Peanut butter

I recently placed a large tablespoon full of peanut butter on one edge of the bird feeder. All the birds were afraid of it, landing, seeing it and leaving quickly. I assumed that they would get used to it, and a few would grab a bite from the far edge. Yesterday I noticed a steady stream of honey bees after the peanut butter. By this evening, almost all of it was gone, and several birds have returned, but still eye the place it had been. The bees will finish it early tomorrow. Do you suppose they like peanut butter and honey?

Trois,

I never have had a problem with bees when I put the Jif extra crunchy peanut butter on the old farm fence post. I've been doing it every day since December 2000. The birds love it and look forward to it being spread on it. Never have seen bees around it and/or on it.

Marilyn

Texas bees are stupid. I wonder about the birds.

LOL Trois!

I also like to smear a stripe of peanut butter along the trunk of some of the big old huge maples in our yard. The woodpeckers love that.

Caution: make sure any peanut butter you put out does not contain any salt.

Resin

I too plunked a big blob of extra crunchy on the feeder. Nary a taker, not even the bees. It just got shiny and hardish. Took it off this morning.

Thanks, Resin.

gardinglory, it must be a Southern thing. Usually the bees are not about this time of year.
Were your birds afraid of it?

Trois I guess it is what birds you have in your area and the abundance of food available. Here in the country I have made exactly one batch of suet 2 months ago and it is not gone yet. At my old place I made 5 lb every other week and used it all every winter. No takers in summer here or there. Many people put out oranges, all they do is mold on me. nothing touches them

Resin,

Yes, I wonder what the reasoning for no salt is, too....

I suppose too much can do damage, but some birds actually require some salt in their diets and I wonder how they work through that...'

Does anyone know of a good article about birds and sodium in their diets and which birds can't tolerate it at all?

I figure the birds around here aren't that desperate (it's been a fairly easy winter so far), and if the salt in the PB were bad for them they wouldn't eat it... our birds mostly get Jif or Skippy (big jars from Sam's Club), but last winter they ate their way through a dozen or so jars of store-brand PB that I bought on clearance.

BTW, the thread stayed over in the Wildlife forum after the split, but if you're interested in feeding PB or suet mixtures to your birds, here's a fun DIY project -- making a bird feeder from the stump of your Christmas tree! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/680583/

Yes! I love your suet Christmas tree feeder.

Everytime I drive by a Christmas tree by the curb I think they should do what you did!

Can you tell I am thinking of you often?! LOL

Critter that is a really great idea for the suet feeder

Sorry, been forgetting to watch this thread!

Problem is, that most birds, apart from seabirds and some shorebirds, don't have any special mechanism for excreting salt the way that people do. Their natural diet is very low in salt content, with the result that they adapted to store any salt they do get, and with too much salt, it can quickly build up to dangerous levels. Small amounts of salt do not matter, but many condiments sold for human consumption (e.g. salted peanuts, and some, but not all, peanut butters) are made with very high salt amounts to suit human tastes.

Resin