Many important factors determine the quality of bird seed. At the Avant-Garden shop, our customers tell us again and again that after switching from cheap big box store seeds to the quality feed they find at our shop, they see immediate improvement in bird activity and variety at their feeders.
The majority of the bird food we carry is grown in Canada.
Here’s a quick primer on what ingredients and factors contribute to high quality bird seed that we carry in the shop.
The Quality of Bird Food We Carry
– “New Crop” is from the most recent growing year. “Old crop” is from any year not current and could be years old and stale. (Who likes stale food? I certainly don’t and neither do birds.)
– Clean, not dusty and oil free. (You may notice big box seed supplies are dusty. Sometimes you may even read on the label that the bag may contain oil to suppress dust.) Our seed is not dusty, so oil is not necessary.
– Seed that is no more expensive than big box stores (that we now know could be stale and dusty or containing oil). When you compare it pound for pound, kilo for kilo, you will be surprised.
– Hulled sunflower seeds that birds love; they’re a clean, high-energy food. (Black oil sunflower seeds may seem cheaper by the pound but there’s another thing you may not realize: this seed is separated by weight. Lightweight seeds are blown off a conveyor belt and end up in the cheaper bags. Pound for pound, you’re paying for more shells and fewer kernels, so less food value for the birds. The shells that sunflower seeds come from also contain a chemical which kills your grass.) Hulled sunflower seeds are a bit pricier but does not kill grass or leave a mess of shells behind. Many birds love and need the hulled sunflower seeds and in cool, wet weather for providing essential quick energy.
Video: Seed Busters In a Garden Gate episode from October 2024, I’ve purchased a bag of seeds purchased from a big-box store; see what I learned after separating and measuring the contents and talking to my seed supplier. Watch the video on seed content.
Video: Grackle Busters Watch our recent video from May 23, 2025, on choosing feeders and accessories that protect seed for your favourite birds and are inaccessible to pesky birds. Watch the video on keeping grackles and starlings out.
In closing…
If you’re finding cheap prices on bird feed bags, especially those carried in big box stores, you can probably expect 3 outcomes:
- Freshness will be questionable; filler, dust and oil content will be high, good seed count will be low
- Pesky birds may move in, gobble it up and make a mess
- The birds you want to attract will go elsewhere for good food
Now you know why quality seeds bring quality birds. Happy birdwatching! ~