Let's talk Seeds and Seed Mixes!

I had no idea....the birds that the OP listed like things like brazil nuts, pecans etc?! I'd never heard of those being used as wild bird food. Must be pricey though no?

One thing that I do in my yard is...I offer the birds dried corncobs (with most of the kernals still intact). I stick a vertical post through the center of the cob to hold it upright. As the individual kernals start to become eaten (and the cob subsequently more bare), I'll remove the cob from the post, and stick the bare end of it into a jar of peanut butter and sorta rub it around. Once it's covered with a layer of peanut butter, I then hold the cob over one of my platform feeders (to catch falling seed), and with the other hand I pour some millet seeds onto the cob so that it sticks to the peanut butter. I then replace the now peanut/millet covered cob back onto its vertical post! :-)

hey, that's a good idea, Yippee! I have a couple of corn cob holders, I'm going to try that.

ooo, me to!! The jays will not leave the cobs on my holders but will try!

A very nice elderly gentleman neighbor who loved birds made my cob holders for me this past spring. He lost is wife to colon cancer in August. He tried but found it to hard to go on without his "honey". So last weekend he decided to join her. It broke my heart to lose such a sweet friend and fellow bird lover.

Oh, Nanny... that is so sad.. my heart goes out to you. Always sad to lose someone who's made their way into your heart!

Thank you...didn't mean to be a downer. He was such a sweet soul. I am glad he is at peace now. The Blue Birds were his favorites. He has a couple of nest boxes up and they do nest there. I just hope when the family sells his house the new owners will leave up the boxes.

He was tickled pink when he found me one morning in spring 2007 putting out my feeders. :)

Nanny, I hope the blue birds stay around your neighborhood.

We buy our seed in 25 or 50 lbs bags, too. We buy them at the old fashioned seed & feed store (a real hole in the wall outfit in Milford) after we comparison shopped a lot of places. The other place we found with decent pricing and fairly good selection (peanuts, sf hearts, safflower, thistle) was "Tractor Supply". I don't know if TS is in a lot of areas, though. Of course, they don't sell Cashews and Brazil Nuts, but our birds are country birds, not fancy city birds!

WBU is like the Sak's Fifth Avenue of bird seed stores! (-: Your birds are quite indulged, if I do say so myself!

Wish we could do corn, but it draws in too many starlings here, and we don't want those around. And the squirrels, which are only OK in limited numbers and would over run the place if we encouraged them in the slightest.

We got 2 new bird feeders for Xmas. One of them is really a fancy one and we will have to find a very nice tree limb to hang it.

Holiday wishes to everyone! t.

Our squirrels would finish that corn cob and peanut butter off before the birds even had a chance, lol

Ah, mine too, Jen, but i put mine on a shepherd hook that is baffled!!!

I waiting on hubby to make me some baffles.

why the wait… is he… baffled?

hahaha. couldn't resist.

By the way, I got some "Just Desserts" (on sale) and the Chickadees/Titmice are really liking it. No one is eating the millet though (I think that's what it is).

lol, Mrs Ed

I'm thinking of switching from the black sunflower seeds in shells to the sunflower chips so that I don't have to worry about the shells falling all over. I have two concerns: Do the chips mold quickly? Right now that feeders only stay full two or three days. Also, will it change the mix of birds that I get? I'm currently seeing lots of cardinals, and the little guys that eat thistle, as well as way too many squirrels.

Hi penne, I switched a while ago and the same birds are here. If it only last 2 or 3 days then there should not be a problem with mold as long as your cleaning the feeders regularly.

I have space in a freezer that I keep my seed in. Always fresh that way.

I never thought of putting the seed in the freezer. Great tip. Thanks Juney! The titmice and chickadees are nuts over the Just Desserts! I lean on the kitchen sink and watch them come to the window feeder and pick out the choicest nuts. They don't eat much of the other ingredients Evie.

penne, We don't refrigerate our sunflower hearts, but we do keep them in small galvanized cans in the unheated cold garage.

The SF hearts don't stay in our feeders long enough to get any mould. Most all the birds in our yard really go for the hearts/chips and they disappear rather quickly.

I can't think of a bird that likes the black oil that has rejected the hearts, but there may be a few. Mostly they think it's heaven since they don't even have to break open the shell!

We put out our spent Christmas tree by the bird feeders this week for extra 'cover' for them. (We are really seeing a drop in our bird population since many of our shrubs and trees succumbed to the drought conditions of the past 2 years so we use whatever we can to keep the birds we do have happy.)

I don't refrigerate any of mine either. In the winter you don't need to and in the summer I buy smaller quantities.

One year I bought too much and it went bad (summertime) so I'll never do that again. They don't eat as much in the summer anyway. The suet (no melt) goes good since there are lots of little beaks to feed. :-)

I keep mine in the bottom of the freezer because I have the space for it and no varmits will get to them. I've had a bad problem with the sunflower seeds getting some bug inside the shell and eating them leaving an empty shell with a tiny hole in it. This solves that problem nicely.

I have a metal can in the garage that I use. I made the switch Sunday, but I haven't seen any takers yet. Of course during the week, most of the action is while I am at work.

I also adjusted my squirrel buster plus again to the lowest level of resistance (or is it the highest?), to dissuade the squirrels.

I used to use a big metal trash can in the garage. I always put clips on the different bags in it and the lid seemed to seal well so I don't think they were getting INTO the bags, I think the bugs come with the bag. Freezing the bags seems to work for me.

ah, yes, bugs in the bag. I never had a problem until just recently, and since I keep the bags in my pantry, we get the moths in the house. Which is great fun for the cat.

LOL evie!

We came home from a weekend trip a few years back and all over the ceiling were little wormy like things...moth larvae from the seed....ewww... it now stays on the porch in a metal can!! I don't buy from that source either anymore! LOL

I had the same problem with moths a few years ago. They ended up getting into everything - flour, cereal, oatmeal. Totally gross!

We've had an infestation of pantry moths several times over the years. They came in the parakeet food and the guinea pig food. I freeze that food now to kill the moths.
Last summer, I had some BOSS i forgot about in a rubbermaid trash can in the garage. When I opened it in the fall to get it ready for new seed... AAARRRRGGGHHHH! It was full of moths, worms, webs. Those things are pretty tightly closed, so I think the moth eggs were in the seed. Decided to toss the whole thing. While it was sitting outside waiting for trash day, squirrels ate thru the plastic lid and got inside. I don't know if they ate the infested seed (what little was left) or not. They sure looked fat and sassy. So I put dumped the seed out onto the ground (far away from the house) and trashed the seed bag wrapped in 2 plastic garbage bags. Left the can on its side until most of the moths and worms were gone. Then I disinfected it and I'm using it for potting soil now. Covered the holes with duct tape. Replaced the rubbermaid can with a galvanized one. Looking back, it is funny now, but it sure wasn't at the time...

I'm afraid to leave seed on the porch, even in a metal can. we're right next to the woods, so who knows who would come by, and what they'd do to get inside. and would it freeze shut being exposed to snow/ice? questions, questions.

oh, and nothing personal, but I'm SO glad we're not the only ones who had those larvae crawling on the ceiling! It took forever for us to figure out where they were coming from. ew is right!

I always get those moths in the summer. They make my skin crawl.

I just bought a Scotts brand nut treat intended for woodpeckers. It's a huge block that you put in a very large suet-type wire holder. I have seen titmice enjoying it, and a squirrel. I was hoping for a piliated!

Saw this for the first time today in the Walmart. I always got the "Nut and Berry" blend, but this one looks better!
Sunflower, peanuts,safflower, raisins hulled pumpkin seed pistachios almonds pecans walnuts dried cherries. $9.24 for 7 pounds. I will mix it will Boss to make it last longer.. GM

Ooo that looks nice! I make my bi-monthly trip to walmart tomorrow. Hope mine has it. I will look at Pet Supplies Plus too.

Our WalMart has been selling a lot of Kaytee products!

I just got back from Wal-Mart but they didn't have it yet. They did have 5 pound bags of Kaytee peanuts so I bought that as well as 4 other bags of "specialty" foods for the birds!

Freezing does not kill the moth eggs it just prevents them from hatching. They won't hatch until the weather is warm enough so if they are in the freezer you are fooling them into thinking it is not warm weather. By the same token when you bring the seed into the house you are fooling them into thinking it is warm weather so they hatch.

But if you freeze, then warm so they hatch, and then freeze again a couple of weeks later, that will kill the moth larvae.

Resin

Hmmmm! (Moth murder on my mind)

We don't have that Kaytee mix of seed at my walmart and I did not see it on our new modular sheets. We do have the peanut bag but it is not selling well. The best sellers at walmart are still the BOSS and the generic wild bird seed with all the filler. We are selling a good bit of thistle right now with all the finches that are visiting for the winter. There are a number of new feeders and some of the older ones have been redesigned. There are also some different and lovely concrete bird baths. One new bath to match the patio sets. We have sold out of the martin houses and the bluebird houses are beginning to sell. I really enjoy keeping the section stocked as I am the only associate there who has a little knowledge of wild birds. It is nice to talk to the customers about what is coming to their feeders.

Frank, I bet you are building a good following! "Just go ask for Frank…"

I think ours carry the Kaytee peanuts, 2 types of finch mix, nut n' berry and a cardinal mix.

There might be other items by Kaytee but those are the ones I remember. :-)

Hi Frank!

I also meant to say I haven't had much luck on getting many of the birds to eat the bag of safflower I got from WBU. I was surprised the Cardinals weren't interested in it. They seem to like the sunflower kernels and peanuts in and out of the shell better.
Once in a while I'll see a House Finch take a seed but most of it has wound up on the ground.

My Wal-mart doesn't have any of the Kaytee products. I will check the petsupplies -plus. I didn't have time last week. Am tired of the huge mess from the BOSS, but I can't affor the hearts or chips in large quantity. May have to switch to another type of seed. I am getting fussy I guess.