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Healthy Bird Diet:Bird food is of course a very important part of owning a bird – food is of course an essential for survival, and it is important to feed your bird the right food.
A variety of bird foods are available commercially, but not all of them are the same, and not all of them may be suitable for every type of bird. In many cases, commercial bird food may not even be necessary. Commercial birdseed usually consists of several different types of seeds, and many owners find that their bird only eats one or two types of seed.
As a result, a large portion of the bird food goes to waste. It may therefore be better to simply buy the specific type of seed that your bird eats. Of course, remember to do your research so that you are aware of what your bird needs, and not simply what it likes.
On the other hand, if you are simply interested in feeding the wild birds in your area, then commercially available birdseed may make for the best wild bird food, as it likely to attract a variety of birds.
Most birds however seem to enjoy black sunflower seeds, and these are usually enough to feed wild birds. These are high fat seeds with a large amount of “meat” inside the shell, and are therefore excellent food for birds. However, if you are looking to attract a specific type of bird, you might want to find out what seeds they like best – goldfinches are known to enjoy thistle seed, for example, while cardinals seem to like safflower seeds.
Of course, not all birds eat seeds – many birds are hunters, not necessarily of animals, but of insects. These birds can be fed suet – essentially the fat from beef or mutton. This fat is usually thrown away, and your local butcher might give it to you for free, even offering to grind it up. You can even make suet cakes for birds – take a bit of birdseed, raisins, and corn flour, and keep them ready while you heat up the ground suet. Once the fat has melted, add the other ingredients, mix the whole thing around, and pour it into a bread pan or a cake pan to cool. Once it cools, your wild bird food is ready, and you can cut it into smaller pieces or use it as it is.
Baby bird food however is a different matter – all baby birds need a large amount of protein in order to sustain their incredibly fast growth rate. The best food for them is therefore meat or hard boiled egg white, cut into pieces small enough for the bird.
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