Can Birds Eat Weetabix?

Weetabix is a beloved breakfast cereal around the world. Countless kids get excited about this unusual breakfast option—and as any parent knows, they sometimes also get tired of it and move on to something else!

When you’ve got leftover Weetabix languishing in the cupboard, you may look out at the bird table in the garden and wonder: can birds eat Weetabix?

Most of us dislike wasting food from our kitchens, and the opportunity to provide a tasty treat to hungry wildlife is always preferable to throwing good food away. With this in mind, let’s find out whether it is safe to feed Weetabix to birds, and whether Weetabix is a healthy snack for birds to eat.

What Is Weetabix?

Weetabix was first sold in the United Kingdom in 1932, although its inventor was an Australian man named Bennison Osborne. This fortified wheat and malt-based breakfast cereal comes in the form of palm-sized briquettes that are usually consumed with milk. Those who prefer their breakfast a little sweeter might add sugar too.

Regular Weetabix, known as Weetabix Original, is low in sugar and salt and an excellent source of dietary fibre, folic acid, Vitamin B6, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B12. Together, these ingredients support essential bodily functions, such as building strong bones and ensuring the healthy division of cells.

However, it’s important to note that not all Weetabix products are created equal. The brand produces flavoured Weetabix products, including banana, chocolate, nut, and berry-flavoured breakfast options. These versions of Weetabix contain unhealthy additives and sweeteners.

Can Birds Eat Weetabix?

Having considered all the different types of Weetabix as potential bird foods, we can give Weetabix Original and Weetabix Organic a positive thumbs up as bird-safe treats.

However, due to unhealthy additives, we do not recommend giving flavoured types of Weetabix to birds.

Any Weetabix soaked in milk should also head straight for the bin rather than the bird table. This is because milk is toxic to birds.

How to Prepare Weetabix for Birds

Feeding Weetabix to garden birds couldn’t be simpler. You can either place a whole dry Weetabix briquette in your bird feeder or crumble it into your seed mix.

A Weetabix briquette will often fit very well inside a handing bird feeder designed to hold mealworms or seeds. Alternatively, you can just lay out your Weetabix at the bird table.

Whichever you decide to do, be sure to leave water nearby for hungry birds so they can wash down this very dry food.

Never Give Milk-Soaked Weetabix to Birds

You must never give milk to birds. The reason is that the digestive systems of birds don’t produce the enzyme lactase, which is essential for the digestion of lactose.

Milk is high in lactose, as are other un-fermented dairy products such as butter and cream. This makes these foods dangerous for birds to eat — consuming certain dairy products can even be fatal to a bird.

To learn more about this, we recommend reading our article on whether birds can eat cheese, which explains the difference between fermented dairy products and unfermented products.

In Conclusion

So, there you have it. Birds can eat Weetabix as long as it is the unflavoured Original or Organic version and no milk has been added.

Among all of the sweetened and artificially flavoured breakfast cereals out there, Weetabix is a healthy and wholesome option that is just as good for garden birds as it is for people.

Are you keen to know more about which other kitchen leftovers make safe additions to a bird-feeding station? Delve into the archive of articles here at Bird Spot for lots of ideas and tips