Bird Seed?

[Homer]

What kind of bird seed is everyone using? I’ve been using the black oiled sunflower seeds but only seem to attract black-capped chicadee’s and house finches, nothing more. Is there a type the more birds like?

I’ve tried mixes in the past but it seems like the birds just toss the other parts out and eat the oiled sunflower seeds. What’s every one else doing?

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[Grazie]

Those sunflower seeds are like bird candy – I removed them from my feeders altogether. Mostly niger thistle mix in one seed feeder, and then a couple suet feeder in trees because I don’t mind attracting chickadees.

What kind of birds do you want to see?

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[Bofus]

I use the Audubon Patio Mix available at their store in North Seattle. I think True Value at the Junction carries it under a similar name. It is a great mix that attracts a variety of birds. In addition, the seeds will not germinate.

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[linda]

I use the True Value Patio Blend, it’s a mix which includes sunflower seed chips. It’s light on the millet which seems to be the primary ingredient in a lot of commercial blends and also the stuff that seems to mostly wind up on the ground uneaten. In addition to the black cap chickadees and house finches, I have seen Bewick’s wrens, bush tits, gold finches, chestnut backed chickadees, blue jays, northern flickers, pine siskins, fox sparrows, golden crowned sparrows, white striped sparrows, golden crowned kinglets, towhees, juncos, thrushes and more at my back yard feeder. It’s truly amazing how many different species I see in my pocket sized back yard!

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[Sue]

I use the Safflower bird seed from Wild Birds Unlimited in Burien (next to the Trader Joe’s). http://shop.wbu.com/p/safflower-bird-seed-20-lbs?pp=12

What I liked about it is that squirrels supposedly don’t like it. The birds seem to though and go through it like candy.

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[Barry2012]

I started using the hot pepper suet from Home Depot and True Value. I like that it doesnt spill everywhere and stays in my feeders. When the seeds ect spill underneath the feeders it draws rats. The suet feeders are far less messy and I still see the same amount of birds enjoying them :)

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[biankat]

I use a blend from Wild Birds Unlimited. I don’t know which specific one at the moment. The birds are odd, though. When I first brought the blend home I went through the 5# bag in less than a week. I bought twice the amount since, and have barely got through 1 bag in a couple weeks. Some days the feeder is covered, other days nothing. Below the feeder I have a large, shallow, empty planter to capture the fallen seeds for less mess. I also put peanuts in the shell out front for the squirrels (we have 5 babies), which the Stellar Jays also love. They’re so funny :) The other day I had 2 jays and 2 squirrels going after the peanuts at the same time!

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[rw]

Our favorite is a Birds Unlimited product called the No-Mess Blend. It’s a very efficient mix that minimizes “waste” that birds toss to the ground. It’s a bit on the pricy side, but you get a lot of value from it. We get a lot of bird traffic at our feeder.

To save some $$ last year I used a blend from Costco, which I thought was pretty good, and also attracted a lot of birds, but it did result in more seed being rejected and ending up on the ground for the squirrels. Unfortunately my wife thinks she also saw a rat one time, which put an end to that recipe. So this year we will probably go back to the No-Mess Blend.

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