Good diy food mix for baby sparrows

[DaveJ]

We used to have sparrows and then suddenly they just seemed to disappear overnight. It was at that point you realise you just take them for granted. However after about a gap of two years they have now returned to the area which is brilliant. The sparrows absolutely love their millet, sunflower seeds and fat. Try also feeding robins with rolled oats, they target these and seem to ignore everything else.

[Suky]

Found egg food at my local Pets at Home plus some live meal worms, got the oats and peanut butter so will get mixing and put some mealworms out for their tea
ETA: the sparrows are a bit suspicious of the mix but the dunnocks love it while the starlings have nabbed all the mealworms There are some happy nestlings around tonight

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

Found egg food at my local Pets at Home plus some live meal worms, got the oats and peanut butter so will get mixing and put some mealworms out for their tea
ETA: the sparrows are a bit suspicious of the mix but the dunnocks love it while the starlings have nabbed all the mealworms There are some happy nestlings around tonight

Oh yes, you just reminded me. Blackbirds, starlings etc will rob this food from the littleuns, so what I do sometimes is put the tub of feed on ground/ birdtable and invert a wire frame hanging basket over it so only small birds can get inside. Great to hear youre helping out.

[Suky]

Our local starling population has dropped too so I am quite happy for them to have their share. Had to laugh at one starling - think 'puffin with beak full of sand eels' and move to starling with beak full of mealworms, still trying to pick up more
The dunnock pair must have fed their babies a good tablespoon of the mix this evening and the sparrows tested it too. Plenty more in the fridge for tomorrow.
Thank you for this recipe, so inexpensive yet hopefully so effective.

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

Fantastic. By the way, the egg food could be fed without the other ingredients, and be slightly more nutritious. I just added the oats and peanut butter to make it more economical. Sometimes I use Weetabix instead of oats and they like that too. Ave fun.

[SueA]

We've got lots of fledgling sparrows & dunnocks in the garden at the moment & also blackbirds & woodpigeons nesting. I throw out handfuls of mealworms & have peanut & seed feeders & fat balls (bought & homemade) & I can safely say the sparrows will eat absolutely anything! I bought some 'Bill Oddie' branded 3in1 seed for £1 from Poundland the other day, it had 25% extra free & is going down a treat.

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

We've got lots of fledgling sparrows & dunnocks in the garden at the moment & also blackbirds & woodpigeons nesting. I throw out handfuls of mealworms & have peanut & seed feeders & fat balls (bought & homemade) & I can safely say the sparrows will eat absolutely anything! I bought some 'Bill Oddie' branded 3in1 seed for £1 from Poundland the other day, it had 25% extra free & is going down a treat.

Yes, they will eat most things, but my point was a feed they could give to nestlings. For that, moisture content is important, as the babies cant drink water. In nature the parents would grind seed in their gullet , drink some water, then take the sloppy stuff to babies. By making the wet food mix it saves them lots of energy and they sucessfully rear more chicks each season.
Great to hear youre helping out.

[Suky]

Why is it I never have my camera to hand when I need it? Today we had a parent starling with 4 fledglings all in a row on the path by the food mix being fed and doing the starving baby act. The poor parent could hardly keep up but at least he/she didn't have to fly back and forth.

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

Why is it I never have my camera to hand when I need it? Today we had a parent starling with 4 fledglings all in a row on the path by the food mix being fed and doing the starving baby act. The poor parent could hardly keep up but at least he/she didn't have to fly back and forth.

Great stuff. Keep your camera handy, theyll be back, as will sparows when they fledge.

[Currysniffa]

Cool will try this food mix, my hedge is full of nesting sparrows and its costing me a bomb in seed

Cheers