Can birds eat French fries
Birds can or should I say will eat French fries if offered up, but that is not to say its good for them, or should be eaten at all.
Birds can eat French fries in your yard, and while not good for their health, it won't be an issue if only offering a small amount once in a while. French fries offer no nutritional value, nor are vegetable oil cooked fries safe for birds. Whilst fries are commonly coated in salt, remember salt is toxic to our backyard birds.
If there is something birds shouldn't really be eating, that is French fries that can lead to more health issues down the line.
French fries are what not to feed wild birds as they could contain salt, be smothered in salty condiments - or at least are cooked in vegetable oil which is bad for birds.
Freshly cooked, out of the oven or air fryer French fries would certainly be suitable if only in a small amount - and allowed to go cold - of fries were offered every once in a while.
Fries notoriously are coated in salt, and with this being toxic to wild birds, be sure to only feed unsalted fries to birds.
Cooked in oil, oven or air fried French fries offer zero nutritional value, thus birds would be eating an empty filler that can fill them up, whilst preventing them consuming vital fatty suet, vitamins or proteins in nuts for the rest of the day.
To feed fries to birds in your yard, remember that the species likely to eat French fries are usually larger, more nuisance birds - so bird species you'd wished you hadn't attracted in the first place.
If you wanted to stop more invasive, nasty birds eating the real bird food, then to offer crows French fries or similar birds fries may keep them at a distance, whilst they are distracted with junk food.
Safe unsalted French fries only
Its worth remembering this type of junk food has no health benefits at all, not for us or wildlife of any kind.
French fries are classed as junk food, and as such are unhealthy to consume on a regular basis.
Ordering a takeaway is OK once in a while, but fries must be kept to the bare minimum for our backyard birds - as it doesn't offer them valuable nutrients.
When offering a small amount of fries while you are out, these fries must remain salt-free with no vinegar - or indeed must not be smeared in sauces.
French fries wouldn't be suitable if sold by McDonald's, but oven cooked or air fired French fries are an healthier, and therefore a safer option.
Only offer unsalted fries to wild birds, but in reality you should be avoiding feeding fries to any wildlife, and even pets.
No added salt or condiments
McDonald's are an example of what fries not to feed our wild birds, as they are mainly served with salt, and a lot of salt as you may know.
Salt is a toxic to our backyard birds, thus to consume salt in small quantities or more over a few days can damage wild birds liver, and therefore can make them ill which can lead to death.
I ask you to never serve up salted French fries, or indeed scraps out of your kitchen to birds of any species with salt.
French fries once ready to eat are usually salted at home or when dinning out, so no throwing fries to birds at this time.
Wait until fries are out of the oven, allowed to go to room temperature then serve up fries to birds; if you know they will be eaten up quickly, and not allowed to rot in your yard.
In addition to salt coated French fries, condiments we often eat with fries - such as tomato ketchup or BBQ sauce must also be avoided - as it can contain high levels of salt, and other nasty ingredients.
Oven or air fry only
If you insist on offering your backyard birds a small amount of French fries, only do so if they are cooked in the oven, or are cooked up in the air fryer.
Oven fries can contain batter which is usually OK but should be avoided, but don't offer flavored fries, such as curly fries, potato wedgies or flavored hot fries to birds, as it can cause issues immediately.
Birds can consume a small amount of French fries in your yard, but only if they are cooked in the oven or air fried.
Whilst wild birds can and must eat high levels of saturated fat, including lard based suet, vegetable oil used to cook fries is bad for birds.
Vegetable oil is associated with what wild birds normally eat in the wild with nuts or seeds - but must not be present on homemade or store-bought French fries.
Fats eaten by birds must be mixed up with wheat, flour, oats or cereals as to create a dry to touch texture - thus the fat contents that would be on French fries might end up being smeared on their feathers.
Backyard birds that eat fries
Unfortunate but probably for the best is that offering French fries to a mix of wild birds in your yard, won't be taken up very often.
In fact you can really expect many birds to feed on fries that frequent your yard, so all this would be a waste of time.
Few common backyard birds can and do eat French fries, but its usually the species you wished to avoid in the first place.
Expect the Common Grackle, the invasive House Sparrow and others to eat fries if available.
Worse still, Pigeons, Crows and Seagulls will take up your offer of French fries, so to avoid being infested with unwanted, often quite aggressive wild birds - it would be best not to offer fries if these birds come running.
Backyard birds that eat fries, as you can see, are not really those you'd want to attract.
While you should focus on attracting Titmice, Robins, Bluebirds and similar birds, its quite possible French fry eating birds would simply deter your friendly feathered friends.
No nutritional value
Whilst birds can eat French fries its important to know birds do not get any goodness out of a cooked potato - not in protein, fat or vitamins.
French fries lack any real nutritional ingredients that can benefit wild birds, so would be more of an unhealthy snack than anything of importance.
Much like when wild birds are fed bread, bread acts as a filler only so only go towards filling up birds, with nothing positively happening in their strict diet.
Remember that when you next feed wild birds French fries, bread or even pasta; these birds scoffing their faces are not getting any nutritional value whilst eating any of this, so would see side-effects if too much is consumed.
Birds that frequent our yards crave high energy protein, vitamins, fiber and even saturated fats in lard based suet fat balls or suet cakes.
This comes out of wild bird seeds, peanuts and of course suet, birds should be fed on.
Don't make it a habit
Now that I've established wild birds don't get a lot of value in terms of real nutrients out of French fries - hopefully you won't make an habit of it over a long run.
Feed birds a few French fries if they do indeed take it, but don't do it all day, everyday as you risk regular visitors filling up on this empty filler.
Birds that frequent your yard are probably are the same birds over and over again; with the need to forage on your particular lawn - and of course feed off your bird feeders.
French fries eating everyday by the same birds can only fill them up, but in the long run can make them poorly - as birds become malnourished with lack of nutrients.
Don't make it an habit when feeding birds in your yard on French fries; too many is not good for us, so its certainly not an healthy choice for birds.
Instead of French fries, serve up mostly wild bird seeds, peanuts, suet and insects that are classed as dried mealworm.
Summary
Don't make it a regular thing but if you must you can feed your backyard birds on French fries, a few fries won't hurt, but understand fries offer no nutritional value.
French fries are cooked in vegetable oil, and if you didn't know already this type of cooking oil is bad for wild birds.
Instead, you can only offer oven cooked fries or air fried French fries with no oil in use.
With that, these French fries mustn't be offered to birds with salt on them - only feed birds unsalted fries as salt is toxic to wild birds.
Not many common backyard birds feed on French fries if you didn't know already. In fact you'd be hard pressed getting any birds to eat your fries.
Those that do would only be species you wish to avoid, as they can be a nuisance to smaller birds by driving them away.
Birds that can eat French fries then are Pigeons, Crows, Seagulls and Sparrows.
You can feed wild birds French fries if you must, but so do in small quantities once in a while. Don't make it a regular thing and certainly don't feed birds on fries coated in toxic salt, or any salty condiments.
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