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John Savage · 05-11-2009, 06:48 AM posted to aus.gardens

writes:
any dried dog food that can be broken up reasonably easily could be
cat food as well have you tried those ones where the pieces are small
to start with? maybe give any of the food you buy, a bit of a soak and
mush it into the best top grade(least fat) mince from the local
butcher not from the supermarket. try using a food processor or the
sort.

you could also hard boil eggs and break up the yoaks and add that in,
try to have the neighbour randomly feed the birds but yes she must
stop feeding them bread, the feeding method we like is if they don't
turn up for their one nibble a day(usually morning) then we don't
leave it for them so as not to make our feeding their main feed.

don't feed them at all now just provide a garden that as bugs for them
to eat the yearlings from last season are quiet happy to be close to
us as we pose no threat.

Hi Len. Mince? Egg yolk?? Way too indulgent for my liking!!!! But I'm
sure the magpies would love it!

Considering bread: no preparation, easy for the bird to break into
small pieces, and handling it does not leave you with cats-breath
hands. So I reckon I need something equally convenient to convert
the neighbour.

Throwing out a piece or two of dry dog food, using a spoon, would
allow her to feed the bird(s) while continuing to enjoy her
Devonshire tea on the balcony.

I'm sure the magpie could break up any of the various dry dog foods,
but to carry it back to the nestling I was concerned that it should
not crumb too readily. The adults are still ferrying food back to
the fledglings and they seem to insist on breaking it up into small
pieces before they fly off to the tree, whereupon on arrival they
dump the whole beakful of food straight into the gaping mouth the
same way I'd dump a bag of garbage into the Otto bin.

I notice the adult birds spend time each day patrolling under the
red cedars, pouncing on things from time to time. I guess they
are picking up grey borer beetles that have dropped off the
branches. There should always be good pickings there.

Thanks to others for their replies, too.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)