The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

suet

Garden Gate: Episode 29 – Keeping birds warm during the winter

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CHEX Air date: Friday January 10th, 2014

Click here to view this episode of The Garden Gate.

We have been having some extremely cold weather conditions since late November this year. ?Ice storms, strong wind conditions and high snowfall mean food sources are covered. Birds need to eat almost constantly during the day to retain enough energy through our long winter nights. Here are a few things you can do to help.

SuetFeeder 7506FOOD
Keep feeders full. Birds are more attracted to feeders that are full. ?They can see the seed and then know that it’s worth their while to visit your restaurant.

Keep feeders clean. If seed gets frozen or some moisture gets into the feeder, the seed may not dispense properly or it may go moldy or rancid. Checking your feeders often and changing seed regularly is very important. ?If birds seem to be ignoring your feeders, it may be that the seed is bad or jammed inside the feeder.

Provide lots of peanuts for extra energy. Whether in the shell or out of the shell. Birds love peanuts! Peanuts are a favourite for Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Chickadees. Even cardinals like peanuts! Click this link to visit our website to see some peanut and suet feeders.

Suet is also an excellent food source through the winter. Make sure that you get good quality suet without filler such as cornmeal and millet.? Suet with cornmeal can get moldy easily as the cornmeal holds moisture. Avoid cornmeal. The more fat, peanuts and sunflower seeds the better!

winterroostphoto_s5SHELTER
Besides food you can also provide shelter. We carry this roosting box. Birds will crowd together inside the roosting box to share energy. If you’re going to make a box yourself, it’s similar to a bird house, but there are no ventilation gaps. This allows the space to warm up as the birds huddle together.

Birds will also huddle together in the branches of coniferous trees like spruce, pine and cedar. Plant coniferous trees next spring and put your feeders close by so the birds can go back and forth between the tree and the feeder.

Note: Cardinals love cedar trees!

heated bird bath with waxwingsWATER
Heated bird baths are great in the winter. They keep the water just above freezing and birds flock to this easily accessible water source. You don’t need to worry if they bathe, because their feathers will move the water away from their bodies. They need to keep their feathers clean of dust, dirt and insects. ?Their bodies are also warm so the water evaporates before it can freeze. It?s important to keep birds well fed so they are generating energy to help keep their body temp up.

Birds can melt snow in their mouths, but it takes a lot of extra energy to do that, so they prefer and open water source. If there is no other open water source near you, you’ll be surprised at how many birds you’ll see at your bath!

Garden Gate: Episode 21-Suet and Peanut Feeders

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fatball-feeder-ring-bCHEX TV air date: Fri. Sep. 20th, 2013

Click here to view this episode of ?The Garden Gate.

Blue Jays, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and many other birds love peanuts and suet.? Even cardinals! The peanuts and suet give them the extra carbohydrates they need to stay warm through the long winter nights.

There are a variety of feeders in which you can offer peanuts. Peanuts in the shell work nicely in the wreath feeders or other feeders with large openings.? These feeders offer some challenge to the bird, making them take some extra time to get the seed out. This means you get a great look at the bird while he is struggling to pull the seed out or peck at it until the delicious kernel is retrieved.? You can also offer shelled peanuts which birds peck at through a mesh and get little kernels which they gobble down quickly.? Shelled peanuts are actually more cost effective and also less messy. No shells left behind to clean up!

Please buy fresh peanuts!? Old stale peanuts can go rancid and the bird will not eat them. Our seeds are the freshest you can get. Your birds will love them!

Suet can also be offered year round, providing that you choose good quality suet.? Poor quality suet will melt in the summer heat and also contains many types of filler that the birds don?t enjoy and will leave behind.? At The Avant-Garden Shop, we offer Millcreek bird food and also suet.? All of their suet is double rendered, which means it is very dense and doesn’t melt or fall apart easily. The Summer Nut suet is even thicker and will not melt even in our summer heat.

We also offer pure suet, which grackles and starlings tend to shy away from. It is their least favourite. It is a softer suet and will melt in high heat, so should only be offered late in the season and through the winter.

Upside down suet feederThere are a variety of suet feeders that hold the suet blocks. We have upside down suet feeders (Starlings dislike this style), feeders with tail props (which the Hairy woodpecker loves) and also the regular square cages. We have the cages for single suet cakes, two or even four suet cakes. ?We also have a suet log feeder which has holes in which you can push a special “peanut butter” type suet.

For the Christmas season we also offer solid seed wreaths, suet ?acorns? and other fun items that you can give as a gift to the person who wants little or nothing.? It?s a ?gift for the birds!?

 

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