Can Birds Eat Apples?

 

DO BIRDS EAT APPLES?

The answer to that is a clear yes, in fact birds love apples. If you have a plantation of apples be sure to get visitations every now and then from the feathered folk. It is not only a pleasant fruit to their taste, it also gives them the much needed nutrients to go about their busy daily schedule in full health and vibrancy. 

WHAT KIND OF BIRDS EAT APPLES?

Birds that love to eat apples as their food include Eastern bluebirds, buntings, Gray Catbirds, House Finch, pine grosbeak, and cardinals.

It also includes the birds like American crow, downy woodpecker, grosbeaks, northern cardinal, purple finch, mockingbirds, and northern flicker but to be honest all most all birds love apples,  it all depends on the portion of the apple that they are attracted to, the smaller birds love the juice while the bigger birds will make do with the meat of the fruit. 

WHAT IS THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF APPLES TO BIRDS?

As the saying goes, “An apple a day keeps the doctors away”, hence aside from the sweat taste of Apples, its very nutritious to your feathered pet as well as the wild bird roaming the skies and street, it contains such nutrients such as below; 

Vitamin A

Apples contain both Vit A and Vit C . Vit A is good for the bird eyesight, its skin and feathers while Vit C helps the bird relieve stress while maintaining a healthy metabolic system.

Fibre

Apple has fiber in the skin of the apple and this helps birds with digestion.

Fat

Though apples contain very minute fat it still has fat, which is very important to the health of birds especially wild that are constantly exposed to the elements. 

Carbohydrates

Apples contain simple sugar, which provides the much needed energy to birds. 

Protein

An apple contains O.3g of protein for every 300g of apple, a nutrient which is needed for growth and cell repair. 

Magnesium

This nutrient is maintains the health of the bird’s brain, feathers, bone and muscle coordination.

Potassium

Potassium is a nutrient that will improve nerve function and reduce blood pressure.

Can and do Birds Eat Apples straight of Trees?

Yes of cause, they definitely can have their bites off apples hanging on trees. So if you have an apple farm, you need not even feed them by yourself, these birds especially the wild ones will go for the apples themselves right out off the tree, in fact foraging for their own food would be a welcomed challenge.

Ripening or no ripening is not going to stop a determined bird for having a bit off that tree, but you can, in order to save your nice apple tree, get a ripened apple, have it sliced and impaled on the tree back or pegging them to the branches. That way the birds while allow your apple fruits on the tree some space to ripen.

Birds can eat most of the apples except those with seeds and pits. It can cause serious damage to the birds if they eat seeds. So I would recommend that if you will have that apple impaled on a tree you have to remove all pits and seeds.

HOW DOES ONE FEED APPLES TO BIRDS?

The truth remains that it really depends of on the kind of bird, most wild birds will simply take the food of the ground as it is thrown at them, or from the tree. However this can have unintended consequences as other creeping things and bugs may also find their way to the juicy fruits and help themselves as well and constituting a nuisance while at it.  

You also might end up attracting the bigger and stronger birds like pigeons, or even the bad-guy crows, while chasing away the smaller birds. There is no way a smaller bird would want to be seen competing for a chunk of apples with these big guns. I wouldn’t myself! That is if I was a bird of cause.  But in all honesty it is for you to try out the methods first and see how it works out for you. 

You can use a bird feeder placed strategically on the roof that the birds can easily eat of it.  I would advise that it is sliced and the seed removed that way the birds can easily recognize the fruit

Chances are that small birds visiting your kept apple may dive down to the ground to feed on the apple.so try to remove sharp objects from the place where the fruit is placed so that the diving birds don’t get impaled in their quest for your juicy apple.

Apples and domesticated  Birds

Pet bird love to eat their food clean and hygienic so a feeding bowl would be in the right order so long as they are not allowed to stay there for too long.

Apples and Wild Birds

Having the apples cut into pieces and kept would be just right or you could cut them in half and have it placed on a pike or branch or even on the back of the tree.

IS IT SAFE FOR BIRDS TO EAT APPLES?

Apples are safe so long as the seeds are removed because the seeds are toxic to them, it contains amygdalin which is small amount of cardio-toxic cyanide, even though the amount cyanide contained in an apple seed is minute one can not be too sure how much of it will cause harm to that particular bird.

SUMMARY

Apples are very popular with human beings and very healthy for birds as well.  Birds love them fresh, so even when the apples have been served it must also not allow to rot. 

We all love our birds, and they deserve the best for the joy that they bring us. An apple is a great addition to the diet of a bird but care must also be taken in order to allow then inject the seeds along with the fruit.