When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

Alan

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:51:31 GMT "Alan Holmes"
wrote in :


When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

Alan




Put the peanuts in a feeder (not loose on the ground). This should ensure
that only small bits of nut can be pecked out.


--

Alan Holmes writes

When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

They've been nesting for quite a while, so you shouldn't be feeding
whole peanuts now, or, if you are, you should make sure they're in a
wire feeder so birds can't get at whole ones, they can only peck out
bits.
--
Kay

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

Alan

....

Here's one I prepared earlier, when you asked the same
question around seven weeks ago.


"Alan Holmes" wrote in message


...


Deep in my memory, I'm sure there is a notion, that at some time,
birds have to be stopped from eating peanuts, and fed on seeds.


Alan



If they have access to whole peanuts during nesting, the
theory is that they may feed entire nuts to nestlings
and thus choke them.

Whether the birds are actually that stupid is another
matter. As many birds peck away at peanuts while perching
as it is. However nestbox evidence may suggest otherwise,


While the same objection would presumbly apply
to large sunflower seeds as well.


In addition,by that time there should be additional
natural food sources available in any case.


If nuts are dispensed in a nut feeder there should possibly
be less of a problem. In a home-made squirrel-proof nut feeder
consisting of two thicknesses of rolled mesh, even less so.


michael adams


....

K wrote:
Alan Holmes writes

When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

They've been nesting for quite a while, so you shouldn't be feeding
whole peanuts now, or, if you are, you should make sure they're in a
wire feeder so birds can't get at whole ones, they can only peck out
bits.
--
Kay

I'm glad I read this post, this never occurred to me at all. I always
put out whole peanuts on the bird table. I will make sure in future
they can only get them from the wire feeder. Phew! Would hate to
think I was responsible for the death of any chicks.

Gail

tom&barbara writes

K wrote:
Alan Holmes writes

When should one stop feeding peanuts to small birds.

I understand it is not safe for them to try to feed their young with
peanuts.

They've been nesting for quite a while, so you shouldn't be feeding
whole peanuts now, or, if you are, you should make sure they're in a
wire feeder so birds can't get at whole ones, they can only peck out
bits.

I'm glad I read this post, this never occurred to me at all. I always
put out whole peanuts on the bird table. I will make sure in future
they can only get them from the wire feeder. Phew! Would hate to
think I was responsible for the death of any chicks.

Don't lose too much sleep over it - your feeding will have helped to
increase the numbers surviving over the winter, which will have
increased the number of breeding pairs this year. And if all the blue
tit eggs that were laid made it through to maturity, we'd be over-run by
the things ;-) Anything which produces more than two offspring during
its lifetime is expecting a proportion not to make it to maturity.
--
Kay

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 18:36:11 +0100, K wrote:

snip

Anything which produces more than two offspring during
its lifetime is expecting a proportion not to make it to maturity.


er........... you mean like 2.4 ;-)