The growing demand for bird feed has led to an expanding market, with an estimated 60,000 tonnes of bird food purchased annually. However, not all bird food is created equal, and experts now warn that some inexpensive options can be “hazardous and can attract rats,” putting both your garden and the birds at risk.
Lucy Taylor, an expert from Vine House Farm Bird Foods, explained why buying cheaper bird food can ultimately be a false economy. While these budget-friendly options may appear to offer value for money, they often lack the nutritional quality needed to attract a diverse range of birds. In fact, many cheap seed mixes are filled with ingredients like wheat and red dari, which offer little nutritional value for songbirds and are often ignored by them.
These low-quality mixes can harm bird populations for more reasons than one would expect.
“The poor quality and lack of suitable ingredients in cheap bird food can end up being hazardous to garden birds, plus attract unwanted visitors like rats,” said the specialist.
Birds may reject the low-quality seeds, leaving them to fall to the ground, which not only leads to wasted food but also decaying leftovers, which can pose a serious health risk to the birds.
While easy to forget about if it’s in the garden, rotting food can carry harmful bacteria and lead to fatal diseases that affect bird populations.
This discarded food can also attract rodents, particularly rats, who are drawn to the easy access to food readily available on the ground.
“The other major issue with dropped food on the ground is that it can attract rodents and notably rats,” explained Taylor
“Rats are most active at night, but their presence can often be detected first thing in the morning if the dropped food has suddenly disappeared overnight.”
The presence of rats can cause further damage to your garden, not to mention the risk of spreading disease.
Even fat balls, a popular choice for winter feeding, are not exempt from this issue. Cheaper fat balls are made with low-quality ingredients and filler materials like sand or sawdust, which are far less nutritious for birds.
“More expensive high-quality products will have a high-fat content which is blended with ingredients such as peanut flour,” Taylor noted.
