The seeds you offer in your seed bird feeder will decide the type of feeder you need to use and the types of birds that will be attracted to your garden.  Lets take a look at your options for seed, feeders and the type of birds you can expect to attract.

There are basically eight feeds and feed options that can be catagorized as follows:

Thistle and Nyjer

This seed, which is usually imported from India, is a tiny black seed that has to be fed using special feeders becuase the seed is so small.  The feeder to use with this type of seed will be a tube feeder, a tray feeder or a feeder with a very fine wire mesh.  You can expect to attract birds from the finch species who especially like thistle and nyjer seeds.

Black Oil Sunflower Seed

This is my seed of choice because I belive it attracts the most species and offers the birds a protein rich source of food.  It is a small back seed that has a very thin shell that can be simply opened by the birds.  It is fed, usually, using a tube feeder and attracts goldfinches, cardinals, chickadees, titmice and jays.

Striped Sunflower Seed

This black and white striped seed is a somewhat larger than other sunflower seeds and contains less fat and protein.  The shell is quick hard and hence more difficult to open – which results in few species being attracted to it.  Like black oil seed, it should be fed to the birds using a tube feeder and will attract nuthatches, grosbeaks and house finches.

Millet

There are a few different types of millet feed but the most popular is proso millet which can be fed by istelf or mixed with other types of feed.  It can be fed using a tube feeder or a regular tray feeder and will attract cardinals, buntings, juncos, bobwjites and sparrows.

Hulled Sunflower Seed

This is option if you want the least mess and easiest feed for the birds.  As the sunflower seed as been hulled the birds can easily get to it and wont leave a pile of hulls under the feeder for you to clean.  It is fed using a tube feeder and will, becuase it is easy for the birds to feed, attract all the regular birds that eat sunflower seeds plus woodpeckers, wrens, mockingbirds and sparrows.

Cracked Corn

This inexpensive feed is basically dried corn is cracked into small pieces.  It is not usually fed by itself but is included in seed mixes.  It is fed using tray feeders (or scattered on the ground) and will attract blackbirds, jays, sparrows and doves.

Nuts

Nuts are usually included in seed mixes and the peanut is the prefered choice because of its high protein content that the birds love.  Fed in either a tray feeder or ground scattered, this feed will attract chickadees, finches, cardinals, mockingbirds and jays.

Safflower

This is usually used when your black-oil sunflower seed is attracting too many sparrows as they do not seem to like it very much due to its larger size.  Use this feed in a tube feeder and you will attract cardinals, chickadees, titmice, finches, and jays.

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I live on the Utah/Arizona line at 4300′

I was wondering if anyone knew any creative ideas when me and my fiance walk out of the church, other than birdseed, bubbles, and all that kind of stuff.

Thx

I live on the mid-Sonoran desert. I can’t seem to find the birdseed blocks I’ve been using in any of my usual stores around here. All the recipes I’ve seen have suet or shortening as the binder and you can guess what happens in the hot sun. I’m looking for a recipe that will stand up to the heat. Can anyone help?

i bought huge bags of wild bird seeds about two years ago and didnt finish throwing them all in my yard and they stayed in storage (outside) for two years. are they still good to give out?

I couple weeks ago I got a new brand of cockatiel food because i ran out and before i had just this blend of cockatiel seeds i got from the pet store i bought my bird at, which is really far away and i can’t go there every time i need more bird seed. So my mom brought home this stuff called Premium Cockatiel Food by 3-D Pet Products. And it looks like a bucket of treats! Its mostly Millet, Sunflower seeds and artificially colored seeds (including Red #40) It also has salt, and cane molasses in it! I mean it does have some good ingredients like egg, safflower and canary grass in it too but about 80% of just sunflower seeds and millet.Isn’t that really unhealthy? Should I throw in certain fruits and vegetables? What kind?

Tell me what you think..

http://www.walmart.com/ip/3-D-Pet-Products-Cockatiel-Food-Premium-4.5-lb/11047150#

He isnt acting differently but that doesnt mean he is healthy. But I noticed today that he isn’t really all that excited to get his food bowl refilled anymore.
With his old food, if he saw me grab his food bucket he got all excited and would start pacing and running around like a happy puppy, he would almost fall over with excitement. But now i refill his bowl and he just looks over and he may or may not even come over and get it.

my sister went to the store yesterday and seen a bird food thing. its more like a treat. it has a whole bunch of seeds in something really sticky that almost looks like peanut butter. we want to give it to her but we’re not sure if we should because we dont know if its okay to give a parrot something wild birds would usually eat.

where i live theres a lot of wild birds and especially the every growing population of some sort of domesticated green parrots or finches… when my bread or bagels go stale i decided to give them to the birds which they seem to enjoy…so i been doing this a lot lately cause i like being a nice guy. but my question is, feeding stale bread and bagels bad for wild birds? are there any home foods that i can feed to birds when they expire or should i just buy a bag of bird seeds?

I actually havent seen any kind of birds around