Peanuts

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

What are peoples views on feeding Peanuts at this time of the year? I feed the birds at work via a wire mesh feeder so no whole pieces can be taken, obviously i don't want to deprieve the adults that have become used to feeding there, but at the same time don't want to harm the young I also feed fat balls and suet food, i can't make my mind up whether i should ditch the Peanuts and just feed the fat ball/suet food

Any comments?

[GuyF]

I think that as long as the peanuts are in a wire mesh feeder they should be fine. In a few weeks when the baby Great-Spotted Woodpeckers are out in my garden they feed only on the peanut feeder, so I think it's important to make sure you're providing lots of types of food for all the different species.
Also, apparently, parent birds won't feed their young on whole peanuts as they realise they're too big for them to take. Not certain that that's true but it makes sense I suppose.
Guy

[honeybee]

I recall a similar discussion a while ago and I think there's evidence to show parent birds are generally very clever about feeding their chicks although it's best not to risk putting things out that could choke them.

[Madelinew]

Definitely don't put whole peanuts out unless in a mesh feeder. I get in the habit of doing that all year now and have recently bought a seed mix that had whole peanuts in it so painstakingly took them all out by hand - how sad is that? I must remember to ask the supplier (my local pet shop guy) not to put them in at this time of year cos he mixes his own.

[Kymba]

If you have whole peanuts you can always Grind them up so you only have small bits before putting them out

[Gill Catton]

I must admit I don't feed during the summer mainly because I think most baby birds naturally are fed insects (because seeds are a late summer and beyond thing) and this must be what their little bodies have evolved to require. I am planting lots of things to boost insect numbers though....

I'm sure probably adult birds are bright enough to work out what their babies should be eating - hopefully they have more sense than humans!! but just incase they're not I'll try to boost the natural bird table.......

[overgrownbramble]

What I do is put a handful of peanuts in a bag, and bash them with a rolling pin. The birds love it!

They don't bother with the mesh feeders, although in winter when I put whole nuts out the coal tits and blue tits pinch them and fly off to eat in saftey, so I wouldn't stop feeding whole peanuts in winter when food is scarce. Also I believe coal tits stash food, which they wouldn't be able to with just mesh feeders.

Suet seems enormously popular at the moment, I think even if the babies can't eat it, at least the parents can eat it to keep themselves going so that's less insects they have to find in a day! I don't know if it's the dry weather, but I've haven't seen many insects this year.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I think i'll continue to feed the Peanuts, to hopefully help the parent birds during the summer

I replaced the wire mesh on the feeder as a squirrel had eventually broken the mesh as it aged, now there is no chance of a whole peanut being taken

[galanthus]

I agree with overgrownbramble; the parents need sustinence while they're feeding little ones. I usually ditch the nuts from March onwards, however, I do continue to leave black sunflower seeds for the great, blue and coal tits and some mixed seeds. For the others I've lots of insects over shrubs and plants etc.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Madelinew

Definitely don't put whole peanuts out unless in a mesh feeder. I get in the habit of doing that all year now and have recently bought a seed mix that had whole peanuts in it so painstakingly took them all out by hand - how sad is that? I must remember to ask the supplier (my local pet shop guy) not to put them in at this time of year cos he mixes his own.

My seed supplier does his wild bird mix in 'standard' and 'Summer mixture'. The obvious difference is that the latter has no whole peanuts- there may be other differences but I haven't examined in detail. Maybe your supplier would take up this idea, if you explained why it was a good notion?

henrya