You know calcium is good for you. Did you know it's good for birds too? Birds need calcium. It's as simple as that.
And their need for this essential mineral is greatest right now, during nesting season.
Egg-laying females need calcium to help form strong eggshells. Even after laying eggs, female birds need calcium to replenish what she's lost in the process. Chicks need calcium to help form strong bones.
In nature, the food birds eat typically doesn't have enough calcium for their needs, so they seek out other sources. They pick at animal bones or shedded deer antlers to get supplemental calcium. Some get it by eating eggshells of other birds. Many birds get calcium from mineral deposits in dirt.
Without sufficient calcium, birds many not lay as many eggs as normal and those they do lay may have thinner shells. Chicks without enough calcium may have skeletal abnormalities.
Birds seek out calcium.
If birds have a choice between two foods that are identical in every respect except calcium, egg-laying females and juvenile birds will select a CALCIUM-RICH food more frequently.
When given the opportunity, birds often consume concentrated calcium sources, especially towards the end of the day as they are forming the egg they'll lay the next day.
Wild Birds Unlimited has foods with calcium.
Wild Birds Unlimited has a wide variety of birdfoods with added calcium to help your birds get the calcium they need during nesting season. Offering calcium-rich foods will help supplement the dietary needs of birds in your yard and may help them have more healthy babies. It could also help you see greater activity at your birdfeeders in the evenings, as they consume calcium-rich foods for overnight egg formation.
- PB&J Suet Dough Cakes (seasonal)
- PB&J Suet Plugs (for suet log)
- PB&J Suet Dough Stackable
- Bark Butter
Stop in Wild Birds Unlimited to talk to one of our Backyard Birdfeeding Specialists today about the calcium-added birdfood that will work in your yard this nesting season.