This job is for the birds

Seriously my job really is for the birds. My family owns the wild bird center in Covington,la. We cater to backyard birds, selling feeders, houses, bird baths, and seed. So on that note here's a few tips on backyard bird feeding. I like to remind people that even though it's cold outside and in some places below freezing that you always want to keep your bird baths full. I know what bird in its right mind would want to take a bath in the freezing cold water? Well the birds do actually take baths in the winter on a regular basis. They do this so that their feathers can stay clean, because let's face it, like us, no bird wants to be around another bird that has birdie b.o. :) seriously though the cleaner their feathers the better they can insulate themselves from the cold weather and stay warm. If you're in one of those areas that gets snow you certainly don't want a frozen bird bath. So to keep your bird bath from freezing you can buy a bird bath heater. The heater works pretty much the same way a fish tank feeder works and is submersible. The other good thing to have on hand year round is a water wiggler. The wiggler keeps the water moving which is benificial in a couple of ways. 1) birds are attracted to moving water, 2) it keeps the mosquito population down. Don't want the Mosquitos to think your bird bath is the perfect breeding ground. 3) it helps keep algae from growing as quickly in your bird bath. Even if you don't usually get below freezing temps and snow often these are good to have in the winter so that your bird bath becomes a hot tub for the birds to enjoy:) they already think they're dinning at a fine restaurant when they come to your feeders so why not give them the full spa treatment as well?
 Now that I've mentioned feeders, here's some tips on feeding your birds.

The basics of bird feeding: 1) always make sure the seed you buy for your birds is fresh. You wouldn't eat stale potato chips would you? Well neither will your birds. The best way to tell If your seed is fresh is to note the color of your seed. For example with black oil sunflower seeds, the seeds should be black and shiny. The shinnier they are the fresher they are. If you grab a bag and the seeds are grayish looking or really dusty they're too old and the birds will turn their Little beaks up and you'll be stuck with either a mess of uneaten seeds on the ground or a feeder full of untouched seeds and no one will be happy.

2) look for bags of seeds that don't have a lot of sticks, stems, and other debris, in other words "trash" . Some seed companies have trash in the seed bags because the seed is sold by weight and the trash adds weight. So just because you buy a 20lb bag of seed for let's say $10.00 opposed to a 20lb bag of seed for $20.00 doesn't mean you're getting a deal. If that $10.00 bag of seed has a lot of trash in it you may actually only be buying a 5 or 10lb bag of seed and not a 20 lb bag.

 3) read what's in your birdseed. If the bird seed you buy says it has milo (a hard reddish seed slightly larger than millet) in your seed mix you might as well by pass that bag all together. Milo is a seed that no birds or even squirrels will touch. Milo is strictly used as a filler seed and is again used to add weight to the bags.

 4) ALL BIRDS LOVE PEANUTS!!! Even the smallest chickadee loves peanuts. A great blend of bird seed is one that has black oil sunflower seeds and peanuts. The sunflower seeds can be in shell or just the sunflower hearts or shelled. And the peanuts can be either split or whole and in the shells. Most blends with peanuts will have the peanut splits or shelled peanuts. And let's not forget to cater to our doves and smaller birds who like millet or our cardnials who like safflower seeds. You can even buy blends with fruit  in them to give the birds a treat.

I hope these tips have been somewhat helpful and will be posting more about the birds soon.