Wild Bird Food

That's right, a second post regarding birds by yours truly, I hope you nice folks don't mind.

1) How readily can I trust peanuts? I've read that peanuts can contain aflotoxin, or is it aflatoxin?, and that salt can hurt birds. If a pet store sells me peanuts in a plastic bag that they've filled themselves should I trust them to be free of nasties or remain my usual distrustful self?

2) How long should I allow seeds to remain on the bird table before I remove them? I know normal food should obviously be removed every few days to prevent mould etc but logic tells me that seeds won't go 'off' and can stay there all year.

3) How often should water in a water dish for the birds be cleaned?

That's the last of my questions, honest! ...And I'm sorry to be a nuisance. (I'm not as dense as I might appear, honest, I'm just cautious.

 

I shouldn't get too worried about peanuts. I buy them a sackful at a time as I do wild bird food, from a pet supplier who delivers to the door. My wife likes to feed the squirrels with the peanuts and the birds with the other stuff. Been doing it for years. They seem to like it well enough. We have to take elaborate defensive measures to stop the wood pigeons scoffing all the peanuts.

 

1 - Unprocessed peanuts should be ok. Salt is a no no!

2 - If you carefully regulate the amount of seed you put out you shouldn't end up with much in the way of left-overs.

3 - Change it every two or three days at least and disinfect the container from time to time.

 

Many thanks to you Dave. 2 is an excellent idea and you're right! I'll give that a go. First the birds need to realise my table has seed on it, all day today only a single blue tit bothered eating any, though a starling did walk across it to have a look over the other side. The other 2 answers were straight to the point, thanks again.

I'd love a squirrel in my garden! In a friend's garden there were 3 of them and we named them Cyril, Beryl and Darrell. I'd love a hedgehog to take residence in my garden too but that's a different story. Thanks for your advice.