NO-MESS bird seed offers many benefits when feeding birds.
But, as the name suggests, the BEST part about these foods is that they don’t leave behind any shells, husks, or hulls! Your feeding station area remains clean. 🙂
But what are the BEST no-mess food mixes to consider?
Today, I am providing SIX different blends, with links showing where you can buy them online. I’m also including my thoughts on each one. Make sure you make it to the end of the list because #6 is BY FAR my favorite option for no waste bird foods.
*Read these two posts to learn more about No-Mess bird seed:*
And just remember, if you go looking for a no-mess bird seed blend at a local store, make sure it doesn’t include any FILLER seeds. Unfortunately, many manufacturers include FILLER foods, which are super cheap, to help bring the cost of the bag down. These filler foods (such as milo) are rarely eaten by most types of birds.
Ingredients:
- Sunflower kernels
- Peanut pieces
- Almond pieces
- Pistachio pieces
- Hulled white millet
- Pecan pieces
- Shelled pumpkin seed pieces
All the foods in this blend are either small or have been chopped up into pieces, which means this no-mess mix is great to use in situations where the food needs to flow through a feeder.
A great example would be a tube feeder and most hopper-style feeders. Larger food that has not been broken up, such as peanuts and almonds, tends to get stuck inside these types of feeders.
Aspects tube feeder / Absolute II hopper feeder
This blend has an incredibly healthy mixture of seeds and tree nuts. Your birds will be very pleased eating this food. Seriously, it’s making me hungry and I want to go find a trail mix for myself (I LOVE almonds and pistachios)!
Ingredients:
- Sunflower kernels
- Shelled peanuts
- Pistachios
- Pecans
- Shelled pumpkin seeds
This no-mess mix is similar to the first blend on the list, except you will notice that the seeds have NOT been broken up into pieces. Instead of peanut pieces, you are getting the entire shelled peanut. Instead of pistachio pieces, you get the whole pistachio.
The main difference between food pieces and the whole food is the type of feeder you can put it in. The Lyric Delite High Protein No Waste Mix probably wouldn’t work great in most tube feeders, since the larger food might get stuck. Instead, you should use it mostly with platform or tray feeders.
Woodlink 3 in 1 Platform / Domed Tray Feeder
In my opinion, most birds seem to prefer the WHOLE food, instead of the seed or nut being chopped up into pieces. But that is just from my personal experience, and your results may vary.
In addition, this mixture does NOT have white proso millet, which is normally a food that is included for GROUND feeding birds.
Ingredients:
- Sunflower kernels, Peanuts, Cracked corn, Raisins, Pistachio, Almonds, Canary grass seed, Dried cranberries, Walnuts, Pecans
This no-mess blend is the winner for the MOST amount of ingredients!
But just because there are a lot of different types of food doesn’t mean that the Kaytee Ultra Waste Free Nut & Fruit Blend is better. Let’s dive in a bit further.
Honestly, most of the foods in this blend are great. I like that sunflower kernels and peanuts are the first two ingredients, which means they are the most prominent. Cracked corn is next, which is a very inexpensive food that will appeal to many birds that feed on the ground.
It’s also nice to see a little bit of dried fruit (raisins and cranberries). Some birds eat dried fruit to help supplement their diet, and you may even see some birds that are not normally attracted to feeders, like American Robins.
Canary Grass Seed
The only seed in the bag that doesn’t seem necessary is canary grass seed. This food doesn’t appeal to many types of birds, with the exception of ones that feed on the ground. And canary grass seed is more expensive by weight than cracked corn, or even white proso millet, so it just seems like an expensive alternative that could have been eliminated.
Ingredients:
- Sunflower Kernels
- Peanuts
- Pistachios
- Hulled Pumpkin Seed
Was this no waste bird food blend made for birds or for me? Seriously, that is a great-looking list of ingredients!
I like that this mixture has no “filler” seeds. All the seeds and nuts should be eaten quickly by your backyard birds.
Honestly, it’s great that Wild Delight didn’t try to get too fancy by including lots of different ingredients. They kept it simple with foods that birds LOVE!
Ingredients:
- Sunflower kernels
- Peanut pieces
- Cracked corn
- Shelled pumpkin seeds
The Wagner’s Gourmet Waste Free Bird Food blend keeps it simple with only FOUR ingredients. But these four ingredients will appeal to a WIDE variety of bird species.
The ingredients in this mixture are very similar to the Wild Delight No Waste Bird Food (#5) above, with the exception of one food. Instead of having pistachios, Wagner’s Gourmet Waste Free Bird Food includes cracked corn.
One food isn’t technically better than the other, but the two are just different and attract different birds. Cracked corn is less expensive than pistachios, and also appeals to birds that feed on the ground. But since cracked corn is a grain, it is also favored by some invasive species that tend to take over feeding stations, like House Sparrows and European Starlings.
#6. Make your own no-mess bird seed blend!
All of the no-waste bird seed mixes that I’ve listed so far are great. They include ingredients that birds love and also won’t leave behind any mess for you.
Unfortunately, there is one problem:
Did you click on the included links above? If so, you probably realized that no-mess blends are expensive! You might be asking yourself if it’s worth paying a lot more money just to avoid cleaning the mess that shell waste leaves behind.
Luckily, there are a few solutions.
First, almost without fail, it’s significantly cheaper to buy bags of bird food at a local store than buying online. One reason for this is the high cost of shipping bird seed since it is heavy. But even buying a no-mess bird seed blend locally can be costly.
Have you ever tried making your own no-mess food?
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time that I bought a pre-made bird food mix. I ALWAYS make my own! Here’s what I do:
At a hardware store near my house, I buy individual bags of seed, like sunflower kernels, shelled peanuts, and corn. By weight, buying the bags individually is typically much less expensive.
Then when I feed my birds, I just combine all the different seeds and nuts together! I have separate metal garbage cans for each food, which allows me to change the ratio of each mix I offer every day. But you could also just mix all the different seeds together in one large bin if you find that easier.
Buying bird food can get VERY expensive. I have found the least expensive option for me is the strategy of buying separate bags of food and making my own mix each day!
What is your favorite NO-MESS bird seed?
Please leave a COMMENT below! 🙂
*Read these two posts to learn more about No-Mess bird seed:*
