Linseed is seen as a silver bullet in the eyes of some. It offers a number of nutrients and some call it one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet. Eating this food may help to lower your risk of developing a stroke, heart disease, cancer and even diabetes. It was cultivated many centuries ago, as early as 3000 BC and has been popular ever since. If you’re feeding yourself this great food then you may be considering feeding it to your pets, like your birds,  and you may be asking yourself ‘can birds eat linseed’ well, this article looks into it. 

Birds can definitely eat linseed, linseed is high in omega 3 fatty acids. These are good fats that human and bird bodies need. The seeds help keep the bird healthy during moulting and the high-fat content of these seeds also help to create fat reserves on the bird’s body for winter.

Can birds eat linseed?

Linseed contains a number of beneficial nutrients such as sodium, potassium, protein, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin A, cobalamin and vitamin B6. One reason linseed is so loved is because it contains insoluble and solutes types of fibre. In addition, it contains omega 3 fatty acids which are healthy fats that the body needs. But can any of these be beneficial to birds? 

Birds can eat linseed, linseed is a small seed that both larger and smaller birds can eat. The smaller birds that linseed can attract include dunnocks, finches, goldfinches and sparrows. The oil in linseed is very valuable in birds that are moulting.

Linseed’s high oil content helps bring good fats into the bird’s body, the oil also helps maintain a healthy weight in the bird. The added fat on their bodies keeps them warm in winter and gives them energy for their day to day flying activities. Feeding birds linseed also boosts the bird’s metabolism. This in turn encourages birds to burn off their calories and this is how they are kept warm. 

In addition, if you are feeding your birds sunflower seeds then you need to feed them linseed as well. Sunflower seeds contain no omega 3 fatty acids, adding linseed to your bird feeder will give them a good dose of omega 3 fatty acids.

How to prepare linseed for birds:

For the seed to be properly digested by the bird it needs to be ground. These seeds are small and have very hard shells. Unlike humans, birds do not have teeth to grind their food with, neither do they have stomach juices strong enough to chemically digest the shells. Grinding the seeds before feeding your bird will allow the food to be digested properly and will prevent the food from going right through the bird 

Bird go crazy for seeds, if you let them feed freely they’ll fill up on them and eat nothing else. Although this food is good for birds they need other foods to maintain a healthy and well-rounded diet. 

In general, if you allow them to eat too many foods then you’ll end up with some very cubby birds. The high-fat content of linseed is the type that can give your birds heart disease, obesity and high cholesterol so it’s best to keep an eye on how much they’re eating 

The correct amount of seeds will be a couple of seeds ground up and sprinkled over their food three times a week. Add the seeds to their diet in the morning so they get their portion in early in the morning. 

What other seeds can you feed birds?

Birds love seeds and seeds are great for birds, seeds should make up a good portion of the bird’s diet. In addition to linseed, birds should also eat sunflower seeds, peanut seeds, milo or sorghum seeds, canary seeds, golden millet, red millet seeds, flax seeds, white proso millet seeds and thistle seeds 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, yes birds can eat linseed, in fact, feeding birds linseed is a great way to get omega 3 fatty acids into the bird’s body. It helps with moulting and gives them energy for the day and fat reserves for the winter. When feeding birds seeds grind or crush them beforehand to ensure that the birds can digest them. Birds can also eat other seeds such as sunflower seeds, peanut seeds, milo or sorghum seeds, canary seeds, golden millet, red millet seeds, flax seeds, white proso millet seeds and thistle seeds 

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