Looking for the perfect feed to use in your garden? Here are our top 6 reasons why sunflower hearts might just be the best bird food… ever!
1 Excellent energy
This power-packed seed is full of protein and has an extremely high calorie to weight ratio. Wild birds only need to eat small amounts of this feed to get the maximum amount of energy possible.
Birds require blasts of energy to see them through particularly difficult times of the year: this might be during the summer moult, while feeding young chicks or when preparing to migrate across vast distances. Sunflower hearts give all kinds of birds a boost when they need it most!
2 Simple to eat
Easy-peasy! Sunflower hearts have the crunchy black seed casing stripped away meaning that birds can swallow it in a single gulp. What could be better? This makes them easily digestible for young birds which are getting ready to fledge and simple for adult birds to carry back to the nest.
However, because sunflower hearts have no outer shell they can fall prey to bacteria which can make birds ill. Display your seeds and chips in cage feeders rather than tube feeders as this stops moisture collecting and spoiling the food. Ensure you only put out 1-2 days’ worth of feed in one go – the birds will snatch it up in no time!
3 No mess!
Ahh, no more sweeping up! In their natural state, whole sunflower seeds come with a tough black casing which birds will crack and leave behind at the feeding station or in certain perching areas of your garden. Sunflower hearts have already been shelled so no mess gets abandoned and no unwanted plants will begin to grow beneath your feeders. It’s every gardener’s dream!
4 Essentials oils
We all love to crunch on a good packet of sunflower seeds; they’re highly nutritious and so satisfying. Not only do they give key vitamins to humans, sunflower seeds also provide birds with many important nutrients needed for glossy feathers and overall vigour.
Essential oils keep birds’ beaks in excellent condition and maintain good skin health too.
5 Wild variety
Get ready for an influx! Sunflower hearts attract all sorts of wildlife to your garden and ensure birds will come back to your feeders time and time again! They’re beloved by finches, woodpeckers, blackbirds, starlings, thrushes and siskins.
Be warned, squirrels are also huge fans of this feed, so kit out your feeding station with Squirrel Buster feeders and keep them at a safe distance from fences or trees from which squirrels can leap.
6 Quick pickings!
Perhaps most importantly for the birds in your garden, sunflower hearts are a healthy fast-food. This means birds can swoop in for a quick meal and grab a seed there and then before flying away from predators to enjoy their tasty snack.
Keeping birds well-fed and out of danger is so important – by feeding them sunflower hearts you really are going one step further for nature!
Can sunflower hearts go stale? I tried a new brand, and the birds simply dropped them on the ground.