Birds need sufficient crude fat in their diet in order to get enough energy for daily activities and winter nights as well as breeding and rearing chicks.
Quality bird feed may cost more up front, but in the long run will save money by decreasing wasted seed in your feeder and on the ground beneath it.
Contents
Black Oil Sunflower
Sunflower seeds are a favorite among bird seed vendors for offering to their birds as part of a mixed variety or alone. Black oil sunflower seeds contain high oil contents which attract finches, chickadees and other seed eaters that require energy-rich seeds for migration or winter warmth.
Birds find these thin seeds easy to open, making them popular among titmice, nuthatches and sparrows alike. Plus, these vital sources of protein, fat and other essential nutrients play an essential part in their healthy diets.
Unless you’re growing sunflowers specifically to feed birds in feeders, ensure your soil drains well and provides ample drainage by watering daily during periods of hot weather or drought until blooming begins. Make a note in a garden journal or calendar of possible harvest dates so they can be recorded accordingly. When purchasing seeds specifically designed to provide nutrition for birdfeeding.
White Proso Millet
White proso millet is an annual grown around the world for livestock feed and bird seed, often replacing more conventional seeds such as wheat or corn when these crops are unavailable.
Ground feeders such as quail, native American sparrows, towhees and juncos can find this seed particularly appealing, drawing in populations from as far away as shrubs or brush piles where ground-feeding species thrive. Cardinals love it too! Providing it directly onto the ground or low platform feeder is ideal as cardinals love feeding on it! It can even attract cardinals! When offered near shrubs or brush piles where ground feeders congregate.
Proso millet is a gluten-free grain packed with dietary fiber and antioxidants that can help regulate digestion, improve heart health, prevent disease and bloat symptoms such as constipation and stomach cramps. Furthermore, magnesium helps reduce risk for digestive issues like bloating, constipation and stomach cramps while having anti-inflammatory properties to lower cholesterol levels and therefore lessen heart disease and diabetes risk.
Cracked Corn
Cracked corn is an essential food source for ground-feeding birds, providing carbohydrates and dietary fiber. Add it to feeders or scatter it on the ground to attract birds such as quail, turkeys, doves and more clinging species such as doves. Cracked corn should only make up part of their diet; use other types of feed suitable to their species and age to provide optimal nourishment.
Peanuts are an integral component of many feeder mixes and should also be provided alone as snacks. Packed full of proteins, fats and fiber they also offer essential vitamins and minerals like calcium, iron potassium zinc. Choose shelled or whole peanut varieties; salty varieties should be avoided to promote health in birds.
Wheat
Wheat is used as filler seed in most cheap wild bird seed mixes, although some birds will eat it; it isn’t as appealing to other seeds and the birds will often leave un-eaten grain on the ground where it quickly becomes wet or contaminated attracting pests and rodents.
Wheat, like all photosynthetic autotrophs (plants), requires 17 elements – carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – in order to grow and ‘burn off’ via cellular respiration. Water must also be taken up from its environment while nitrogen and phosphorus must also be consumed by its roots in order to complete these processes successfully.
These qualities make wild bird seed mixes so popular among bird watchers. A good quality wild bird feed should contain guaranteed levels of crude protein, fat and fibre to provide energy for active daily activity in wild birds – this information can be found on each product’s ingredients list.
