Biting frosts are one of the most difficult periods for birds. All plants are covered with snow, it is extremely difficult to find seeds. One hope is that people will build feeders and generously help songbirds to spend the winter. And then the titmouse in the spring will thank you with a fervent whistle and the destruction of harmful insects.

Any purchased or self-made design is suitable for the role of the feeder. Today in economic and construction stores a wide selection of such "houses" is presented. If the decision is made to show talent and build a feeder with your own hands, it is worth considering a few nuances. It is better if the "public dining room" is made of wood, the metal cools too much in the cold and can harm the birds. All joints, including nail heads, must be processed and not protrude above the main surface. If the feeder is made from a plastic bottle, it can be upgraded, for this it is enough to pierce several holes in the wall with an awl and stretch a dense thread that will reduce slipping, this will not allow the birds to be trapped.

One of the simplest variations of the feeder is made from a cardboard bag from fermented milk products. The container must be thoroughly washed and dried. Then, using a sharp knife, cut out the side walls, it is better if the holes are in the panels located nearby, and the other two remain deaf, this will help to avoid drafts that blow out the food. Bends that act as columns can be reinforced with wooden planks. A tight rope or wire should be attached to the top of the bag feeder, this will reduce the likelihood of a break.

In no case should you give fried or salty foods to wintering birds, they significantly undermine the endurance and health of birds. Black bread is also dangerous, it can cause a fermentation process in the goiter, especially if feeding takes place at low temperatures.

Now it's time to find out how to feed the titmouse so that the cute songbirds will safely winter. Since childhood, it has been known that small city birds peck bread crumbs with pleasure. Indeed, crumbs, fresh or dried, are a great way to diversify the diet of birds.

All kinds of cereals are also well suited for the role of feed. Millet, wheat, corn grains and even Hercules oatmeal. Also, if possible, you can hang "beads" of mountain ash on the feeder, such an edible decoration will be appreciated by singing red-breasted guests - bullfinches. It is worth making sure that the filling of the feeder is varied, this will help attract various birds to the saving dining room, because they all need food during the winter cold.

It doesn't matter what the chickadees eat natural environment, seeds of plants or small insects. During severe frosts, any oily seeds will help them to maintain their strength. Pumpkin or sunflower, the main thing is that they are small enough and, of course, not fried or flavored with salt.

Calcium top dressing will not be superfluous for wintering birds. To make it, you do not have to spend the family budget or make special efforts. All you need is an egg shell. It must be thoroughly crushed and added to grain feed.

You can also make delicious and healthy garlands. To do this, using a gypsy needle on a strong thread, you need to string various types of dried fruits, nuts, as well as small crackers and stale bagels. Pretty singers will definitely appreciate such a gift.

If there is no time or desire to prepare special food, you can pour the mixture for small birds purchased at the pet store into the feeder. Food for parrots and canaries is quite suitable. They have a balanced composition and will support the birds in the cold.

If the winter turned out to be especially frosty, the birds will need high-calorie food. This is due to the fact that they are forced to expend more energy to maintain body temperature. And if rural titmouse can bask in utility rooms, then only a full-fledged diet will save the inhabitants of megacities. The best high-calorie feeding is animal fat: lard and margarine.

So, if the titmouse feeder is made, it is worth upgrading it, driving a few nails into the columns, not forgetting to grind their hats. Attach a few chunks of lard, always unsalted, to these pins. City birds, sparrows and titmouse will willingly "pat" him, replenishing his strength.

Margarine can be given in the form of a lump if the temperature environment doesn't melt it. You can also prepare a "bird pie", in this form it is easier for birds to consume animal fat. To do this, you need to take any suitable food, for example, seeds, millet, eggshells, bread crumbs and pour them with melted unsalted margarine. After hardening, the resulting cake can be placed in a vegetable net and hung next to the feeder.

If the “bird pie” turns out to be liquid, it can be poured into any suitable container and placed near the feeder, the birds will feast on it in this form.

In winter, birds must be fed, following all the rules and recommendations. This will help them survive the harsh frosts, so that with the first rays of the spring sun, they will again delight with their songs and perky behavior, not to mention their benefits for the city's ecosystem.

The tradition of feeding the birds in winter came from our grandmother - she always laid millet and crumbs on the windowsill for the birds, and in the morning they saw how she was swarming in the kitchen and flew in and pecked at the glass.

We feed the birds with crumbled fat - it remains after cutting meat, millet grains rich in microelements, bread crumbs from the table, cereals left after dinner, etc.

I don’t know how useful this food is for them, but they come to eat every day.

And we always leave mountain ash and viburnum on the trees - by spring they peck clean. We ourselves like to watch this process - chubby bullfinches jump on branches, and in recent years crossbills have become more frequent - so we study bird species.

Bread is not a very healthy food for birds, so it’s better not to feed birds with bread, there’s just not much choice, so they peck it. And it is better to feed with seeds of different plants: sunflower, pumpkin, melon, watermelon, corn, hemp, quinoa, succession, as well as wheat, oats, millet, millet can be. Grass seeds then need to be prepared in advance, as well as seeds of melons, watermelons, etc. You can lard, but always unsalted. The most versatile food is sunflower seeds, but not fried and unsalted. I regularly buy such seeds for birds (we sell substandard seeds especially for birds - a little garbage, small). Nuts are also suitable for both birds and squirrels.

Birds in winter will be grateful to you for any food that you put in the feeder.

If you put millet, millet, oats, rice into the feeder, you will attract birds such as tits, sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons and others.

Tits, woodpeckers, pigeons are very fond of sunflower seeds.

Everyone probably knows that tits love lard. You can tie a piece of lard on a rope and hang it on a tree branch.

But the crossbills and woodpeckers will like the nuts.

In general, you can pour any cereal that is in the house into the feeder.

In winter, and at any other time of the year, you can feed birds (sparrow, tits, pigeons and others) with sunflower, pumpkin, melon, watermelon seeds. Give them cereals, lard, bread or bread crumbs, grain. You can give them specialized commercial bird food. It is better to prepare food from the summer, I also recommend making you a convenient bird feeder.

In winter, the birds need our help, because the insects are hibernating, there is no grass, the berries have fallen, and the birds want to eat.

Tits can survive without our help, they are rarely seen in the city, they live more often in the forests. But the sparrows are the inhabitants of the city. But there is one BUT. If we feed, then we give a chance to survive to the weak, who will give birth in the spring, the number will increase and there will not be enough food for everyone.

It is necessary to feed the birds in winter, and not to feed them. If there is always an abundance of seeds and fat in the feeders, then the birds will stop looking for food on their own, and these are larvae, berries, seeds.

If there is a choice of food in the feeder, then the sparrows will choose seeds, as they are the most nutritious, and an excess of fat will lead to liver disease.

It is necessary to establish a feeding ration, fill the feeder once or twice a day and not in large portions.

Sunny, fried seeds, millet, salted fat, black bread should not be given.

You can give sparrows wheat, white bread, pearl barley, oatmeal, barley.

Sinitsam - low-fat cottage cheese in a small amount, boiled eggs, seeds, lard, beef, butter.

For tits and sparrows, put dried sunflower, pumpkin, watermelon, melon seeds in the feeder. You can also treat the birds with millet, spicy white bread, apple slices and boiled eggs. For these birds it will be very useful to peck at grain cottage cheese, a piece of lard or boiled meat, butter. Sunny, fried and spoiled foods should not be given to birds, because they poison the body of birds with toxins. As a result, the birds can get sick and die.

We feed titmouses, sparrows, bullfinches and other small birds with grain and bread. You can also hang, for example, bacon on a string, they also like to feast on it, the main thing is that it is not salty, and in general, as far as I know, nothing salty can be given to birds.

Every winter I make a feeder for titmouse, bullfinches, and many other small birds, I put millet, bread, small corn, and millet in the feeder. I hang bacon on a small wire, titmouse love bacon more, and then they collect grain and bread.

Feeding the birds in winter is sometimes very difficult, since the feeders are often literally filled with snow, but still this is fixable, the main thing is to make your efforts and a piece of your soul. You can feed with any grain, such as millet, and also do not forget about ordinary bread, and even simple sunflower seeds. When you look at such birds, it even becomes pleasant that they feed with your help.

And this is clearly the question of an animal lover! Yes, it is desirable and very necessary to feed our smaller brothers in winter, especially if there is a lot of snow. When there is no snow, they themselves are able to find food in the form of grains, herbs, waste and other things. And you can't open it under the snow. So it's easy and simple to make such a feeder and throw grain into it: millet, millet, wheat, seeds.

Especially titmouse love fat, as other authors have said. But if you do not have grain in your house, then they will be grateful to you for bread.

By the way, here is an interesting version of the bird feeder. Zest in that there are not just windows, but separate perches, which are convenient to sit on

They leave their native places and go for wintering in warm countries. They are driven by the lack of food and the approaching cold.

Titmouse-sisters winter with us and meet spring

Some birds still remain. We can see them among the snow and trees with fallen leaves. These birds are with us. They delight us with beautiful, bright plumage. In the cold season, we can see a woodpecker, a mischievous sparrow and, of course, a beautiful titmouse. We'll talk about the last bird. It seems that this feathered one does not care, she herself can find food to her liking. Although according to statistics, only one in ten titmouse remains alive after frost. This is because these birds are warm-blooded (body temperature is slightly above forty degrees). To maintain it in the cold season, titmouse need more food.

Due to the lack of food, the thermoregulation of birds begins to function poorly. It depends on how full the titmouse is whether the bird will live that night or not.

Therefore, in the cold season, you need to help the birds survive. How? Of course, feed. And what do titmouse eat in the winter season? Now let's discuss this topic in detail. Having learned this information, you can get feeders and fill them with the necessary food.

Nutrition of feathered beauties

What do titmouse eat in the warm season? This question can be answered immediately. Titmouse - this is why the basis of their diet is, of course, insects. In addition, birds eat berries, fruits of trees, etc.

Let's get back to what titmouse and sparrows eat in winter. It's not like that simple theme as it might seem at first glance. This case has its own peculiarities. If you don't adhere simple rules, then you can not only not help the bird, but, on the contrary, harm it.

Is it possible to harm birds by feeding them? Unfortunately yes. That's what ornithologists say. Due to improper feeding, serious diseases can develop in birds, it is possible that after such a “lunch” the bird will die.

How not to feed the birds if you want to save their lives

Birds love different kinds of food. For example, sparrows prefer grain, and titmouse prefer seeds. In the winter season, you need to especially monitor the quality of their food.

In no case should you give titmouse salty food. This is because the excretory system in birds is imperfect, it may not be able to cope with the salt that accumulates in the body of birds. Because of this, poisoning occurs, and deaths are not excluded.

What do bluebirds eat in winter? And what can you feed them?

Here the list is not very small. Grains are suitable for sparrows and titmouses: wheat and seeds. in small quantities, they perfectly complement the diet of birds. In frost, you do not need to put large pieces of a loaf, as tits will not be able to peck them.

Such birds, in principle, are not attached to people, they can get food without their help, but, however, they will never refuse treats. The most preferred food is seeds. It's no secret that titmouse eat fat. Such food is useful for birds on frosty days. If you want to feed the titmouse with this product, then be sure to choose an unsalted piece. Butter, also in small quantities, can be added to the diet of birds when it is cold outside.

Cottage cheese, a boiled egg, chopped on a coarse grater, a small piece of beef, a slice of an apple (raw) - all this is suitable for treating a titmouse. A sprig of mountain ash or other berry will also please the bird.

Help your neighbor - and he will help you: Lured constant helpers

Birds very quickly get used to the places where they are fed. They consider them theirs. Even in summer time titmouse will not leave your site, they will help fight caterpillars and other pests of fruit trees. Over time, baited birds will become your voluntary helpers on an ongoing basis.

A small conclusion

Now you know what titmouse eat in summer and winter. In the cold season, let's help little creatures survive until the warm spring! If you are asked what titmouse eat in winter, then you can give a full answer. Be sure to tell us more about what you should not give the birds so that their health does not suffer. Choose your titmouse treats carefully.

Everyone knows a small bird with a yellow belly, white cheeks and a black head. By these signs, most recognize the tit. Her wings have a grayish-blue tint, and her back is olive, sometimes, too, with a bluish tint. Color, depending on the type of tit, varies slightly. Also, a black spot adorns the chest of these birds, continuing, already in the form of a strip, and on the stomach. By this strip, you can determine whether it is a female or a male. In males, it is wider, and in the opposite sex - on the contrary.

Titmouse belong to the order of passerines. These birds are very mobile and curious. Also, they have a pretty good memory. If you start feeding them and do it at least once, then the titmouse will definitely fly back to the same place.

Where do tits live?

These birds are inhabitants of forests, meadows. They also nest along the banks of rivers. City representatives choose parks and groves. In rural areas, they can build a nest in the garden, and in the wall of a house or other building. They can live on any tree. And in the forests they live in both deciduous and coniferous.

Tit in flight
Tit in flight

With the onset of cold weather, tits try to settle closer to humans. This makes it easier for them to find food for themselves. And they eat quite often and a lot.

The tit bathes

Tits can live in abandoned hollows, and in a house specially made for them by a person. They can also make their own nest. During construction, almost everything that falls into their beak is used. It can be blades of grass, and wool, and cobwebs.

Feeding offspring

Twice a year, in spring and early summer, tits take care of procreation. While the female hatches the first clutch, the future father of the chicks diligently brings food to her nest. Then, when she hatches the next brood, he will feed both the first ones and the female. By autumn, the whole family will huddle together in one flock. Chicks are fed by tits, mainly caterpillars and midges, drag slugs and all sorts of beetles, spiders. They have to carry food for the chicks very often, almost non-stop.

Tit cub

What do tits eat at different times of the year?

They also eat berries, peck out seeds from sunflowers. They can feed on seeds of weeds, birch, spruce and other trees. They will also gut the cone to crack the nuts. They can eat tits and an animal that has a small size. In cold winters, tits can eat carrion.

Titmouse eats carrion in winter
Tits and woodpecker at the feeder
Tit with seeds
Tits sort things out

But, winter is coming. It's getting harder and harder for the titmouse to feed. Most of them do not make stocks for the future. A titmouse can hide what is dragged into the nest and not eaten in a day. But, for a longer period, they are not stored. Although, not all species are so careless. Many of them successfully find and destroy other people's supplies.

Tits will peck at frozen berries left on the branches in winter, pick up what they find in the snow. They will also get frozen insects from the bark of trees and will definitely feast on them. In most cases, they will try to move closer to people, as there they will find more food. Yes, and many will specially build feeders for them, in which they will put delicacy for the bird.

What and how can you feed tits?

The digestive system of birds is not adapted to what humans eat. Therefore, when feeding them, you need to know what can be put in the feeder and what cannot. Do not leave food there that has begun to deteriorate. This can be very harmful to the birds. Smoked, fried and salted foods are of great harm to them. If fed with bread crumbs, then only from white bread. Black can be deadly for them.

It is best to give them what they eat in their natural environment: sunflower seeds, pumpkins, watermelons. You can, if available, frozen berries, nuts. Some of the "human" products, however, can be left for the birds. The main thing is that they are fresh. If fed with fat, then - not salty. Do not give them millet. You can put dried fruits in the feeders. Suitable for feeding tits and cheese, hard-boiled egg. Just remember to grind them. You can rub on a grater, or finely chop. Still, porridges from rice, buckwheat, barley are suitable for them. It is not necessary to pour raw cereals, it should be boiled.

Building a bird feeder is not difficult. You can use anything for her. It is not necessary to arm yourself with a hacksaw for this. You can simply make a "bird canteen" from any package of juice or other products. Suitable and circumcised plastic bottles. Of course, if there is a desire and time, then it is best to make the feeder more spacious and comfortable from wood.

Once having found food for themselves, tits will fly to this place again. And, if you regularly feed them, then they will fly constantly. Tits are very curious and courageous creatures. Therefore, they can fly into an open window. And if they also find something to eat there, they will definitely drag it away. And, although tits get used to those places where you can eat and to the people who feed them, not everyone dares to sit on their hands.

A little more interesting about tits

Their name was not at all due to the presence of bluish hues in their color, as some people think. They were called tits because of their songs. And they love to sing, especially males. The repertoire of these singers contains a lot of different sounds.

Tits on a sunflower

In autumn and early winter period tits behave a little quieter. But, as soon as the cold begins to come to an end and spring approaches, the tit trills begin to sound more often and louder. These birds have their own melodies for every season.

When spring is just around the corner, males begin to call on females to build nests. And they call them with songs. By this time, the male has already chosen a place for construction. But the female will take care of the nest itself. This is purely her task - the arrangement of housing.

The article will tell you how to properly prepare food for wintering birds in the feeders.

A person often feels a desire to take care of "our smaller brothers." If you can't afford to volunteer at animal shelters or donate money to voluntary animal welfare organizations every month, then you can feed the local birds during the winter season. By creating a feeder in your yard or on your balcony, you not only give food to small feathered creatures, you give them a chance to survive, extending their lives for several days, weeks, and a harsh winter.

Of course, you should not expect gratitude from small creatures, they will help you at another time - in the summer, when they start eating harmful insects (mosquitoes, larvae, flies, ants, aphids and worms), which prevent you from growing decent crops. Yes, and you must admit that feeding the birds will not hit your pocketbook, but will bring a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to feed the birds in the winter season, when it is difficult for them to find food for themselves, it is important to know that their diet in winter is significantly different from summer. Birds need high-calorie food, but not harmful (otherwise you will simply kill them).

What can you feed:

What not to feed the birds in the winter in the feeder: a list of products

What you need to know about unhealthy food for birds:

• Of course, in winter, birds need fatty foods such as meat and lard. but in no case should it be salty foods, since such food can kill small creatures, provoking dehydration and intoxication in the excretory organs.
• Meat, lard and fat should be given neat., you can mix these ingredients with other food (grains, boiled cereals or bread).
• You can not give black bread - this product, prepared with rye flour, can cause upset and diarrhea in birds, which will lead to their death. There is a lot of salt in black bread, and it also leads to disruption of the kidneys and liver in birds.
• Rye bread can ferment in the goiter of birds and kill them, since there is much more yeast in it than in wheat.

What can not be added to the feeder:

• salty foods
• fried food
• spicy food
• acidic foods
• Citrus fruits (even the peel)
• Peel and fruits of bananas
• Milk
• roasted nuts
• Spicy products

Why can't you feed the birds with salted bacon, fried seeds?

Any disease that affects a bird in the winter season becomes much more dangerous for it than it would be in summer. Gastrointestinal diseases in birds happen quite often, as in harsh winters they can eat junk food in search of survival. This food is offered to them by a person who knows little about the peculiarities of animal nutrition.

INTERESTING: It turns out that chewing gum thrown by a person is often perceived by birds as a piece of bread. They peck it, but after that they die, as the chewing gum completely slows down and clogs their digestive tract.

When offering titmouse and other birds with lard, make sure you cut it out of the non-salted part. Salt is poison for birds. Their kidneys and liver cannot digest and excrete it, and therefore such a product will be certain death for a small creature.

It would seem that sunflower seeds are the most useful food for birds. But only if the seeds are raw. Roasted seeds are soaking up too a large number of fat and the gastrointestinal tract of birds cannot absorb it, causing poisoning, diarrhea and indigestion, which is very detrimental to most species.

What birds fly to the feeder in winter, and what bird will not appear at the feeder in winter?

When installing a feeder, you should be aware that it is always a source of debris. Therefore, there is no place for feeders on windowsills and balconies of houses (your neighbors may complain). It is best to install it on trees at a height where they will not be accessible to children who want to misbehave and knock it down (or add junk food).

It is possible that along with the "good-natured" birds, you will be able to notice "arrogant" thieves like crows, pigeons, magpies and jackdaws. However, most often they still eat in the feeders:

• sparrows
• Bullfinches
• titmouse
• Nuthatch
• Jays
• Goldfinch
• Crossbill
• pika
• waxwing

What is the best way to feed sparrows, titmice, bullfinches, woodpeckers, waxwings in the winter in the feeder?

If you can afford to buy bird food, then periodically do it in a pet store. There you can easily pick up food from a mixture of millet, oats, wheat and sunflower seeds. This food can be combined with dried rowan berries, slices of white bread (or breadcrumbs), animal fat and lard.

IMPORTANT: The feeder should be updated as the food is eaten. Do not pour too much food at once, because the birds very often empty themselves right during the meal and this spoils some of the food.

What birds eat mountain ash in winter?

The bright red rowan berries often attract birds. These berries, dried by a person and sprinkled in a feeder or left hanging on a tree, serve as food for:

• Ryabinnikov
• Drozdov
• bullfinch
• Waxwings

What cereal can be given to birds in the winter in the feeder? Is it possible to feed birds in the winter feeder with millet, corn, wheat, pearl barley, barley groats, buckwheat, oats, oatmeal, rice, oatmeal?

Groats are a satisfying, nutritious and healthy food for all granivorous birds. It can be sprinkled in raw and dry form, boiled, brought to half-cooked. It is important not to add salt to porridge during cooking, not to add sugar and spices, not to pour in oil (the exception is a small amount of natural animal fat: beef or chicken).

What cereal can be given to wintering birds:

• Buckwheat
• Millet
• Oatmeal (hercules, cereal)
• Perlovka
• corn
• Wheat

Is it possible to feed birds in the winter feeder with pumpkin, watermelon, sunflower seeds?

Saving melon seeds from summer is far from difficult when you eat watermelons, melons and pumpkins. To do this, they should be washed well with running water and dried in the sun from moisture. Such seeds are an excellent nutritious and healthy food for all wintering birds, because they contain dietary fiber and oils. It is easily digested and gives the birds a boost of energy for the winter.

Is it possible to feed birds in the winter in the feeder with crackers, bread, fresh lard?

As already mentioned, bread is not ideal food for birds, but acceptable. However, we are talking only about white and unleavened bread. It should be dried or crushed. It is also allowed to add white bread crackers to the feeder, hanging them on dense threads.

IMPORTANT: If you put pieces of raw, non-salted fat and meat in the feeders, it is also recommended to string them with beads so that the birds do not lose this food, do not drop it from the feeder, do not try to swallow whole, but pinch off piece by piece.

Video: "Wintering Birds"