How to feed birds in winter and how to make simple bird food

Feeding birds in winter during severe frosts can be a matter of life and death. Get your kids involved in helping animals. It's not only a good deed for nature, but also a fun creative project that will engage your little ones.

When to feed birds - rules for feeding birds in winter

It's important to teach children from the very beginning how to responsibly care for nature. Teach them rules that will help them effectively help animals, and make sure they don't engage in common but harmful practices, such as feeding animals bread.

Rules for feeding birds:

• We begin feeding the birds when frost sets in and they have trouble finding food on their own. After the thaw, we stop feeding the birds.
• Birds remember where they find food, so feeding should be taken seriously throughout the frost period and not as a one-off activity.
• Try to leave food out regularly and at the same times.
• Regularly clean the feeder of old food to prevent it from becoming moldy and developing bacteria that can harm the birds.
• We place feeders in a place inaccessible to wild animals and cats.
• In addition to food, provide water for the birds.

What can you feed birds?

It's best to feed birds natural ingredients and never table scraps. Also, remember not to give them bread, salt (e.g., salted sunflower seeds), or other spices, as they can be harmful. You can also buy bird food from specialized stores, such as grain mixes or fat balls.

Suitable food for birds are:

• sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
• grains, cereals and groats, e.g. wheat, oats, millet, linseed, sesame, oat flakes, corn
• fresh fruit and dried fruit without additives, e.g. apples, pears, bananas, raisins
• nuts
• vegetables - cooked
• unsalted bacon

You can also prepare delicious bird food yourself.

We make simple bird food with the children

We will prepare a very simple food with the children using seeds, pips and fat.

• unsalted lard
• selected seeds and grains
• silicone or cookie cutters
• string
• scissors
• bowl (optional)

Step 1

Prepare all ingredients. Heat the lard until liquid.

Step 2

Pour the seeds into silicone muffin cups.

Step 3

Pour melted fat into all the molds.

Step 4

We embed strings in the middle of the mixture on which we will hang the food.

Step 5

Leave the molds to harden.

Step 6

Once the fat has solidified, we take out the prepared food and hang it on tree branches.

Advice

If you don't have silicone molds, you can use a gingerbread cookie cutter. In this case, don't melt the fat; mix it with the seeds in a bowl and then press the mixture into the mold, shaping it into a star shape, for example.