Feeding wild birds yes or no

[mistyfeather]

for the most part wild birs are healthy ive been an avid bird watcher for going on 20 years now! you wont have any problems.
things to watch for 1.) news headlines about sick birds found in your are (very rare!) 2.) a dead bird on the ground (does not nesisarily mean it was sick when it died) just remove it thro it away or call animal controll they will usualy come out and remove it. 3.) if you have noticed several dead birds in the same area with in a short time call animal control they will run tests, they will run tests on any dead bird you find. usualy the dead birds you find on the ground are injured by cats, dogs and left there. some will fly into cars along roads and continue to fly untill they fall due to ingeries.
remember to wash feeders every month, wash hand befor and after you feed them or handle the feeders and/or your chickens too, as wild birds can pick up colds and such from your birds as well! so good clenliness is key to prevention!

 

[Reinbeau]

Feeding the wild birds came first around here, long before the chickens. The wild birds go into the run and eat what they leave. The chickens free range, there's no keeping the two separate, so I'm not going to worry about it. No signs of worms, lice, etc. We must have really clean wild birds around here

 

[mistyfeather]

wild birds are naturaly verry clean! they even know the best places for a good dust bath to keep away mites and lice, infact if you dont keep a clean bird bath they wont use it!

 

[lorrir]

Last winter I had a mouse problem in the house. I went to Lowes and bought some mouse poison and a 25lb bag of wild bird seed. I got my purchase home and felt like I looked at the items for the first time. I was feeding birds and killing mice? Why?

It became a moral dilemma I discussed with my DH. Did I have the right to kill one animal and feed another. Really a minor thing, everyone kills mice. Well I didn't use the mouse poison, I bought mice cubes instead. They are cubes that the mice go into and they you can release them. Well I put a couple in my pantry and a couple near the dog food. I thought I would know when I caught a mouse so I wasn't diligent about checking the traps. I found four dead mice when I actually checked. Uggggggh.

Now every time I buy birdseed I think about dead mice. Not relevant to this thread but I guess I'm still feeling guilty about the mice.

 

[ChickenToes]

We have too many bears around to put up a bird feeder. Also, some of the birds in my area, like pine siskins, can carry salmonella, so I don't really want them too close to my flock anyway.