Bird Food

Peanuts are popular with many species. We recommend peanuts in the specialty feeders such as the Squirrel Buster® Peanut, Squirrel Buster® Nut and the tray feeder. Birds consume the entire shelled peanut, so there are no shells to accumulate under the feeder. Very small bits that may fall below the feeder will be eaten by ground-feeding birds or squirrels. Food is not wasted and there is no mess to clean up. Ideal for decks, condos and apartments.

Peanuts are an excellent source of calories and energy and are popular with many species.

It is important for peanuts to stay fresh and dry as they are known to harbour aflatoxins.  If bird traffic is slow at your peanut feeder you might have to discard your peanuts and replace with fresh nuts.

Spanish peanuts are a variety of red skinned peanuts. They have all the same characteristics and qualities as regular shelled peanuts. Spanish peanuts have a slightly higher oil content, and their paper-thin skins are full of nutrients. Birds consume the entire shelled peanut, so there are no shells to accumulate under the feeder. Very small bits that may fall below the feeder will be eaten by ground-feeding birds or squirrels. Food is not wasted and there is no mess to clean up. Ideal for decks, condos and apartments.

Suet cakes are a high energy food and can be offered year-round. Suet comes in many varieties but we especially like one packed with seeds and nuts. Be sure to buy the no melt variety for the summer months! It will attract a variety of birds to your back yard. We have seen Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Chickadees, Nuthatches and even Orioles savoring at our Squirrel Buster® Suet.

They are a new high energy suet-based soft wild bird food product. These ready to feed, no waste nuggets are a favorite of all suet, fruit and insect-eating birds. They come in a wide range of flavors allowing you to choose which birds you wish to attract. Nuggets are 100% pure food. They will last longer in the feeder requiring less frequent filling and are easy to store and handle when filling your feeder. Birds consume the entire nugget, so there are no shells to accumulate under the feeder. Very small bits that may fall below the feeder will be eaten by ground-feeding birds or squirrels. Food is not wasted and there is no mess to clean up. Ideal for decks, condos and apartments.

Nyjer seed is loved by finch and other wild birds. We recommend using it in your Squirrel Buster® Finch feeder. Nyjer is very light and should only be used in specialty feeders with very small openings as it is expensive, and seed can be easily blown away by the wind. Nyjer will spoil if moisture gets in the tube. It is recommended to replace your seeds often if the bird traffic is slow.

Safflower seeds have tougher shells than sunflower seeds but are popular with most sunflower seed eating birds. Safflower seeds are pricier than black oil sunflower seeds and have a similar nutritional value. These bitter seeds are said to be a deterrent for Black Birds, Starlings, and squirrels. We like to add these in our tray feeder because Cardinals love them.

Sunflower hearts are very popular with birds as they are very easy to eat and leave no mess under the feeders. They are pricier than most seeds, in some stores triple the price of the black oil sunflower seeds.

Sunflower hearts tend to be oily and have been known to clog up the feeder. It is important to wash your feeders regularly. We do not recommend these for our bigger feeders, but they work well in our smaller feeders like the Squirrel Buster® Mini or the Standard. It is a good idea not to offer more than a couple of days worth of food at a time due to the risk of spoiling.

Corn is a common ingredient in most commercial blends but can also be a calling card for nuisance birds! It is often referred to as a filler and offers little nutritional value. Like the peanuts, corn is susceptible to spoiling in humid weather. You will need to be sure that it does not sit too long in your feeder.

Millet is well liked by ground feeders. It is an ingredient in many mixed seed blends. We do not recommend using this alone as it is a favorite of some common nuisance birds. We like to sprinkle it in our tray feeder from time to time to give our avian friends a change in menu. Most birds that like white millet also like black oil sunflower seeds. If you’re using a blend, make sure the millet content is low.

We have found that these fillers are often wasted as most birds are unimpressed with them. When buying seed blends, we try to steer clear of blends containing these unpopular ingredients.

Harvest berries in the fall, freeze them and them put them out for birds in the winter – you might attract Cedar Waxwing, American Robins and other fruit but not seed-eating birds!

See the following Brome Bird News segment to see how Tatsiana does it.

Believe it or not, the quality of the suet really matters.

David James, from Sutton, QC did a test using a mass-produced suet block and a Mill Creek suet block and the results were that the birds preferred the Mill Creek Suet. Mill Creek is a premium suet and has better ingredients and less fillers than mass-produced suet.

Mill Creek is a Canadian company and we hope our Canadian customers check them out. If you are in the USA check out nature stores around you and read your ingredients.

Watch the video to see more!

Feeding nyjer in the finch feeder is great all year round. It attracts finches, of course, but also chickadees, nut hatches and other wonderful songbirds.

The problem is not with the feeder as such but with the seed, especially when it is very humid, as it tends to spoil. It might look good to us, but birds know that it has gone bad or that it is not as good as they fancy, and they don’t go to the feeder.

Our solution is to use a product called Feeder Fresh™.

This product has been around for a long time as an additive to seeds to absorb humidity. It is not harmful to birds and serves as grit to the birds.

We have met the inventor of this product and he is a great guy. The first step is to clean your feeder thoroughly to remove any mold or seed residue. Then mix the Feeder Fresh™ in with your nyjer seed. We use 1/2 cup per 5 lb bag of nyjer seed in our area (Quebec, Canada) but you will need to adjust accordingly for your area’s humidity level. Use a plastic container similar to a liquid laundry bottle and shake it up so as to blend in the Feeder Fresh™ thoroughly. But that is not quite enough, what we do is to put a 1/4 inch of Feeder Fresh™ after filling with our blended seed. It is sort of “icing on the cake.”

Since using this method, bird traffic is back to normal, and we can enjoy watching lots of happy customers on the feeder!

It is amazing what some people put out for their wild birds to eat. What is okay for us humans isn’t always okay for the birds. We want to let people know what not to feed them.

Bacon fat – People think that because its okay for birds to have the fat and extra calories to get them through the winter, we have to remember that bacon is loaded with salt and salt is not good for the birds. You should not give salted peanuts to your birds either.

Bread – Although birds gobble this up it is not a good idea to feed bread to the birds. Bread sits in their stomach and curbs their appetite so that they don’t eat the nourishing food that their little bodies need leaving them malnourished.

Chocolate – We all love chocolate, but it is toxic for birds. Please do not feed  your birds chocolate.

Avocado – You would think that this healthy food would be okay but actually the avocado’s fat cannot be digested by birds.

Desiccated coconut – This is not a good snack for your birds. It can swell in their stomachs. Just because its tasty in trail mix doesn’t mean its safe for birds.

Milk – Some people like to give their birds milk. Actually birds cannot digest cow’s milk. They are happy with water!

BBN 3-24 - Backyard Feeding - What NOT to Feed Birds from Brome Bird News on Vimeo.

The National Bird-Feeding Society (NBFS) developed tips to enhance the bird feeding experience.

1 – Place bird feeders in locations where they can readily be seen through a viewing window.

2 – Start with a basic bird feeding set-up: tubular feeder filled with black-oil sunflower seed.

3 – Add other types of bird seeds and feeders such as Nyjer® in a Nyjer® feeder, and hopper or platform feeders filled with black-oil sunflower, sunflower hearts, and whole peanuts.

4 – Alternative foods such as suet, fruit, insects, and nectar, as well as water, may also attract additional species of birds.

5 – Each season of the year, there may be a different suite of species visiting your yard. These bird species may have different bird food and feeder preferences.

6 – In addition to bird seed and feeders, provide birds with habitat, water, and bird houses.

7 – Keep your birds safe by protecting them from cats and bird-window collisions, and regularly clean your feeders.

8 – To learn more about birds visiting your yard, use the tools of a birdwatcher: binoculars and a field guide.

9 – There are birds you can’t see in your yard. To see these birds, take a trip to your local, state, and national parks and explore your natural areas.

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