Feeding wild birds bacon fat--Is it bad?

What is the fear? Have there been outbreaks of high cholesterol in wild birds in your area. If so, try putting some Plavix in with the fat.

Once again I find myself in agreement with Bob C. I'm going to have to change my ways or they'll start calling us the Bob C Twins and unless you can remember back to first grade reading that one just went over your head.

Anyway... I doubt wild birds have a thing to worry about. With metabolisms that can go from 0 to 60 in, litterally, a heart-beat, I'm sure they need to store as much fat as they can because they burn it off so fast.

And Bob, we have simply got to stop meeting like this.

A family member in the medical field claims this is bad.

Yes but only if the bacon fat has been cooked.

Speaking of woodpeckers. Why will woodpeckers land on a street light pole, and beat his head against the metal part of the light? Across from my house this has been happening for years.

Wood peckers bang on noisy stuff as a call of sorts(I believe)--They work on a piece of metal that is atop a power pole here.--

This is a sapsucker actually and must have been the loser in a duel--We tried to rehab it to no avail--we were sad and then a healthy pair dug out a dead spot in one of our maples and raised a couple chicks--I hope they come back next year, they were fascinating to watch and really tame.

BWIRE--What happens to it (bacon fat)after it is cooked that makes it bad?

Nice recipe TV45. But change the white flour for wholemeal flour as the bleach in most plain white flour, can affect a bird's digestion and can lead to bloating and diarrhoea.

Thanks. Maybe that's why the robins leave huge smears of poop all over my car when they sit on the doors to look in the mirrors!

OK, I just went to the grocery store and, while there, picked up some unbleached flour for my next batch. So why is unbleached flour more expensive than bleached? Shouldn't the production costs be less?

Out of curiosity I found this; http://everything2.com/node/1491226

Well, that explains the expense. Thanks. I'll actually check the price of organic flour (I belong to one of those 60s hippy natural food coops, but I doubt I'll spring for the extra cost till I learn a little more).

The real question is why I'm feeding tufted titmice better food than I feed myself.

...tufted titmice...

Del the cat would be sooo jealous !

Well...That does it for me...I will only be consuming unbleached flour from now on.

Some cured bacon is high in nitrates, other than that the birds will eat fat off of any dead source they find.

A hide left on the fence will be visited all winter until nothing is left but skin and fur.

Lard due to the lack of nitrates is better for the birds but to what degree I doubt very few experts will know.

Brad

There may be significant concern about feeding any fat to wild birds.

We often saw birds with no feathers after they feasted on the sunflower and oilseed crops out west. Too much oil and their feathers fall out. (or that's what we were told.)

Check with a local pet store and they should be able to clear it up for you.

Personally, I'd rather nobody fed the birds. It creates a dependancy for the local "community" of birds, sort of a microclimate and in a few years time when you move on, or tire of the activity, they will starve, or make a nuisance of themselves.

Don't upset the balance.

I am aware that there may be a concern--That is why I am asking if anyone KNOWS about it.

The balance? Feral and domestic cats do enough balancing that I don't think that feeding them(birds) will be their downfall--Although I appreciate your(and my) concern that an enhanced food source can create artificial surge in population or other, but my wife has been bugging me about getting another cat--Too many birds, not a prob. (She gets all the credit for being an animal lover-go figure).

As long as they are not feeding the young birds its generally ok, but do not feed fat when nesting time is just coming up or active......its best to confine feeding to the winter time when natural foods may be scarce.......

Warning, but do not stop, just because you went away for the weekend or a holiday, many birds will die as they rely on a regular source of food at that time.......if you start, do not stop till springtime is fully there where you are!!!

You take on a whole new level of responsibilities.....

Well it's bad new for the pigs.

More seriously, there's something that seems a bit 'iffy' about feeding seed-eating birds animal fat. I'm inclined to think they wouldn't eat it if it was harmful, but that is not the case for some animals.. Your non-wastage policy is to be applauded. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have a web-site that says Suet/Lard is fine.

By comparison with the noxious chemicals with which most gardeners hose down any insect, bacon fat is only 20,000 times safer. And birds eat seeds for the fat content. Look at corn oil, groundnut oil, sunflower oil.

A great food source is the compost heap, but not some modern trendy drum. Make a chicken wire cylinder and put anything biodegradable in it. All sorts of insects will live and breedn with wild enthusiasm, and all sorts of birds will hang around to keep the population under control.

Most people misunderstand compost. You put loads of bulky waste material in and after a period you get a couple of handfulls of pretty good soil. The relevant equation isn't waste material -> soil, but loads of bulky-> couple of handfulls.

You are getting rid of the volume and feeding the birds. Any compost is a pure bonus.

Hi,

I was told that the salt in the bacon fat harms the birds.

But I did not get any proof.

I am feeding the leftover walnuts from last year - my regular diet.

Sometimes also hazelnuts and almonds - depending on price.

If sunflower seeds cause trouble these likely are contaminated by insecticides.

If canola = rape-seed causes trouble this may be because it contains 1% eruca-acid.

This is a fatty-acid that is poisonous to most or all warm-blooded animals.

This was forbidden for human use until beginning 70ies when the content of eruca-acid was brought down from 25% to 1 %. Remaining is also another poison: the same that is said to be in Hypericum perforatum = St.Johns-wort. From this plant used for psycho-drugs. So I myself decided not to use any Rapeseed.

The above mentioned nitrates and nitrites are certainly a strong argument too.

RHABE

Good Lord dude, birds don't live long enough to develop heart disease.

But think of the damage to their ego if they thought of themselves as fat. The thought of a whole crowd of neurotic tits is too much to handle.

Simon

I voted GA for #17. salt is added to bacon, suagar, nitrates, nitrites [?] and triglycerides from cooking. the salt is a problem in winter when birds have reduced access to water. the local bird community requested in the newspaper that bird feed be made with unsalted peanut butter. there is also a lot of sugar added to some brands.

the bird feed sunflower seeds are always uncooked and unsalted.

"the salt is a problem in winter when birds have reduced access to water"

That's a good point, not only in the winter but also summer. As we've developed the heck out of our natural lands, we've eliminated much of the water birds, squirrels, grinnies, snakes, etc. need. I keep a small fish pond near the bird feeder; in the winter I put a small stock tank heater in to keep the ice clear for about an 8" dia hole. All the other critters, especially robins, drive the fish insane. The only real problem is the big king snakes that drop by from time to time.