Slightly OT-Feeding Birds
 

Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.



You can cut it up and put it on the bird tables but I hang mine up as raw
strips - they hang on to these and are very acrobatic to watch :~))

Jenny

"JennyC" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it
into
little bits, or what?

You can cut it up and put it on the bird tables but I hang mine up as raw
strips - they hang on to these and are very acrobatic to watch :~))

Thanks, Jenny. I've just made spaghetti carbonara, so I'll save the rind
and put it out tomorrow. I don't want to put it out tonight in case it
attracts mice.

"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it into
little bits, or what?
It is best not to feed bacon to birds IMO as it contains salt among other
nasties. Salt kills birds.

"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.




Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times out of ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a fuzzy logic
installed in our brains as well.

:-)

--


Ukjay

Message from James on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:15:36
Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:


"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times out of ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a fuzzy logic
installed in our brains as well.

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.
--

wrote in message
. ..
Message from James on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:15:36
Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:


"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it
into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times out of
ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a fuzzy
logic
installed in our brains as well.

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.
--


I think you are wrong there M8?
I seem to recall bread can be a problem, and I'm sure little birdie
doesn't think "Oh that's bread I'd better avoid that"
or "Oh that blue stuff on the lawn is poisonous" etc.
:-)

--


Ukjay

wrote in message
. ..
Message from James on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:15:36
Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:


"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind
to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop
it into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times
out of ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a
fuzzy logic
installed in our brains as well.

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's
good
and safe to eat.

Many hedgehogs are regularly killed by people putting out unsuitable
food like bread and milk for them.

Franz

wrote in message
. ..
I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.

People don't seem to so why should the birds be any better? ;-)

Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm

wrote in message
. ..
Message from James on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:15:36
Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:


"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to chop it
into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times out of
ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a fuzzy
logic
installed in our brains as well.

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.
--

You are wrong I'm afraid. Animals and birds will scoff ultra fatty stuff or
salty stuff. Salt kills a bird very quickly. I keep parrots so am a bit
careful as to what I feed.(40+ expensive parrots). My sister once fed her
beloved hens some avocado thinking she was giving them an expensive treat.
She got up next day, opened the henhouse to find all her hens dead. Yes,
avocado is poisonous to most birds and animals. I once had a rescue dog raid
the bin and eat avocado peelings and chewed the stone. I didn't realise what
he had done until I found him comatose the next morning. Prompt and
expensive action from a vet saved him and it was only because I found the
chewed stone and remains of peel that I knew what he had done.
Animals have no sixth sense as to what might kill them, especially in deep
winter when they are starving and need vast amounts of food to survive.
The best things to put on a bird table are, sunflower seeds(cheap to buy
and a source of fat to make calories to keep warm) suet ,ditto,unsalted
nuts, fruit and things like cooked vegetable scraps as long as they are not
cooked with salt.
I admit to being a softy. I have 3 bird tables and buy a sack of sunflower
seed, a smaller bag of peanuts, and a sack of budgie seed at the start of
winer. I mix them together with some of the mixed corn I feed my chickens
on. The 2 sacks will cost around £20 and the peanuts around a fiver. This
little lot will feed the wild birds all winter plus some safe scraps. I also
buy fat balls which you can get very cheaply from £1 shops and QD and
wilkinsons.
On my weekly trips to the abbatoir for bones for my 7 dogs, I also get a
carrier bag of fat which I hang on tree branches. That attracts dozens of
starlings and blue tits.
To be honest a sack of wild bird mix will only cost around £9 and if you
only have one bird table, that plus a few dozen fat balls will feed hundreds
of birds and help them survive until next spring. They will reward you with
beautiful songs and hours of entertainment through your winter on a cold
winters day :0)

"ex WGS Hamm" wrote in message
...


--

You are wrong I'm afraid. Animals and birds will scoff ultra fatty stuff
or
salty stuff. Salt kills a bird very quickly. I keep parrots so am a bit
careful as to what I feed.(40+ expensive parrots). My sister once fed her
beloved hens some avocado thinking she was giving them an expensive treat.
She got up next day, opened the henhouse to find all her hens dead. Yes,
avocado is poisonous to most birds and animals. I once had a rescue dog
raid
the bin and eat avocado peelings and chewed the stone. I didn't realise
what
he had done until I found him comatose the next morning. Prompt and
expensive action from a vet saved him and it was only because I found the
chewed stone and remains of peel that I knew what he had done.
Animals have no sixth sense as to what might kill them, especially in
deep
winter when they are starving and need vast amounts of food to survive.
The best things to put on a bird table are, sunflower seeds(cheap to buy
and a source of fat to make calories to keep warm) suet ,ditto,unsalted
nuts, fruit and things like cooked vegetable scraps as long as they are
not
cooked with salt.
I admit to being a softy. I have 3 bird tables and buy a sack of
sunflower
seed, a smaller bag of peanuts, and a sack of budgie seed at the start of
winer. I mix them together with some of the mixed corn I feed my chickens
on. The 2 sacks will cost around £20 and the peanuts around a fiver. This
little lot will feed the wild birds all winter plus some safe scraps. I
also
buy fat balls which you can get very cheaply from £1 shops and QD and
wilkinsons.
On my weekly trips to the abbatoir for bones for my 7 dogs, I also get a
carrier bag of fat which I hang on tree branches. That attracts dozens of
starlings and blue tits.
To be honest a sack of wild bird mix will only cost around £9 and if you
only have one bird table, that plus a few dozen fat balls will feed
hundreds
of birds and help them survive until next spring. They will reward you
with
beautiful songs and hours of entertainment through your winter on a cold
winters day :0)


The birds in your area must be few and far between. Mine scoff about a half
a hundredweight of peanuts every two months, summer and winter @ £15 per
sack.
They also get seed and pigeon mix.
Must admit that the woodpecker family does account for the consumption of a
considerable proportion of the nuts.
Don't know much obout beautiful songs though - the collar doves tend to have
the same effect as cocks crowing first thing in the morning with their
coo-coo-cooing.

Pete
www.thecanalshop.com

Message from Janet Baraclough.. on
Sun, 17 Oct 2004 20:11:23 Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:

The message
from contains these words:

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.

They don't. Hedgehogs and nestling birds are easily killed by
inappropriate food provided by people.

Janet

I appreciate that the current conventional wisdom suggests that wildlife
is unable to differentiate between safe and dangerous foods; but how
true is it? Is it just hearsay; hypothesis? Birds in my garden don't
touch blue slug pellets, for example. It was once thought that adult
blue tits would suffocate their young by feeding them whole peanuts -
this is now known to be untrue. I remain unconvinced.

Cheers
--

"ex WGS Hamm" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
. ..
Message from James on Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:15:36

Slightly OT-Feeding Birds:


"Joanne" wrote in message
...
Here's a stupid question -- when they say you can feed bacon
rind to
birds,
do you have to cook the bacon, or if it's raw do you have to
chop it
into
little bits, or what?

Thanks.

Not a stupid question IMHO Joanne

People think they are being kind in this sort of way, but 9 times
out of
ten
they are killing off our feathered friends.
My advice is to use google to find the RSPB site and ask there.
and then let us all know what you found.
another trick is to use logic, but I think sometimes we have a
fuzzy
logic
installed in our brains as well.

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's
good
and safe to eat.
--

You are wrong I'm afraid. Animals and birds will scoff ultra fatty
stuff or
salty stuff. Salt kills a bird very quickly. I keep parrots so am a
bit
careful as to what I feed.(40+ expensive parrots). My sister once
fed her
beloved hens some avocado thinking she was giving them an expensive
treat.
She got up next day, opened the henhouse to find all her hens dead.
Yes,
avocado is poisonous to most birds and animals. I once had a rescue
dog raid
the bin and eat avocado peelings and chewed the stone. I didn't
realise what
he had done until I found him comatose the next morning. Prompt and
expensive action from a vet saved him and it was only because I
found the
chewed stone and remains of peel that I knew what he had done.
Animals have no sixth sense as to what might kill them, especially
in deep
winter when they are starving and need vast amounts of food to
survive.
The best things to put on a bird table are, sunflower seeds(cheap
to buy
and a source of fat to make calories to keep warm) suet
,ditto,unsalted
nuts, fruit and things like cooked vegetable scraps as long as they
are not
cooked with salt.
I admit to being a softy. I have 3 bird tables and buy a sack of
sunflower
seed, a smaller bag of peanuts, and a sack of budgie seed at the
start of
winer. I mix them together with some of the mixed corn I feed my
chickens
on. The 2 sacks will cost around £20 and the peanuts around a fiver.
This
little lot will feed the wild birds all winter plus some safe
scraps. I also
buy fat balls which you can get very cheaply from £1 shops and QD
and
wilkinsons.
On my weekly trips to the abbatoir for bones for my 7 dogs, I also
get a
carrier bag of fat which I hang on tree branches. That attracts
dozens of
starlings and blue tits.
To be honest a sack of wild bird mix will only cost around £9 and
if you
only have one bird table, that plus a few dozen fat balls will feed
hundreds
of birds and help them survive until next spring. They will reward
you with
beautiful songs and hours of entertainment through your winter on a
cold
winters day :0)

You have either very few or very hungry birds. We get through 3 sacks
of peanuts and 3 of sunflower seed per year for our garden birds, plus
around 15 lbs weight of fat puddings.

Franz

On the subject of feeding birds, I now hang the nets of food inside 2 Large
hanging baskets wired together at the top and tied at the bottom. this keeps
the magpies and squirrels off and the tits etc can get through happily.
A good use for those empty hanging baskets.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Josie" wrote in message
...
I appreciate that the current conventional wisdom suggests that wildlife
is unable to differentiate between safe and dangerous foods; but how
true is it? Is it just hearsay; hypothesis? Birds in my garden don't
touch blue slug pellets, for example. It was once thought that adult
blue tits would suffocate their young by feeding them whole peanuts -
this is now known to be untrue. I remain unconvinced.
If blue tits are fed when they have young in the nest, it isn't so much
that they would be daft enough to shove a whole peanut down the baby's
throat but that they would feed peanuts at all. Baby blue tits need copious
amounts of high protein live food like green and blackfly and other insects.
I think you are getting confused about the reason you must stop feeding wild
birds in spring. It is because they will take the easy option and feed
youngsters innapropriate food. Bead will swell and fill a baby's crop so
that it won't beg for the food it really needs to survive.
The birds may not eat the blue slug pellets, but they will eat the slugs
which have eaten the pellets and still be poisoned.
You remain unconvinced because you have not done any research and are not
really interested enough to do any research I'm afraid.
Ignorance kills more animals and birds (wild and captive) than outright
cruelty does, sadly.