Bird sitting on apple, impaled on fur tree

3 JUNE 2019

Do birds eat apples

Did you know you can feed wild birds apples that we mortal humans consume, with valuable nutrition's the bird crave and absolutely need for a healthy life.

You're able to feed wild birds visiting the garden ripe, juicy apples; options are cutting it in half well sitting them on top of the bird feeder, or impale a whole apple onto a branch to secure it in place. Not a suitable solution for small birds, but the crows are sure to eat apples this way.

Fruit, therefore apples are a good source of vitamins for wild birds visiting your garden, and a preferred food for all breeds of birds.

And while this might tempt the small, colourful birds we hope to tempt into our garden, be aware a nearby crow or starling may stop by for a bite.

Readily available all year round, apples are a cheap source of natural bird food and would make a change from seeds, peanuts and fat balls.

Though be aware you should always have a number of common bird feed available on the feeder or hanging off the station pole.

Eat whole or sip apple juice

Depending on the birds eating habits, they may do one of three things well eating the apple; eat it whole (skin too); sip the apple juice; or just peck at the soft flesh.

Larger birds such as Crows will likely peck at the apple to penetrate the skin to reach the juicy white flesh part.

Well small birds; Blue Tits, Robins, Martins - may have a desire for the soft centre only, therefore you'll need to cut an apple in half for them to access it with ease.

Delicate, smaller birds may not have it in them to peck through an apples tough skin, so it would be wise to help them along by cutting an apple in half.

Cut in half or whole

This is absolutely up to you but it would be a good idea to cut an apple in half and rest it on the bird feeding table - and then sit back see how they behave.

Selecting a fresh juicy apple to cut in half would be ideal as it makes it even more easy to tackle for all types of large and small birds.

Well keeping the apple whole would be tough to penetrate and difficult to rest on the feeder, therefore it would have to be impaled on a tree branch or pole.

Cut apple in half

How often have you cut up an apple into several wedgies for you to eat yourself, and well we may do it for reasons that are less messy - its also highly convenient.

And that's also true for wild birds, they don't like to hang around long, and certainly don't have the time to peck through an apple to eat at the flesh.

So cutting in half speeds up the process, leaving them less vulnerable.

Try to avoid cutting an apple into several wedges as this would result to small, to light pieces that would be flung or simply picked up by larger birds before flying away.

Well those are the benefits, there are down side to this...

Cutting an apple in half would speed up the bruising process, leaving little time for the birds to feed before the apple goes rotten.

Whole apple

Make it quick and easy for them by leaving an apple whole, well they use there natural behaviour to find a way to feed.

Cutting an apple in half is a good compromise, well its to big to be lifted up and carried away, its also to heavy to be flung around, in theory mind.

But we can be sure the apple won't go anywhere as we leave it whole, its sure to be to large for small birds to takeaway, well larger birds would equally find it difficult.

Often they will try, but for the most part it won't leave the garden.

Apples are round, so this would result in it be hit around like a football, so where possible, impale it into something on the surface or pole that won't bring harm to them.

Nutrition's that benefit birds

Well feeding birds all types of common bird feed you may lay out on the feeder or throw on the ground would still be ideal all year round...

Make it an apple or two as often as you can.

Support there digestive system by leaving them the healthiest, freshest apples you can lay your hands on at the supermarket.

In turn they may revisit your garden more regularly as a thank you.

Apples contain all sorts of healthy vitamins and minerals, and well not a lot for people to consume, there's enough healthy vitamins for a single wild bird to last the day.

How to present apples to birds

No preparation has to go into feeding apples to wild birds, in fact just throw one or two on the ground should be significant enough to draw birds to feed on it.

Easy solution that has its problems, among them you may attract pigeons to the garden or starlings and crows, and would deter smaller birds from feeding on the apple.

And by throwing the apple on the ground, we can't always guarantee this would work.

Likewise, you're likely to attract unwanted bugs quickly.

So this is where preparing the apple may be required; so cut it in half or into wedges and then throw them on the lawn, then wait and see what happens.

Chances are small birds visiting your bird table may dive down to the ground to feed on the apple.

Apples on feeder, spike or branch

When you have a large wooden bird feeder available with a roof, then insert the apple whole or in half on the flat surface to see what results you get.

They may eat the half apples soft flesh or peck through into the whole apples hard skin.

If you only have a bird feeding pole station, then perhaps you could wedge an apple on top between the poles - again waiting to see how the birds behave.

If you don't have any sort of bird feeder in your garden, that's not a problem either.

We're sure you have an object around the garden that has a pole or spike attached, so why not wedge a whole apple or half of one on that.

Take care with anything to sharpe as it risks a bird impaling themselves if they dive down to quickly.

You could also use the tree branches or thick twigs protruding off the hedge.

You see branches or twigs make for sticking on the apple on a diagonal or horizontal position easy, well a branch protruding upwards would be ideal too.

To Summarise

To answer your question, do birds eat apples? Yes they 100% do, and absolutely love them to, the fresher the better.

And well you sit back and wait for the birds to feed, try to leave out an apple for only a short while in the time it takes for them to feed and leave.

It doesn't take much time for apples to bruise and rot - under 30 minutes - so pick a time in the morning you're sure the swarm of birds visit your garden.

Once they have left, you should remove the old one and leave out a fresh one, but not before using water to wash away the rotten bits and sticky apple juice.

Cut it in half or leave it whole, you can lay an apple on the ground but you should take advantage of your bird feeder, or use the natural feeding platforms in your garden; such as impaling an apple on a spike or tree branch.