The Best Sunflower Seeds For Birds
If you’re looking to bring more wildlife into your backyard, feeding the birds is an easy way to see more nature active around you. However, their diet isn’t all bread and leftover scraps of food. If you want to give your birds a healthy snack, sunflower seeds and birdseed mixtures are the best way to go about it. Lucky for you, we’ve put together a list of the best sunflower seeds for birds on the market so you can give them guilt-free tasty treats whenever you want.
What to Look For
When narrowing down the best sunflower seeds for birds, we considered price, size, added ingredients, and display. For example, if you want the most bang for your buck, the Lyric cardinal wild bird seed offers great sunflower seeds at a reasonable price. If you want to stock up for months, Wagner’s Black Oil Sunflower Bird Food should have you covered with 25 pounds of sunflower seeds. Read on to see all our top picks and find the sunflower seeds that are right for you.
Kaytee Wild Bird Black Oil Sunflower Food
Naturally nutritious
As humans, we know that food provides energy, and certain foods give us more energy than others. The same applies to birds, and these seeds are meant to give long-lasting energy. These black oil sunflower seeds are high in oil content, making them perfect for giving your birds the nutrients they crave and the energy they need to keep going. They also have thin hulls to make them easier to pry open and eat. If you’re a fan of keeping it simple, these are the seeds for you.
Pros:
- Black oil sunflower seeds attract many different kinds of birds, so this one seed will feed most kinds of common yard birds.
- This comes in 5 and 20-pound bags, so you can buy what suits your needs.
Cons:
- These seeds may be smaller than other brands, but that just makes them easier to eat.
Valley Farms Sunflower Hearts
Only the delicious part
Just like any shelled nut or fruit, the inside is what counts. These sunflower hearts are the tasty treat at the center of the seed, and birds love them. This bag contains nothing but sunflower seed hearts, making for some seriously appetizing entrees. These sunflower seed hearts are vacuum-cleaned to keep them free from debris, and there’s no hull left on the seed either. If you want to help your birds skip to the good part, this is the purchase for you.
Pros:
- Since there’s no waste, there won’t be leftover shells all over your yard.
- These are great for small birds that wouldn’t normally be able to eat sunflower seeds because of the shell.
Cons:
- These are fairly expensive per ounce.
Wagner’s Black Oil Sunflower Bird Food
Make it last
If you hate running out to the store for errands, you may love this bulk bird seed. At 25 pounds, this bag is big enough to last you for months, if not longer, and comes chock full of seeds that birds love. These black oil sunflower seeds have thin shells so smaller birds can break through them without an issue. It may be a bit pricey, but given the sheer amount of seeds, it’s actually a great bargain.
Pros:
- These black oil sunflower seeds appeal to a wide range of birds, so plenty of different kinds will find these seeds to be tasty.
- The large quantity is great for people who live in cold environments where snow may prevent you from leaving your home to buy seeds.
Cons:
- Bags may contain some debris from harvesting, but there are still plenty of quality sunflower seeds in there.
Lyric Sunflower Kernels
Take it off
When it comes to sunflower seeds, most wild birds don’t eat the shells and are just searching for the kernels inside. Some bigger birds can open the shells with their beaks, but smaller birds may end up losing out on the nutrients of the kernels if they can’t open the shells. However, with Lyric’s sunflower kernels, you can offer all of your birds the same nutrients. This bag is filled to the brim with solely the kernel parts of the sunflower seed, making for a more nutritious snack. Every part of these seeds is 100% edible, so you won’t have any waste lying around your yard. If you want to give them a snack that’s easy to eat, this is the way to go.
Pros:
- We appreciate that the kernels have no shells, no fillers, and no hulls, making for the purest form of birdseed you can offer wild birds.
- These seeds come in a 25-pound bag that’s hefty enough to last for months.
Cons:
- This birdseed is expensive, but you get 25 pounds worth, so we still think it’s a great value.
Lyric Cardinal Wild Bird Seed
Don't break the bank
Caring for pets can be expensive, and since you don’t own the birds outside, you shouldn’t have to spend a fortune to feed them. If you’re more of a casual bird watcher or just like to feed them from time to time, this budget bag of sunflower seeds may be just what you need. It comes with a mixture of sunflower seeds, sunflower kernels, buckwheat, and safflower seeds, for a healthy blend that’s easy on the wallet. It may be 70% sunflower seeds, but it’s 100% affordable.
Pros:
- This bag has a fresh seal, so you can re-seal it after taking some seeds out, making the remaining seeds last longer.
- This mixture was specifically designed for cardinals, but it’s perfectly suited for most common birds.
Cons:
- Some users may want a pure sunflower seed mixture instead of added ingredients.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do wild birds eat?
This depends on the type of bird, but most wild birds eat seeds, bugs, berries, fruit, fish, grains, and other things found in nature. A lot of birds in the city will eat food that people throw away, but this isn’t great for their diet. Sunflower seeds appeal to the widest range of birds, so there’s a pretty good chance that the birds in your area will eat them.
Do birds eat the shells of sunflower seeds?
Most birds don’t eat the shells, and if they do, it’s mainly because they’re trying to get to the hearts or kernels inside. The sunflower seed hearts are the nutritious part, and that’s the part they like the most. However, some wild birds will eat the shells if given the option.
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