How to Choose a Seed Feeder

Offer several different kinds of birdseed in several different feeders to satisfy all your hungry guests.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Birdseed Feeders
• Birdseeds
• Hopper Bird Feeders
• Satellite Feeders
• Stiff Brushes
• Tube Feeder Cleaning Brushes
• Tube Seed Bird Feeders
• Stiff brushes

1. Decide what kinds of seed you wish to offer birds. Some possibilities include black-oil sunflower seed, niger or thistle seed, millet or a wild birdseed mix.

2. Buy a tube feeder, round "satellite" feeder or a traditional hopper feeder if you plan to use sunflower seed.

3. Buy a tube feeder with several perches and feeding holes small enough to keep seeds from spilling out if you offer niger.

4. Buy a hopper feeder if you offer a wild birdseed mix.

Tips & Warnings

• The small, black-oil sunflower seed, either whole or hulled, is most popular with all species of seed-eating birds.
• Birdseed mixes purchased from the market are generally not your best buy, as there are many seeds in the mix that birds won't eat. Try purchasing black-oil sunflower seed or white proso millet in bulk from a feed store and make your own mix.
• Most seed-eating birds will eat seeds from a tray or the ground as well as from a feeder.
• Small accipiter hawks, such as the sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk, eat birds and are often attracted to areas where birds congregate at feeders.
• Seed feeders must be cleaned on a regular basis to avoid disease in birds.
• Keep cats away from areas where birds are feeding or bathing.