You have cupboards of leftover frosties because the kids have found a tasty alternative and instead of throwing them out you want to know, can birds eat frosties?
The simple answer is birds should not eat frosties because they’re high in sugar. If there’s a few left at the bottom of the box then you could put them on the bird table as a ‘one off’.
Do not make frosties or any other type of high sugar cereal part of any bird’s diet.
Is Frosties Good for Birds?
Can I Soak Frosties to Remove the Sugar for Birds?
Should you try and attempt to remove the sugar you can soak the flaked corn pieces in water and this will help remove the sugar coating. You will though, have a mushy mess of soggy frosties on your hands to sort out.
However, by soaking the flakes in the water you still don’t know how much sugar is still contained within the flaked corn pieces and how much you’ve actually removed.
Secondly, you have the problem of drying the soggy flakes which aren’t that difficult to do as they can be spread out on a baking tray in the refrigerator or on a low heat in the oven.
This method above will help to dry the flakes out but as I said above, the high sugar content isn’t good for birds and you still don’t categorically know how much sugar still remains on the flakes.
What are Frosties made from?
Here’s a quick list from the highest content first to lowest content last.
The ingredients listed in order of amount used are milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, whey, nonfat dry milk, cocoa (processed with alkali), guar gum, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, carrageenan, calcium sulfate, disodium, phosphate, artificial and natural flavouring, vitamin A palmitate.
Many of these ingredients are dairy and unnatural and certainly something that birds would not come into contact in the wild. Here’s a little more detail below.
Milk & Birds
Dairy isn’t ideal for birds and although it’s not ‘toxic’ to them, generally birds should not have dairy because milk contains lactose and birds cannot digest it. Lactose can also cause diarrhoea in birds.
Sugar & Birds
For birds to digest sugar they must be able to secrete sucrases. Robins and other small birds especially have problems digesting sucrose and therefore, sugar will cause diarrhoea to birds, as can milk.
Whey, Cream & Dried Milk & Birds
Whey, cream, and milk are all class as dairy and as mentioned above will cause diarrhoea as birds are generally lactose intolerant. Whey is a liquid that remains after milk has curdled and strained and is a by-product of cheese or casein.
If you’re looking for something to feed the birds that’s in your kitchen then check out a few of the articles listed below.