The short answer: As much black oil sunflower as you can afford. It will get you the most variety of birds.

If you want to know about bird feed mixes…that is a separate post.

Longer/nuanced answer below.

Blue jay on a mesh sunflower feeder. At the cabin, I have a winter flock of 15 blue jays that can clear out five pounds of sunflower seeds within six hours. My urban jays practice more restraint.

Way back when I started this blog in 2004, I worked for a wild bird seed company in the Twin Cities. I managed more than one location in my eight years there. And sure, the owners could argue that my inventory budget was higher than they liked, yet I consistently met and exceeding my store’s sale’s goals. I know bird feeding, I know how to attract birds and do it well.

Recently, with the pandemic and people getting into bird feeding and bird watching, I’m getting questions like, “Do I have to buy from a specialty store, it’s so expensive.”

Fifteen years ago, these were valid reasons why I’d tell you to purchase from a wild bird specialty store:

The seed is always from the most recent crop at a wild bird store and therefore the freshest where as big box stores get old seed. Nut meats shrivel over the years and if you don’t believe me, here’s a blog post where a former USDA researcher tested to see if my claims were true. If you have seed that’s two years old in your feeder and your neighbor has fresher seed, the birds will head to your neighbor’s first.
You can’t see the seed inside the bags and there’s no regulation on mix labels. A bag of seed can list sunflower as the first ingredient, that does not mean it’s the main seed in the mix. There could also be excessive amounts of chaff or meal moth webbing.
Those big companies do not understand the bird feeding market. European birds on the bag for US bird seed (you’re never getting great tits at your feeder in the US), the bags were often chock full of sorghum which is great if you have quail in the yard, but lousy if you want cardinals

Red-breasted nuthatches will take black oil sunflower, but if I have peanuts out of the shell, they will ignore the sunflower.

When I moved to a home with a yard as the pandemic kicked in, I stopped at a wild bird specialty store to get back in the game. I didn’t want to be indoors long (it was before our first lock down), I knew the seeds I wanted and I wanted out of there. When I was told what my total was, I thought, “Ouch…” Bird seed prices had increased quite a bit since the last time I purchased it. I knew the seeds I wanted to feed were on the higher end, but I don’t want to be the person spending $80 a week to feed the birds. At first, I thought there had been a rough crop year…and then someone took me on a date at a Menard’s. Yes. That’s right, a Mendard’s. Man, have I mentioned how dating in your 40s is weird?

Here’s what happened:

Him: How does this Menard's compare to others you've been too?

Me: I think the better questions is, "What do you think of Menard's now that you've been in one?"

Him: YOU'VE NEVER BEEN IN A MENARD'S???

Me: I live in an apartment, why would I go to a Men...OMFG look at that green finch poster above their bird seed, that's not a Minnesota bird. That's not even a North American bird. Oh chaffinch, hawfinch, ch, come on, European goldfinch. See that nuthatch, you're not going to get that at your feeder, because that's a European nuthatch. And that, you think that's some weird titmouse, but it's a crested tit, I almost always see them in Austria when I go. And that blue tit, never going to be at your feeder...well, I take that back, sometimes those do show up here, but that's because some bird dealer in and around Chicago keeps releasing them.

Him: I'm beginning to get a clearer picture of why you don't get many invitations to Menard's.

However, I noticed the prices and I noticed that most of the bags were clear plastic. You could see the quality of the seed. Clearly hardware stores and bird feeding companies has noticed what people want in quality bird seed and have mended their ways over the years.

I even noticed that some of the sunflower seeds looked like they were lower in chaff content. Have you ever noticed how some bags of seed are super dusty and that some bags have more plant stems? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. When stores or seed companies are purchasing seeds like black oil sunflower, they can get different pricing for what they will tolerate. A bag of sunflower that has more chaff in will be cheaper. If you pay a little more, the seed can go through a centrifuge process to get rid of excess chaff. If a store pays even a little bit more, a tiny bit of oil (safe for birds) is added to minimize dust and make the seed look fresh and shiny…see how things add up?

That’s not to say that you should buy any old black oilers, older seed is not going to be as attractive, but fresh seed that has a little extra oil on it it going to cost more. And that’s for our benefit, not the birds.

This comes to about $2.59 a pound. That’s nuts but this is going to be the most recent crop and probably hand shined and delivered by limo as well.

As Covid numbers are spiking again and I’m trying to do all I can to avoid being indoors, I started looking at seed delivery. When I want to get a sense for pricing from a store, I look at how much black oil sunflower prices are. It informs me of what type of price margins they’re going to charge and how much more expensive the mixes are going to be and it also gives me an idea if they’re seed is from the most recent crop or the previous year’s crop (and more prone to dust weevil and Indian meal moth infestation).

These are prices that I checked are from around December 8 - 10, 2020.

I checked Duncraft and they only sell seed in five pound bags. I spit out my coffee when I saw how much just black oil sunflower seeds were. Holy hell, how much would their mixes be??

I saw that crazy price for five pounds of sunflower and realized OK, they’re not really in the game of selling seed. They sell feeders, these are bags of seed to go along to get you started, especially if the feeder is a gift.

So I started looking elsewhere…I tried Amazon:

Well this is a hot mess. Typically, the larger quantities of seed you purchase, the cheaper the price per pound. A 10# bag comes to $1.76 per pound, a 20# bag comes to $1.50 per pound, a 25# bag is .79¢ per pound and the 50# back comes out to $1.36 per pound. I don’t have high hopes about the age of this seed.

Menard’s online had it at .38¢ per pound. I’m suspecting this seed is from the previous year’s crop.

Fleet Farm got interesting. I found this bag that came out at .45¢ per pound. But then I found….

This Kaytee 20# sunflower came out at .62¢ per pound. This could be this year’s crop and one I’d risk the moth issue. Birds don’t mind moth larvae (yeah, bonus protein) but they are a mess if they get into your home.

All Seasons is offering it at .99¢ per pound for a 30 pound bag (no one in this town offers a consistent bag).

Wild Birds Unlimited is going for a 20# bag and offering it $1.24!

And then I checked wild bird specialty stores. In Minnesota we have the Wild Birds Unlimited franchises and then we have a some that are local stores like All Seasons Wild Bird Store and Cardinal Corner (they don’t even list black oil on their site for online and go straight to offering mixes). But I know with all of them, I know I’m getting this year’s crop.

What do I make of this? You can get some good sunflower and you can get some fancy sunflower. You want a big economical bag to get you through the next few months? It may not be this year’s crop, but you’ll still get cardinals.

You have no idea how to get certain species in your yard, have a squirrel problem or just getting started feeding? A wild bird specialty store will walk you through the store, answer your questions accurately with the latest information, probably remember the name of your kids and pets and ask about them the next time they see you. They will also honor warranties, repair feeders and generally give back to the community.