Nesting season is upon us and this brings some added nutritional needs for our backyard birds. According to a study by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, female birds must have a daily source of calcium during nesting season because they don’t store enough for their needs. Mother birds need calcium to protect their own bone health, to produce healthy eggshells for their chicks (eggshells are about 95% calcium) and to produce healthy bones for their chicks.
Here at the store we offer a wide selection of foods that contain calcium:
• No Mess Plus Blend bird seed
• Nesting SuperBlend™ bird seed and seed cylinders
• Tree Nutty Plus bird seed
• Bark Butter and Hot Pepper Bark Butter®, Bark Butter® Bits, Bugs & Bits™, Bark Butter® Plugs, Bark Butter® No Melt Cylinders and QuickBites™
• SuperSuet™ and Hot Pepper SuperSuet™ cakes and cylinders
There’s another way to offer calcium to your birds that you might find fun. Feed them eggshells! If you are cooking eggs, just hold onto the shells instead of throwing them away. But, before you put them out for the birds wash them thoroughly with warm water, then put them on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven for at least 20 minutes at 350 degrees. This will sterilize the eggs and prevent salmonella contamination. After the eggshells are baked, just smash them up and put them out in a tray feeder or on the ground.
Whichever way you provide the calcium your birds need during nesting season, you can rest assured you have helped keep mama birds healthy and helped them raise healthy chicks!
