brothers in winter, especially if there is a lot of snow. When there is no snow, they themselves are able to find food in the form of grains, herbs, waste and other things. And you can't open it under the snow.

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