To feed or not to feed that is the question

[Morph]

On my travels I've come across 2 main schools of thought of when to feed birds in the garden.

1, To stop feeding in late summer early autumn starting again in winter to let parent birds teach young where to source natural food.

2, Not to stop and feed all year so keeping a feed station as a constant source.

What is your view ?

[Lance Morgan]

I keep feeding all year and the birds too

[Gill Catton]

I don't feed in the late spring /summer at all. I think the break is good for a number of reasons, it reduces the risk of disease transfer, it ensures that the birds and their young are eating what's naturally available during that time as they have evolved to do - if there's a short fall then I'm afraid its survival of the fittest this then ensures a stronger population overall. and as you say it allows adults to teach the young what to eat as I think its bad if birds become totally reliant on us for food.
Also Autumn is so naturally stuffed with food you're almost wasting your money! In addition personally I think its worth bearing in mind the food miles associated with buying bird food and not feeding for a period of time helps reduce this too.

[DuncanE]

I suppose one could argue that it also depends on where you live. I for one know that there is plenty of natural food about as the birds are no where to be seen apart from the odd Goldfinch and family of sparrows.

I still put food out but not as much - in fact I've been waiting for the food to be eaten so I can get on a clean the feeders this weekend. A good bout of bad weather sorted that.

[aeshna5]

I feed throughout the year, but provide a greater variety of foodstuffs such as fat bars in the winter.

[Jason Green]

Good question and differing angles.

Whilst it would be good to let the parents find/show the young where natural food can be found, I don't think it would be too much of a problem in letting them also know where human-provided food is, either.

As long as that artificial source remains healthy (so probably not just bread...) and as reliable in terms of availability as natural foodstuffs, it shouldn't be too much of a prob.

[Morph]

Thought I'd better state where I stand as I started the thread.
I feed all year but during the summer/autumn I leave periods of up to a week before re-filling the feeders during the winter I keep them full all the time, I think this way the birds get the best of both worlds.

[Oscar the Grouch]

This year (the first in this house), I've kept feeding all through the summer. I've not noticed any reduction in birds taking advantage of my generosity, although the nuts in my nut feeder don't go that fast since I changed the feeder to prevent jackdaws emptying it in 24 hours

I live on the edge of a large area of mature woodland and I guess that there are ample supplies of natural food near by but I don't think it does any harm for my food to be always available.

[diggleken]

'Scientific' or expert advice on whether to feed birds in summer as they are feeding juveniles has changed over the years and its generally thought to be OK now (fledglings choking on peanuts for example isnt thought to be a major problem).
Also, there is some concern that feeding in summer can lead to dependency , and if you stop feeding when on hols etc this is supposed to potentially harm birds - I dont agree with that - millions of years of genetic learning will help them find food - they are more adaptable than we think.
One last thought - if you do feed birds regularly, its helps to see them easier and learn about them, not only for us, but especially for kids, so thats a positive thing to do and encourages interest in wildlife.

[Jean Farmer]

I feed them all year. I want them in the garden as my biological control to clear up the livefood from the plants and trees. Result - no aphids in sight.