Putting food out for fox's, birds, etc.

[MantaRay]

Do foxes, birds, badger's, etc, actually benefit from people putting out food for them or are we just encouraging the rat population?

[LottieAnne]

Putting food out for foxes is not a good idea. It just encourages them to become dependant on humans and less able to fend for themselves. It also helps to increase the population to an usustainable number. This also applies to badgers. Birds may need some help in winter months but should not be fed bread during the breeding season as it can choke the chicks.

[NazNomad]

They shouldn't be fed bread ... EVER.

[anneasquith]

brcause of the

[anneasquith]

oops. no i dont because of the possibility of encouraging rodents.

[ummmm]

What about ducks Naz....what should we be feeding them?

[Milvus]

Naz is right. Bread is not good for birds. There is little nutritional value in bread, the carbs only serve to put on fat. Apart from the chance of moulds, there is good evidence that birds relying on bread (Park lakes etc) can suffer from malnutrition because of a completely unbalanced diet. For feeding ducks try Grapes cut in half, Cracked corn, barley, oats, birdseed or other grains, Frozen peas that have been defrosted or Duck feed pellets available from farm supply stores. Similar for other birds grains, pulses and vegetables, meal worms, fat balls etc

[Eve]

I had a good chat with some of the "friends" of my local park around Christmas and a few weeks ago and they said bread causes big problems.

For some, like the Canada Geese, they said it is an absolute no for them as they should be eating grass etc... as is their normal diet and, if they can't get to it (was snowing then) then they should naturally migrate elsewhere. They are trying to discourage large number of them as well as they cause problems for the other wildlife.

More recently I found out that bread can cause algae in the lake so, as well as it having no nutritional benefit, it has a bad effect environmentally. They said they have had to drain the lake previously to clear it properly (I've said I'd go help on a volunteer day) and it killed all the fish one year and nearly did again recently.

They said a few slices of leftover bread is fine every now and again but they had had problems with people taking loaves down (20 at a time for one lot apparantly!) on a regular basis.

They advised to take wild bird seed and/or special duck pellets so that's what I've been doing, can get a big bag for 99p in Savers in town.

[Chaffinch]

Foxes, Badgers no, Garden birds definatly, seeds nuts, fat balls, dried fruit, etc, but not bread as stated. Put up a feeder and sit and watch.