Birds love to eat bread! Pigeons on city streets, House Sparrows in the backyard, ducks at park ponds and lakes, and other birds gobble up bread.
They love it, and therein lies the problem! Bread is not the best food for birds. In fact, it’s one of the worst things they can eat.
Why Is Bread Bad For Birds?
A lot of birds do love their bread but it’s not the healthiest of foods. Us humans have similar challenges. Processed foods, fast foods, and other treats heavy on fat and sugar sure taste nice but they aren’t exactly good for you.
If we eat too much of that stuff, we are bound to develop all sorts of health problems. The same thing happens to birds that eat lots of bread. Species that enjoy bread like how it tastes and how it fills them up. The only problem is that this “fast food for birds” doesn’t provide them with nutrients.
Bread also lacks protein, minerals, and other types of nutrition that birds rely on. It may or may not give them a boost of sugar-based energy but won’t provide any other benefits.
Instead, bread ends up being much more harmful to birds, especially young birds. As fledglings grow, they require lots of protein and proper nutrition. Since they grow fast, they also have a brief window, where they must ingest the right types and amounts of food.
Otherwise, young birds can develop problems with their wings and other aspects of their physiology. Young waterfowl, in particular, are susceptible to developing “angel wings,” a defect that leaves them unable to fly!
Can it kill them?
Bread isn’t just bad for bads. It can also kill them! Birds that eat some fresh bread now and then might have some health issues but probably nothing serious. However, birds that eat fresh bread every day and little else will develop major problems.
It might take a few weeks or a month but they probably won’t survive. That’s no surprise, if a person ate nothing but bread and water, they wouldn’t last too long either!
Ducks and other waterfowl tend to be more at risk of eating too much bread than other birds. If they find an abundance of bread at the edge of a local park pond, or have people constantly offering them loaves of bread, it can be hard for ducks to say no!
Bread is easy food that fills them and probably also tastes good. The birds have no idea that they also need other sources of food and can reach the point of becoming sick and eventually die from poor nutrition. Not to mention, they can also end up choking on large pieces of bread.
Another potentially lethal problem with bread is when it gets wet and moldy. The moldy bread can cause respiratory problems as well as other diseases lethal to birds!
What to feed them instead?
It’s easy to feed extra bread to birds but we shouldn’t do it. As food for birds, bread just causes too many health problems.
Fortunately, we can still feed all sorts of birds other, far more suitable and healthy foods! Instead of giving bread to ducks at the local pond, feed them corn, oats, millet, and brown rice. They also love fruit and vegetables like melons, pears, berries, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and peas.
Bread doesn’t belong at the backyard feeder either. It’s tempting to put out pieces of bread for those backyard birds (I’ve done it, too), but instead, we should only give them real food. That would be sunflower seeds, millet, and other bird seed.
Bird seed mixes are what most backyard birds really want. That healthier bird food will also attract more species. To up the backyard bird species count even more, try orange slices and jelly for orioles and offer small cups of mealworms.
The mealworms could bring in warblers, bluebirds, and other species that don’t eat seeds. We can’t forget suet either! That classic backyard bird food is an excellent choice for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other birds that like energy-rich foods, especially in the winter months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can birds eat breadcrumbs?
Birds occasionally eat breadcrumbs, but it’s never good for them. Better choices are sunflower seeds and other types of bird seed.
Is moldy bread bad for birds?
Yes, moldy bread is bad for birds. It can make them sick and even end up killing them.
Can you feed multigrain bread to birds?
Multigrain bread is not good for birds; just like regular bread, it lacks necessary nutrients.