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Warning - The Birds in Your Garden Could Be At Risk Of A-Salt
Warning - The Birds in Your Garden Could Be At Risk Of A-Salt
Recent plummeting temperatures, ice and snow have been making it increasingly difficult for birds to access food and water.
Redhill,
RI,
United States of America
(prbd.net)
06/03/2010
Many people have been trying to help out these freezing birdies by throwing them the odd leftover, perhaps, the scraps from a ready meal, or the fat leftover from Sunday's bacon sarnie. But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), are urging people to refrain from feeding garden birds leftovers as they could be filled with high contents of salt, which could cause our furry friends a multitude of health problems.
Not only are the birds at risk from eating too much salt, they could be drinking it too. To prevent bird baths from freezing over, some people have started adding salt thinking that they are helping the bids to keep hydrated, but sadly, this is doing them more harm than good.
There are, however, lots of options to keep your garden buddies in tip-top condition. You can still feed them some leftovers, but make sure that they are things like porridge oats, mild grated cheese or cooked rice and potatoes. And, if you do decide to feed them with bacon fat, ensure that it is unsalted, it’s better for you and the birds.
A spokesman from the RSPB said: "Salt can be very dangerous to birds, even in very tiny amounts because their bodies cant process it. Salt can also cause kidney dysfunction, so it is imperative that we leave it out of our feeding efforts."
And here are a couple of tips to help with a frozen bird bath.
To begin with, try adding lukewarm water, it will help prolong the time it takes to freeze over. Keeping the water moving also helps it from freezing over too quickly, so, try dropping in a ping pong ball, cork or even just a twig in it.
By following these simple guidelines once spring has sprung, your garden will be flourishing with flocks of healthy and happy birds.
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