Is it safe to feed bread to birds?

It's a common practice to toss a few scraps of stale bread to backyard songbirds. On the Internet you’ll see all kinds of advice about feeding bread to birds. But is this a good idea?

Absolutely not, says the Humane Society of the United States.

Bread is junk food for most backyard birds. White bread, whether fresh or stale, provides very little nutritional value. Songbirds' dietary requirements are not the same as humans'.

At this time of year, when the weather is frigid, birds require a lot of energy to survive, which means many nutritional calories. Days are often windy and cold; nights are even colder. The amount of daylight for foraging is at lowest. Birds need protein and especially a lot of fat. The amount of food intake varies by bird, and the quantity also depends on time of day, geographical location of season.

Small birds, such as chickadees and wrens, must eat their weight in food every day because of their higher metabolic rate, according to a study cited in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology. Perching and sleeping consumes half of their daily energy budget. The remaining energy is taken up with flying and foraging. 

Chickadees in particular are big energy consumers. Once they find a seed, they fly to a sheltered location to open the shell and eat the food. Then they must fly back for the next seed and repeat the process.

Carbohydrates are important to bird nutrition but not all birds can effectively digest fiber protein, the insoluble form of carbohydrates. Songbirds such as cardinals and finches have an enzyme that doesn’t break down high-fiber carbohydrates. Domesticated chickens and several "nuisance" birds—including starlings and House Sparrows—seem to be able to consume bread.

The best way to ensure that birds survive the winter is to offer them quality seed and/or suet. Both seed and suet have a high quantity of fat. Fat is very important to backyard songbirds’ diet, especially during the winter, for energy, heat insulation and flight. 

At this time of year, offer backyard birds a mixture of 50 percent black oil sunflower seed, 40 percent millet seed and 10 percent split peanuts and safflower. If you prefer not to have seed hulls in your yard, you can substitute shelled sunflower seed. If you live in a wooded area, increase the proportion of black oil sunflower.

You can mix the seed yourself or buy it commercially. The Bird House offers four seed blends that may fit the bill. Our Backyard Best is heavy on black oil sunflower seed, with a smaller amount of safflower seed and split peanuts. Backyard Medley consists of black oil sunflower seed with a combination of millet, striped sunflower seed and split peanuts. Backyard Conservation has relatively more millet plus cracked corn and less sunflower seeds. Shell-free Medley contains shelled sunflower, shelled millet and shelled split peanuts.

Suet is rendered beef fat. We offer an assortment of extra ingredients in the suet , as well as pure beef fat. These mixes are meant to appeal to specific birds, such as insect-lovers or berry-lovers.

Most every backyard bird will find something they will like from any of these blends of seed and suet. And, if you feed the birds throughout the year, you'll be rewarded with the sight and sounds of nature.