Unusable gift for birds.......what to do?

[CathyA]

My very thoughtful SIL gave me 6 birdseed bells and a pack of suet bars, since she knows how much I like birds.
Problem is, they all contain stuff that is bad for birds.......milk, honey, salt. I'm not going to give them to the birds, and I wouldn't want to give it to anyone else to use.
I will thank her and not say anything. DH suggested waiting a few months and letting her know about what I learned about what you shouldn't add to birdseed. I'm not sure I feel good about that either. She probably feeds her birds bad stuff too. Just not sure how to handle this. She was so thoughtful to buy me this stuff, I don't want to make her feel bad.
Suggestions?

[razz]

Well, Cathy, watching the birds when it was -25C, I don't think that the birds will care as they are simply struggling to survive and as with people, any food is better than none. Can you dilute some of the dubious quality stuff with adding better food. Mix some peanut butter, corn meal mixture to black sunflower seeds and spread on the gifts before putting them out?

As for telling SIL about the quality of gifts, could you share in the summer some news flash that you read about the questions re quality of prepared bird and things to look for and avoid. Dollar stores are particularly bad for poorer quality items, in my experience anyway.

[creaker]

I would hold onto it as your DH suggested - but if there comes a time when the only options are putting bad food out and putting no food out (if you regularly feed, the guys out there may be dependent on what you put out), I'd put the bad food out.

[JaneV2.0]

I'd crumble the bells up and mix them with the good stuff. A little extra sugar or honey is probably helpful energy-wise in such a cold winter. Same with the suet. Clue her in on what you've learned later.