Peanuts to help your garden birds survive and thrive
Peanuts are one of the very best and most energy-dense natural foods to offer your garden birds. Loved by many birds, including blue tits, great tits, coal tits, woodpeckers and nuthatches, they are a fabulous addition to the avian diet and a great support to health and wellbeing. Here’s how:
Rich in energy
1 – Peanuts are made up of around 50% fat and 25% protein, making them a wonderfully high calorie food.
2 – Helps birds to keep warm by burning lots of calories in the winter.
3 – Provides extra energy for nesting and rearing chicks in spring.
4 – Allows our birds to build fat reserves to withstand the rigours of migration or colder weather.
Great source of nutrients
1 – Provides healthy oils for feathers and skin.
2 – Packed with protein for muscle and feather growth.
3 – Possesses Vitamin E and other antioxidants to support the immune system.
Perfect for rearing young
1 – Parent birds can feed crushed peanuts – such as granules - to their young.
2 – Whole peanuts can be a choking hazard for nestlings, so always feed peanuts in specific mesh peanut feeder that only allows small fragments to be removed.
Attractive to a wide range of garden visitors
Peanuts can prove incredibly tempting to a wide range of garden birds, including tits, nuthatches, siskins, woodpeckers, robins and wrens.
Important safety points when feeding peanuts
Here are a few handy tips to support your bird-feeding activities:
1 – Only buy aflatoxin-tested peanuts.
2 – Be mindful of the choking hazard posed to young birds by peanuts, so always use a wire mesh feeder.
3 – Always keep feeders clean and dry, and replace peanuts regularly to avoid them becoming mouldy.
4 – Position feeders away from ambush hotspots such as shrubs and hedging where cats can hide.