What kitchen scraps can birds eat
Scraps don't necessarily mean food off your plate which is intended for the trash, so I hope you plan to offer birds freshly cooked but unwanted food that serves many birds.
What can you feed wild birds from your kitchen can be foods with nutritional value, and not just a filler. Bread is a filler but can be offered once in a while, plus cereal, pasta or rice. Fresh or old fruit is a must and so is real meat fat, plus cheese, pastry or potato. Alternatively you can offer unwanted cat or dog food.
What kitchen scraps can birds eat is anything other than food containing salt, flavorings or is mixed in with sauces used to soak up the food.
Bread is a popular choice but it must be once in a while, but what else you can offer birds instead of bread is cooked pizza dough, pasta, rice or cereal.
Of course birds wouldn't normally eat this kind of thing in the wild, although its possible all kinds of scraps would attract the wrong species.
To cater to fruit-eating birds in your yard do offer absolutely any kind of fresh or old fruit like apple wedges, orange slices, grapes or strawberries - or why not try unwanted but still unsalted mixed dried fruits.
Cooked but allowed to cool baked or mash potato can be served up which is likely to be eaten when meat fat or grease is poured over.
When thinking about what scraps can birds eat out of the fridge, cupboard or pantry, consider anything that is high in animal fat which must be tried.
Suet is a wild bird food that common backyard birds love, thus raw or rendered meat fat off a beef joint or if its unsalted bacon rind or grease would go down a treat.
No kitchen scraps will go in bird feeders as instead you'd set aside the birds own dish or plate - of which solids or liquids can be added to when feeding birds in the yard.
Hardly any bread if possible
Bread can be one food group of many others to offer wild birds in our yards, with emphasis on a small amount of bread as possible.
Consider bread of all kinds as a filler only as its works to fill birds bellies up but it offers little to zero nutritional value. In fact, to only feed bread to birds would eventually kill them if that's all they're eating.
Birds can eat bread then but only once in a while, with additional seeds or crushed up nuts added to the bread to add real value to the slice.
Better still you can spread on unsalted butter or margarine on a slice of bread as a source of energy, especially in winter.
Similarly, it is OK to feed bread crumbs to your birds but it still must be in small qualities.
Bread is unlikely to attract the bird you want to bring to your yard, although if you insist on throwing it on the lawn it must remain dry out, but never put bread in feeders.
Mild grated cheeses
Remarkably cheese can be offered to common backyard birds, but that is if they take it.
Cheese is fatty but probably unsalted which will make it safe for birds when fed to them in winter, or colder months.
Possible takers would be Blackbirds or Wrens but there's no guarantee.
Do avoid strong sharp cheeses as it would be avoided by birds, whilst you should favor mild cheeses which goes easy on a birds digestive system.
Cheese would need to be graded for birds to take what they need whereas chunks or cheese slices will be hard to eat.
With that, its imperative you don't feed birds American cheese, which is the soft, orange individual slices in packets - as it can rapidly melt which could end up tangling in a birds feathers.
Best time of year to offer birds grated cheese is in winter to help birds replace lost fat whilst still giving them a needed boost of energy.
Fresh or old fruits
No shortage of backyard birds who eat fruit in the wild thus it would be the same birds who would eat your fresh or old fruits left out.
You can slice up apples to offer to American Robins or cut in half an orange to impale on a spike or branch to attract orioles.
Most fruit-eating birds like Thrashers, Tanagers, Chickadees, Bluebirds, Starlings, Catbird, Finches and many others - will also take to eating dried fruits.
Best dried fruits to offer wild birds will be raisins of course along with apricot or possibly dried banana slices.
Fresh fruit can be cut in half if it has an hard skin or why not cut the fruit in manageable slices.
You don't have to depend on fresh fruits when wild birds will happily feed on old fruit, even if its a little bruised up much like apple flesh quickly does.
Cereal favorites
What are your favorite breakfast cereal, believe or not, can be fed to wild birds out in the yard - providing its dry cereal with absolutely no milk or added sugar.
Cereal must be kept dry right out of the box, but it mustn't be flavored cereal covered in salt, bits or coated in chocolate.
Remember, a high amount of salt or what can sometimes seem like a bit of salt would be toxic to birds.
What cereals you can feed wild birds would be classic cornflakes, original cheerios only with no additional flavors, branflakes, Rice Krispies or similar.
Never feed birds Frosted Flakes, CoCo Pops with other breakfast cereal which uses flavors or is coated in anything from chocolate to honey.
Birds who will eat your cereal could be similar to those who eat bread, pastry or pasta, which could be Blackbirds to Sparrows.
Uncooked breakfast porridge oats can also be OK for birds although it would be a good idea to supply water close by.
Real fat pastry
Pastry is a source of fat that can subsidize a birds diet during the winter in a way to replace lost body fat.
Real fat pastry made in beef fat is what you really should be using as its only the beef fat contents that will benefit birds.
Options can include offering cooked or uncooked pastry that is meant to go in pastry treats, but would be reserved for wild birds instead.
Roll up your own pastry to offer wild birds on an open platform in the yard, or you can use up the rest of your ready made store-bought pastry.
Many birds are likely to take to feeding on small chunks of raw or cooked pastry which is great for absorbing real bacon grease or real beef fat when supplying birds additional fatty scraps - found in packaging or cooked up fresh in the kitchen.
Cooked pasta or rice
Few birds will eat cooked pasta or rice but those who will could be Bluebirds, Sparrows to American Robins.
Birds will eat cooked pasta or rice only as the dry stuff isn't favorable to birds as its an unusual substance.
Never add salt to the water pasta is cooking in as its highly toxic to birds, and with that only offer wild birds plain pasta or rice with absolutely no flavoring. Which means no ready meal pasta or authentic Asian inspired rice like Pilau.
Plain white or wholemeal pasta only with long grain or wholemeal rice.
Reserve any kind of plate or dish to put a small amount of pasta or rice in - or a bit of both if you happen to have both for dinner - all while you must remember not to season it.
Avoid using leftover pasta or rice off your plate as its guaranteed to be mixed in with unsafe foods or contaminated with other food groups, like a pasta sauce or curry.
Meat fat or bacon rind
Absolutely no shortage of the bird species likely to eat meat fat, as its basically what birds would eat at your bird feeders - only its called suet cakes or fat balls.
Meat fat would be cut away from pork or preferably raw beef fat cut off a beef roast joint, steak or similar.
Fat would then be put outside for many birds to feed on which would be small bits of fat at a time. Larger birds will take the whole thing away, thus its vital you secure large fat chunks to the platform.
Debate continues to be heard of the suitability of offering bacon rind to birds, as its high in salt after all, thus can be toxic to birds in large qualities. Regardless, there's always an opportunity to feed birds unsalted bacon despite it not being readily available.
Rendered meat fat can also be fed to wild birds like safe bacon grease could be poured over rice, pasta or bread to tempt birds to eat it.
Baked potatoes
Did you know our wild birds can be fed on cooked potatoes which isn't really something people think about.
But if you have cooked too many baked potatoes or made up to much mashed potato, add it to a dish to serve up to birds.
Not many birds will eat it but you can tempt birds if adding unsalted butter to the soft potato, or indeed pour over rendered meat fat. Similarly, grated cheese can be used as a topper but never include salted baked beans.
Remarkably, birds we hope will eat our French fries tend to avoid it but the same birds and more - can be tempted to eat a baked potato or creamy mash.
Serve any potato cooked but it must be allowed time to go cold.
Never serve potato of any kind on a wooden bird feeder platform or garden furniture as it could risk staining it. Instead you'd have to use a dish or plate to put potatoes on as birds perch on the rim to feed.
Cat or dog food
Not exactly kitchen scraps people would eat but on the rare occasion your dog or cat doesn't like a new variety of canned food, why not offer it to birds.
What is easier than getting rid of unwanted pet food in the wet or dry kind, than to serve it outdoors to birds.
Birds can eat dog food if its the wet chunky kind out of a can. Its high in fat whilst offering vital nutrients your doggo would otherwise need to eat on a daily basis.
Dry dog food out of sachets or dog biscuits can also be offered to birds but its probably best to soften them up in water.
Cat food can be eaten by common backyard birds also with the jelly, the chunks or the vegetables a favorite of the birds who eat it. Meat chunks will probably be avoided although can be eaten regardless.
With cat or dog food left outdoors it would probably attract cats over the fence in due course, so its vital you remove the pet food ASAP if or when it happens.
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