Can birds eat hazelnuts?

Nuts are a great addition to a bird’s diet. These tiny snacks offer good fats which ensure that your bird’s skin and feathers remain healthy and pretty. The energy content of nut is also high as they are high in calories, all this energy is needed for day to day activities. You can offer your bird many nuts but how but hazelnuts? This article looks into it.

You can definitely offer your bird hazelnuts. These nuts are chockfull of vitamins minerals, healthy fats and antioxidant compounds which will boost the health of any bird. These nuts will benefit birds as they will reduce inflammation, regulate their blood pressure, and decrease levels of fat in the blood.

Can birds eat hazelnuts?

You may have wondered if your backyard birds can eat hazelnuts. Well, the answer is yes! Like all nuts, hazelnuts come in tough shells but rest assured birds can fracture them to get to the nutritious nutmeat inside. The birds that lack a powerful bill to crack the shells get creative by dropping the nuts onto hard surfaces.

Hazelnuts are one of the favourite foods of birds. These nuts contain lots of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and antioxidant compounds. It’s a good thing to give wild birds this food as it helps to regulate their blood pressure, decrease blood fat levels, and reduce inflammation, among other things.

How to serve birds hazelnuts

When serving birds hazelnuts, you should offer them in a tray or nut feeder with holes large enough for birds to collect the nuts. You can offer them a few nuts at a time, or you can fill the feeder with lots of nuts to satisfy the many hungry birds in your backyard.

Experts advise that when feeding young birds hazelnuts, you should break up the nuts into smaller pieces so the birds don’t choke on them. In other words, don’t just place whole nuts in your feeder. Crush the nuts if you can to make it easier and safer for all birds.

Can birds eat any and all nuts?

Nuts are part of a bird’s natural diet in the wild. These animals will eat just about any nut they can find. Here’s a list of all the popular nuts that are safe foods for birds.

  • Almonds
  • Acorns
  • Brazil nuts
  • Beechnuts
  • Hazelnuts
  • Hickory nuts
  • Macadamia nuts
  • Pine nuts
  • Pecan
  • Peanuts
  • Walnuts

You can feed your pet bird or backyard birds any of the nuts mentioned above. The only time it isn’t safe to offer birds any one of these nuts, is when it is salted or seasoned. If a bird ingests a nut that is salty, it can cause serious health problems for the animal.

Is it ok to feed wild birds?

Feeding wild birds is a beautiful thing to do. However, it has its disadvantages. The survival of birds depends on how well they can source food in the wild on their own.

When a young bird receives food from humans daily, it starts to think it doesn’t have to look for food in the wild. By the time the bird reaches adulthood, it has grown accustomed to being fed by humans and lacks the necessary survival skill of food sourcing. If the human who offers food to the said bird moves to a new location, that bird might not survive since it knows little about food sourcing.

The same goes for all wild animals. Humans should feed these creatures but not all the time.

What should you not feed wild birds?

If you feed wild birds, it is essential that you know what items are harmful to the creatures. You should not offer wild birds the following foods:

Junk food: while junk foods like bread, doughnuts, and cookies aren’t toxic to birds, they offer very little nutritional value to the animals, so it is advised not to feed them such.

Spoiled seeds: always check your bird feeders for seeds that weren’t eaten. If you find any, take them out. When birds eat mouldy seeds, it makes them sick.

Salted foods: any edible item that contains salt is bad for birds. Always ensure the food you offer these creatures aren’t salty.

Dairy products: birds are lactose intolerant and can’t ingest any item that contains large amounts of milk. So it’s best to avoid offering birds milk or soft cheese.

Conclusion

In conclusion, birds can eat hazelnuts. These nuts offer a wide variety of vitamins and minerals which the bird will greatly benefit from. Birds will simply have to break through the walnuts hard outer shell.

You can feed the bird walnuts in a bird feeder along with other nuts. Just remember not to feed wild birds to an extent where they become dependent on you for food.

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Can birds eat cashews? Do birds have emotions? Can birds eat almond butter? Why do mother birds eat their babies poop? What do birds think of humans? Do birds mourn the loss of a baby?

Can birds eat hazelnuts?
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