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Some bags of Black Sunflower seem distasteful to all birds (1 Viewer)

PeterG3699

New member
Most birds love Black Sunflower. However, every once in a while I buy a bag of black sunflower, and put some out. Birds gobble it up for a day or two, and then stay away from it.
It does not seem rancid or have any other odor problems I can detect. It does not seem to have any visible mold or insect infestation. Does anyone know what is happening? Is there a way to avoid buying bags of "bad" seed?
 
Just buy the best quality from a reputable specialist bird food retailer. Generally, the cheaper the price, the poorer it is. Have you tried sunflower hearts?
 
I would imagine the birds have a better opinion of the seeds than we humans could ever form and if they're avoiding one batch there's going to be a very good reason, probably related to spoilage. As was already suggested, buy from a proven-reliable source and personally I wouldn't hesitate to return a bag of seeds that the birds had rejected as you describe, even if it did me no good it would at least alert the vendor that there's a problem and of course if I had no satisfaction with the complaint I'd be looking for another store. This happened to me with black nyger seeds BTW, unfortunately I got a huge bargain on an equally huge quantity, 50 kilos no less, and the only parties that weren't ever delighted were the birds I offered it to.
 
BTW, and perhaps you already know this, it could also be that you're just seeing what are 'normal' periods where the local birds all seem to disappear and the feeders sit nearly idle for a spell- I'm in one now, very few visitorsin the last few days. You'll want to allow for that.
 
At risk of stating the obvious, the number and variety of birds visiting garden feeders can be dependent on the availability of natural food in the locality and overnight temperatures. Good advice from Pyrtle, buy good quality and try sunflower hearts/kernels. Certainly in the UK, these will be taken by almost all species, large and small and there will not be a pile of discarded shells rotting under the feeders.
 
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