Newbie and confused

[anthonyjames]

After reading through many, many, many posts I find myself more confused then ever.

I am all about doing the same for my birds as I do for my my family, dog and 3 cats. We have about 10 square foot gardens ranging from 2 x 4 to 4 x 8 in size, we compost 99% of every thing we use and so on.

When it comes to feeding the birds I know we can give the compost scraps as far as food.

What about espresso grounds?

When giving them seeds/nuts do you leave the shells on?
sunflowers, peanuts, etc...

For the corn I know or read they like it uncooked and wet best or thought I did.
But for the corn that has been dried must it be cracked or can it be whole?

Do feed stores sell these things cracked, shelled and so on? I have yet been able to find a feed store around by me in Port Washington, WI.

Thanks for all advice from all of these forums.

 

[georgialee]

Don't really know the answer to many of those, but I just bought a bag of scratch from our local co-op and it's corn and wheat. The corn is cracked. The bag is 20# and was only around $5. I usually mix some bird seed and oats with the scratch.

I would use your espresso grounds for your compost pile - coffee grounds are great for gardens!

You can leave the hulls on smaller seeds like sunflower, etc. That's why chickens eat small pebbles so they can grind i t after they eat it. As far as peanuts go I would guess it should probably be shelled. Just remember that chickens CAN choke so watch the size.