How do I feed garden birds properly?

Feeding garden birds is the most common wildlife activity in Britain and the most commonly done slightly wrong. The difference between a feeder that hangs untouched and one that never stops is usually siting, and the difference between a healthy garden flock and a disease outbreak is cleaning.

Safety

What you'll need

• A hanging feeder or two, and a mesh peanut feeder
• Sunflower hearts and a quality seed mix
• A shallow dish or bath for water
• A brush and a bucket for cleaning
• Disposable gloves

Step by step

1. Start with sunflower hearts.Sunflower hearts — the kernels, without shells — are eaten by more garden species than anything else, produce no husk mess beneath the feeder, and are high in oil and energy. If you buy one thing, buy these.
2. Add variety for different birds.Nyjer seed in a fine-ported feeder for goldfinches and siskins. Peanuts in a mesh feeder for tits, greenfinches and woodpeckers. Suet blocks and fat balls for tits, starlings and wrens. Mealworms, live or dried and soaked, for robins and blackbirds. Seed and fruit on the ground or a table for blackbirds, thrushes and dunnocks, which rarely use hanging feeders.
3. Buy quality seed mix rather than the cheapest.Cheap mixes are bulked with wheat, split peas and dried lentils that most garden birds will not eat and that end up on the ground attracting rats. Read the ingredients and choose a mix based on sunflower, and avoid anything with a lot of whole wheat unless you want pigeons.
4. Know what not to put out.No whole peanuts loose in spring and summer — nestlings choke on them; use a mesh feeder that forces birds to take pieces. No salted or dry roasted nuts. No mouldy food of any kind, which causes fatal respiratory disease. No cooked fat, gravy or lard from the roasting tin, which smears feathers and goes rancid. Bread is not poisonous but it is close to nutritionally worthless — a very occasional small amount of wholemeal is the most you should offer.
5. Take fat balls out of their nets.The plastic mesh bags catch birds' feet and tongues and cause serious injury. Put the balls in a proper fat ball feeder.
6. Site the feeder where birds feel safe.Roughly two metres from a hedge, shrub or tree — close enough that birds can dash to cover, far enough that a cat cannot spring from it. In the open with no cover within ten metres, most species will not come at all.
7. Put water out, all year.Birds need drinking and bathing water as much as food, and it is in shortest supply in a hard frost and in a summer drought. A shallow dish with sloping sides and a stone in the middle, kept clean and topped up, brings in species that never touch a feeder.
8. Feed consistently, and all year.Birds learn where reliable food is and build it into their daily round; a feeder that is empty half the time is a wasted journey for them. Year-round feeding is now recommended, with high-energy food most important in winter and in the late-summer moult, and soft foods best in the breeding season.
9. Clean feeders every week or two.Empty out old seed, scrub with hot water and a weak disinfectant solution made up for the purpose, rinse thoroughly and dry before refilling. Wear gloves, use a dedicated brush, do it outside and not in the kitchen sink, and wash your hands afterwards.
10. Move the feeders around.Rotating the feeding station between a few positions stops droppings and spilled food building up in one spot, which is where disease and rats both come from.
11. Clean under the feeder too.Sweep or rake up spilled seed and husks. This is the single most effective way to avoid attracting rats, which is the most common reason people stop feeding.
12. Stop if birds look ill.A bird that sits fluffed up and lethargic, is reluctant to fly, or has wet, matted plumage around the beak may have trichomonosis or salmonellosis. Take the feeders down, clean everything thoroughly, and leave it for two to four weeks so the birds disperse. Report sightings to the Garden Wildlife Health project.

Tips

• A window feeder is the best possible introduction for children, and birds get used to people surprisingly quickly.
• Leave some of the garden untidy. Seedheads, berries, leaf litter and insects feed far more birds than any feeder does.
• In a hard frost, water is more urgently needed than food. Break the ice or refill with tepid water; never add salt or antifreeze.
• Different feeders at different heights bring in different species. Ground, table and hanging feeders together will roughly double your species list.
• Watch what actually gets eaten and buy more of that. It varies enormously between gardens.

Common mistakes

• Leaving fat balls in their plastic nets — Birds get their feet and tongues caught in the mesh, which causes serious injury and death. Take them out and use a proper feeder.
• Never cleaning the feeders — Feeders concentrate birds and their droppings, and trichomonosis spread this way has caused a long-term collapse in the British greenfinch population.
• Putting out whole peanuts in spring — Adults take them to nestlings, which choke. Use a mesh feeder so only fragments can be removed.

If it doesn't work

Keeping on top of it

• Top up feeders and check for damp seed (Every few days)
• Clean and refresh the water dish (Every day or two)
• Wash and disinfect feeders (Every 1–2 weeks)
• Sweep up spilled seed beneath feeders (Weekly, or daily if rats are about)
• Move the feeding station to a new position (Every month or two)

Questions people ask