Our past time in the winter is watching the birds at our feeders. I purchased meal worm a few weeks ago. To my surprise they were only shells nothing inside. I had opened the package so I put a hand full on our feeder, the birds eat the shell. Is this normal? Do they use the shells as grit? I have lots of squirrels so I have to keep there food to a limit, they will set and eat all day. We have snow all the time but out winters are getting shorter IMO. Cold right now.

In my feeder they love sunflower seeds over every other type of bird food.


Pete

I also love to feed the birds in winter. I'm over 100 lbs of black oil sunflower and counting. Used to only have cardinals visit when it would snow but this year they have shown up in large numbers regardless of snow. Red bellied woodpeckers, downie woodpeckers, junkos, titmouse, purple finches, sparrows, wrens, chickadees. Makes me wonder what they would eat if I didn't supplement. Guess they would move around until they found another feeder. There has been a pretty famous painted bunting show up in a town about 10 miles away.

Beaver carcasses screwed to a dead tree is a favorite for the birds here. Black oil sunflower is a favorite too.

Check out Coon Creek Outdoors video on making a suet feeding block from fleshings. Eric

We hang deer ribs. Not the most appealing thing to look at but the birds sure love it.

I have all the listed above coming to oil sunflowers and cracked corn. Yesterday 6 jakes showed up. Now they can eat a lot.

Bird feeder we can see from the house then 2 piles further in the tree belts for the rabbits and pheasants. In deeper snow or ice conditions mix millet seed bird type seeds with the cracked corn as the millet seed doubles as grit in harder times.

I like to keep my food for birds close . . . and my birds for food closer ;-)

I use black oil sunflower seeds and suet blocks

To do this

I watched a program recently the mentioned hemp seeds as another favorite food.

I think Black Sunflower seed are #1 everywhere. I never get sparrows. We also have four crow that show up with Gold finches, doves. Once in a while a piloted woodpecker will show up. The blue Jay's like stale bread cut up small but they will still take it no matter what size. While millet is hard to find in may area, I like it for the ground feeder.

I had to stop with the mixed bird seed as the grackles are such hogs.
Corn for the black bellied whistling ducks, sunflower for the squirrels and other birds.

Gary: We do not have Grackles in the winter. I have found that a lot of the mixed bird seed get left on the ground. The squirrel will eat the Black Sunflower Seed in a minute. But the red millet, milo and other grains get left for a long time. I have a rabbit comes in at night and feeds under the feeder. Just got 40# of just white millet.

Rabbits like Millet. All kinds of Millet. I put out sliced apple rolled in Millet and add a small pile of Hay alongside. :-)

B l ack sunflower seed here also. 50 lbs at a time. Have bought several bags. Bird watching was my main entertainment after knee replacement. Have seen purple finch’s, yellow finches, house finchs, titmouse, cardinals, bluehays, juncos, downy woodpecker, red bellied woodpecker, nuthatch, black capped Chickadee, doves,northern flicker, and way too many sparrows and starlings. The northern flicker and red bellied woodpecker are my favorites.

Lots of birds, lots of feeders, lots of fun.

meal worms dry out like that i get 100lb a year for my pheasants

Looked out at my bird feeding station couple days ago a merlin falcon caught a snow bird,guess they gotta eat too.

When the squirrels start showing up I get out the .22. Got eleven this year and a bag full of meat from them. My buddy uses the tails for flies and jigs