When I lost my job I got a big cheap bag and it was a huge mistake. I just had to put bird food in my budget. I eat out less to feed my birds. They bring so much joy
Being on a fixed income, I've learned to shop around. Especially since I live in the middle of nowhere. I've found that Best Choice Songbird (sunflower seed, millet, safflower seed, peanut pieces, fruit pieces) is a decent deal at around $8 for seven pounds, or around $10 for ten pounds. The close second is Best Choice Gourmet Trail Mix (sunflower seeds, millet, cracked corn, peanut pieces, safflower seed) is a close second at around $7 for seven pounds. I have been mixing them 50/50 and the birds are loving it. For suet blocks I buy Royal Wing from Tractor Supply. It doesn't use a lot of filler, and it's reasonably priced. Seed cakes I've been getting Kaytee because it's on sale and has a few mixes I like. Hope this helps anyone else who may be on a budget.
Yes! I have a bird that lands on my hand. He only takes the black oil sunflower seeds and throws everything else on the ground. Even if the sunflowers don’t weigh enough when he picks it up with his beak, he will throw that too 🤣
I scatter seed on my parking space. I am elderly and it's easier. The birds seem to love it, several birds can all eat at one time. I sweep up the black oil seed hulls. I have noticed that sunflower seed will sprout if the birds scatter it on the grass. If it is going to rain I put swept seed on the downward slope of the driveway. The rain washes the seed downhill to the nearby woods and there's always some whole seed left. I hope it takes root there and provides seed, I am ill and I won't be here much longer. I doubt that my neighbors would continue to care for the birds. I also have medium size dog bowls that I give the birds water in each day. I always use a freshly scrubbed bowl each morning. The crows get a small bowl of leftover meat scraps. They love it. The crows have chased squirrels away and stand guard while the smaller birds eat. I had finches migrate thru and they are the only ones to eat the tiny "parakeet" looking seed. I don't bother with that now that they have moved on. There are quite a mixture of birds that wait for me to come out each morning. If I'm late, the crows set up a fuss until I come out. I give the crows a boiled egg yolk too. I used to put out a whole shelled boiled egg and noticed that the crows pecked it apart and left the egg white to rot. My cat would never eat egg whites either. I don't know why. Ty for the videos.
Thank you. Yes, sunflower chips are the ultimate no waste bird food. It’s seems like you are getting less but you don’t get all the waste and bulk from the hulls.
It does depend on the birds in your area and type of feeders. What type of feeders do you use? I only use the fly-thru or tray feeders now, so the birds can pick around and get what they want instead of waiting for what they want to drop down from a hopper.
I've been a huge bird feeder for years with 8 feeders spread across my acre property. They really are a joy to watch. Your advice on seed is spot on. I would also recommend adding a couple of suet feeding stations, a hummingbird station, and maybe a nyjer/thistle feeder to attract a wider variety of birds. I'd really love to see a video of you making one of your cool platform feeders if you get a chance. What do you do to keep the squirrels from cleaning you out? I'm enjoying your content, keep it up.
Great idea, I'll put a bird feeder build on my list of potential videos. I do have a couple videos on using a baffle to keep the squirrels out, check them out. I'm glad you are enjoying my content!
Haha, got a chuckle out of the ending! I feed black sunflower seed that I get from a feed store, it's so clean and nice, the birds love it. Last year I had a thistle feeder up and oddly no one touched it, so it's strictly sunflower and suet. I have wild turkeys around so I have to be careful with what falls on the ground or they'll never leave. I had to setup a catch tray under my feeders to prevent that.
Awesome, thanks for sharing. I’ve had great luck with straight sunflower feed too 👍. Good idea with the catch tray, turkeys are a cool bird but can get destructive.
There's a rather large crab apple tree at work that a flock of waxwings arrive every winter and spend a week or two eating the thousands of super ripe tiny apples. They are the coolest looking birds I've ever seen.
I had some sort of a crabapple at our previous house that had Cedar Waxwings visit for less than a week. Very cool bird, amazing how they know what trees to visit when.
Haha I bought some bird seeds because there is a feeder in my yard and I was wondering why they keep spilling it all on to the floor. Now I know why and I'll buy some better stuff next time.
I find that the type of feed on the left is good for ground feeders. That's super anecdotal. But, for instance, I have a ton of juncos around my yard and they never touch the feeder. However, when I scatter millet around, they seem to love it. As do the doves. Otherwise, very good to shed light on the differences
Juncos at my country home in Arkansas love the feed on the left and prefer it on the ground but will get on my table feeder.Cardinals love safflower also along with titmouses and chickadees but squirrels dislike it.
A bag of porridge in my bird feeder,,they all come over too eat ,,bird seeds just a few ,,my porridge now iv got too fill up the feeder 3 times in a day 😂
I had some Wagners western bird feed goin which is white millet, black oil sunflower, cracked corn, Milo, striped sunflower and safflower. Tons of different types of birds would visit, but they’d throw a lot on the ground. When the bag ran out I ordered some black oil sunflower and loaded it up with the last bits of western blend but now nobody comes to visit. I wonder why?
Can’t go wrong with straight black oil sunflower seeds. I get a 40 pound bag of Royal Wing at Tractor Supply for $20. That’s a great price not much more than garbage seed. With less sticks than any other made out there. All birds love them! And nijer seed for finch feeders. ✌🏻👍🏻
I think the black sunflower seeds have to have the husk broken by the birds to eat the seed inside. Therefore you get lots of discarded husks on the ground below the feeder. Also, if the bag is 15 pounds, 5 pounds of that could be the husk so you’re actually only getting 10 pounds of food.
I used seed with filler for my first bird feeder. My local birds eat basically everything. There's not much scattered around on the ground. I've even used a steel slinky to keep the squirrels and chipmunks away, so it's unlikely they're eating it. Either way, I'm more concerned about the nutritional value, so I will definitely be switching to a better food.
Simple rule is to buy seeds separately I never buy multipacks even if it's a quality mix. I buy in bulk which work out a lot cheaper and I buy shelled seeds so no waste.If you put out different seeds or suet pellets seperately you'll soon know which ones your birds prefer.Put out some seeds mealworms or calcium worms on a flat surface too as not all birds go on feeders and pleanty of fresh water.
I don't have many sparrows around so I don't have personal experience. I do know that they like to feed on the ground and according to others like: sunflower seed, safflower seed, white proso millet, thistle seeds or cracked corn.
I buy from a farm supply store and many of the plants are farmed locally. There are some pretty cool sunflower farms in the area that make mazes and such in late summer.
Thanks for sharing your experience. What area of the country are you? Do you get cardinals and what do they tend to eat? I seem to only have success with cardinals if I use sunflower seeds.
I switched to the 50bs bag of the cheap seed because I go through it so fast. The entire bag is gone in two weeks. I have to keep running back to the store for more. It's getting expensive. I used to get the sunflower seeds, but it was a feeding frenzy every day until they were gone. It still is but now it's cheap junk food.
Sunflower chips and thistle 4 the finches.Mealworms 4 bluebirds.Peanuts 4 jays,peckers,cards.Safflower is loved by cards and disliked by squirrels and some "sorry" birds.
I'm in the uk and price is never a measure of quality and I buy the stuff on the left and they eat them when they are hungry or are nesting or its winter so it's fine sounds more like you ain't getting enough birds might not be the food that's the issue. And I would also suggest plants bushes trees etc in your garden less lawn you might get more birds and things they eat. And what this guy is saying is not right in my garden. I also got mine very cheap because it was nearly out of date I got my 12kg bags for 2 pounds and nearly all gone not wasted at all.
