sunflower seeds

[pusskin]

I tried to buy sunflower bird seeds today, and could only buy
"Black Sunflower " seed. never had them before, and are they any different from ordinary seeds?

[pusskin]

Forgot to say that they are known as --Hi-Energy seeds

[ladybirder]

They are sunflower hearts with the shell on. They are cheaper than when shelled but you will have a mess as the birds will discard the black shell.

[tenrec]

My mum feeds the birds with them and they seem to like em

[pusskin]

I have blue tits and great tits on the seeds every day, they love them. I'm hoping these are more or less the same ones, just a different colour haha
thanks for replies folks.

[jules77]

We buy sunflower hearts, expensive, but no mess as they dont leave a thing.

[pusskin]

Thanks Jules, will have a look around and try some sunflower hearts now.
That will be a nice change for the birds x

[lankeela]

Sunflower seeds come in black or striped. The striped are what you usually buy for parrots etc and also for the wild birds but the black are usually just bought for wild birds. They contain more oil than the striped.

[wildwood]

Keep some of the whole seeds and plant them somewhere down the back in March. They will grow rapidly and when the seedheads are ripe you'll have greenfinches and the like from miles around.

[rowanwitch]

it seems that birds have 'learned' there is more energy in the black ones if you have two feeders one with black one with stripey the black will def. be busier

[pusskin]

Ah thank you, very interesting replies, and now know much more about the seeds. Tell you what --I'll have to grow some seeds now, thats for sure, and see the results. many many thanks all xx

[pusskin]

At the moment I have mixed the seeds and hung them up, but will seperate them when filling again and see who eats the most. (striped or black?)
I get so much fun watching birds so close to our conservatory, just a few yards away

[cazzz1975]

.

[Clanad]

Here in the U.S., the black seeds are known as "Oil" seeds since they are usually marketed for sunflower oil, while the striped ones mentioned are known as "confectionary" and are the ones that are sold to be eaten by humans (after soaking in brine).
We feed the black ones mixed 50-50 with hearts, only to cut down on the left over husks. The black shells clean up easil in the spring and I find a lot of them in mice nests, so they're recycled naturally for other uses...

[pusskin]

Thanks Clanad , thats interesting x

[seadogg]

Thanks for the tip Wildwood. Good for a semi-wild area (polite description for a chunk of our garden)

[pusskin]

I agree seadogg. wild woods idea of growing the seed is a brilliant idea. Shame we have to wait till March? Would you crack the shell a bit , to get it growing in the soil, compost?
Have now hung up 2 feeders with different coloured seeds and the birds are going potty --they love them x