Is it possible to overfeed garden birds?

[jennyb]

I don't know if anyone has already posted about this, but I could not find any reference to it.

I have recently added several new feeders to my garden with great results, BUT the feeders empty so quickly that I wondered if it is possible to overfeed? Surely, providing such easy food will deter birds from finding food by natural means?

Jenny

[wildone]

Jenny, if you mean overfeeding them so that they get overweight, then no I don't think it possible. They will only eat what they need. As to them relying on food put out on the feeders rather than natural, again I think they will eat natural for preference. Some years ago I had a pair of Robins nesting in a nearby garden. They would come for mealworms, but I noticed that the hen bird who was rather more shy than her mate would come and feed herself on the mealworms and take roughly one time in three back to the young once they had hatched. The cock bird, lazy like a typical male would take mealworms back to the young every time. But even he would take a spider or insect if he could, and usually eat it himself.

[John]

At this time of the year our birds need all the help they can get from us. As the year progresses they won't need as much from us so you will find that as time moves on you will get less visitors to your garden. Even those that do visit will not feed as much and this will be due to natural food becoming more abundant.

[nightshade]

It can be an expensive business feeding the birds I have used 3 sacks of sunflowerhearts and two of the wildbird mixes but there are no fat birds in my garden!

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by nightshade

It can be an expensive business feeding the birds I have used 3 sacks of sunflowerhearts and two of the wildbird mixes but there are no fat birds in my garden!

It's also expensive in time. I seem to refill the feeders most days and spend the rest of the time chasing away the squirrels! Luckily I bought squirrel-proof feeders but I reckon it's just a matter of time before they wreck them anyway.

Jenny

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by wildone

The cock bird, lazy like a typical male would take mealworms back to the young every time.

Bit of a generalisation there. Albeit accurate.

[wildone]

You cannot fault me on truthfulness Boddie, whatever other faults I may have.

[Boddie]

You should say what you think. Don't hold back

[wildone]

But I do truthfully