The Unlikely Kitchen Scrap That Will Have Birds Flocking To Your Yard

Birds bring a host of benefits to the garden. They add bright plumage and cheerful song, they can be an educational resource for your kids, and they do a great job of dealing with pests like beetles, aphids, and mosquitos. There are lots of ways to attract birds to your yard, and providing them with a source of food they can rely on is high on that list. There are a number of things from the kitchen you can give them, and one unlikely scrap that you might normally toss away can have them flocking to your yard: pastry dough.

Baked goods in general are not good for birds. While birds may eat them quickly, they don't offer much nutritional value. However, plain pastry dough — raw or cooked — is acceptable as long as it's not too salty or sweet. It should be made with butter, lard, or suet, which all provide a high-energy boost. Pastry dough that's made with vegetable-based products should not be given to them.

Raw pastry may be difficult for the birds to peck apart, so it will help them if you chop it up into small pieces. While you're in the kitchen, there are also numerous DIY seed recipes you can try that can attract a wide variety of our feathered friends.

It's important that you don't try to feed uncooked bread or pizza dough to birds. They contain yeast, which can swell up in the bird's crop or stomach, blocking their digestive system. The yeast itself may also become toxic. In fact, it's best to avoid feeding bread to birds altogether. It fills them up but doesn't provide any proper nourishment, and they just waste precious energy processing it. Moldy bread can also cause respiratory issues in birds.

Pastry dough may be an unlikely way to attract birds, but it can be worth trying after your next baking session. It's another addition to the mix of foods that will attract a range of bird species. There are also plenty of ways to make DIY bird feeders, so you've always got plenty of places to offer the food to them.