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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Cake. And birds.

53 replies

BrokenBritain · 21/01/2013 18:51

Ok I have a question. It is a little bit a thread about a thread, but am I being unreasonable to seek some clarification re bad cakes and birds?

I am an enthusiastic but untalented baker, and occasionally I've made a cake that not only looks like shite but tastes like it too. On these occasions I have binned the cake.

It never occurred to me that I should feed them to the birds ( we are v lucky we have birds where I live), I thought perhaps all that egg, sugar, chocolate, baking powder etc weren't very good for their digestive systems. Was I wrong? Does everyone else feed them to the birds? What about dogs, are they ok to eat cake? If I'm going to delight any creature with my cake castoffs I would probably rather it were my dog.

And if birds eat eggs does that make them a tiny bit cannibal?

Apologies for sidetracking from the more serious cake issues at hand, but am genuinely confused.

OP posts:
OcotoAlert · 21/01/2013 19:27

The birds don't get a look in.
DH is at it too quick :(

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 21/01/2013 20:03

Binky Granddad wasn't a woman as far as I know

thegreylady · 21/01/2013 20:03

Dont give the dog chocolate cake though-chocolate is bad for dogs.

GrimmaTheNome · 21/01/2013 20:16

The amount of chocolate in a chocolate cake probably wouldn't hurt a dog but probably best avoid giving it deliberately. Raisins though - good for birds, bad for dogs. Some of the RSPB foods contain raisins but have a little crossed out paw icon to denote its not dog-friendly e.g.here.

Glittertwins · 21/01/2013 20:38

I don't put any baking disasters in the garden (and there have been a fair few) as a) DH eats anything going and b) we have a vicious moggy who would kill any gourmand birds. Bit unfair on the the birds to think they are getting a treat when it will be their last meal.

Pandemoniaa · 21/01/2013 20:40

Hens like cake. They are neither fussed nor embarrassed about it being "well done".
Wink

Glittertwins · 21/01/2013 20:41

Nor am I. I am obviously a hen!

Virgil · 21/01/2013 20:42

My chickens had scrambled egg at the weekend

CheCazzo · 21/01/2013 20:44

My birds dine incredibly well! I bake every day - cakes, bread, scones - always at least two of those. It keeps me sane and the family happy. Sometimes there are leftovers or scraps - the birds get them and they are very content. I have crows, magpies, jays, thrushes, blackbirds, all the tits, pied wagtails, chaffinches - I think they're happy!

DoItToJulia · 21/01/2013 20:51

Arf Grin

Pendipidy · 21/01/2013 20:51

I see a lot of birds. Maybe its because some other people never see them. They have moved trees to be near me . Cos i feed them. Cakes . I would rather feed them than my husband as they are much more selective. They only eat fresh cake . Never condemned cake .

RubyGates · 21/01/2013 20:53

Baking fails have a heirarchy. A strict heirarchy.

  1. disguise by removing burnt/undercooked bit, decorate with icing / add fruit.
  2. turn into something else. eg: trifle
  3. leave around for OH to find (will eat nearly anything)
  4. Give to the local wildlife. (foxes, hedgehogs, crows, )
Isabeller · 21/01/2013 21:34

bad cakes

Shinyshoes1 · 23/01/2013 09:28

Regular crap chocolate isn't bad for dogs it ls the good stuff , the chocolate that very high in cocoa that's poisonous to them

ladymariner · 23/01/2013 10:21

My birds eat cat food, the fat off the bacon and I hang he chicken carcass up and they pick at that too......how evil are our birds Grin

OctoAlert · 23/01/2013 10:29

Our birds eat from the bird table next door.

While the local feline terror, from another house in the street altogether, sits on our side of the fence, waiting to pounce Hmm little shit

valiumredhead · 23/01/2013 10:38

Birds love cake crumbs! And old raisins, as I discovered this week.

GrimmaTheNome · 23/01/2013 10:42

In 'Danny the Champion of the World', Roald Dahl says pheasants adore raisins - their use in poaching is key to the story. I sort of assume this is true but have never been able to try it as we have a dog. Shame, sounds an easy way to get fresh pheasant

cheeseandchive · 23/01/2013 10:53

I think I have a bit of bird prejudice, I only want to feed the small, cute ones. Crows make me feel a bit sick.

PickledApples · 23/01/2013 12:34

Grimma I was just talking about that book yesterday! Get out of my head! Shock

SummerRainIsADistantMemory · 23/01/2013 13:06

our bin collection is only every 2 weeks so we don't throw any food waste into it as the stench gets appalling.

All food goes down the end of the garden 'for the animals'

We have some of the fattest magpies I've ever seen, foxes, hedgehogs, billions of birds, badgers, pine martens and as of last weekend a rabbit burrow which has been dug within 2 feet of the compost bin.

The only things which don't get eaten are oranges and mandarins for some reason, everything else is devoured.

On xmas eve i baked a loaf of bread, or rather forgot I was baking a loaf of bread, and ended up with a brick so hard if i'd dropped it it would have dented the tiles. I chucked it out for the animals and the magpies had a very enjoyable 2 days working on it.

GrimmaTheNome · 23/01/2013 15:14

Are you sure its rabbits? We had rats feasting on our compost bin having burrowed in underneath.

Envy Pine martens!

greenhill · 23/01/2013 15:29

summerrain as grimma says its probably rats accessing the compost bin. I had this when I'd put out of date / cracked eggs in my compost bin. Our neighbours had chickens, so the rats had a taste for them. The local cats chased and killed them though!

SummerRainIsADistantMemory · 23/01/2013 15:39

Nope not rats, we've had them too.... their tunnels are much smaller (and usually result in me being presented with a dead rat by the cats within 24 hours of appearing). This burrow is much bigger but the tunnel is too narrow for a fox or badger. It's very obviously been dug by something that is adapted for digging too, hard to describe but the whole bank around it has been scrabbled at and the entrance is largish, but the tunnel it goes into is small enough, about rabbit sized! Could be a stoat but i don't think they dig their own tunnels do they? We do have stoats and mink around too but haven't spotted them in the garden yet.

Our garden backs onto a meadow which is higher than our garden, there's a hedgerow between the two which has a bank on our side. lots of rabbits in fields around here and it looks like they've extended their burrows to open into our garden.

Grimma.... we have tons of conifer plantations around so the martens are fairly plentiful.

I'd love to put a camera out there but dp makes the Hmm face when i suggest it Grin

maddening · 23/01/2013 15:42

My dad avidly feeds anything possible to the birds.

We used to have breaky watching them go crazy for it every morning.

He also put our dead pet goldfish out on the bird table Shock :(