Bird Food & WBU Custom Seed Blends
Better Food. More Birds.
Not all bird food is created equal. At Wild Birds Unlimited, our bird foods are selected for freshness, quality and nutrition—with the birds of Western North Carolina in mind.
Unlike many inexpensive seed mixes that contain filler ingredients birds often leave behind, our WBU blends are 100% edible and formulated with the foods birds actually want. Fresh seed is delivered to our store every week, so you can feel confident about what you're putting in your feeders.
Whether you want to attract a wide variety of backyard birds or have a feeder specifically for finches, woodpeckers or other favorites, we can help you choose the right food.
Our Favorite Seed Blends
No-Mess No Millet
One of our most popular blends—and for good reason! No-Mess No Millet contains hulled sunflower seeds, peanuts and calcium, so there are no shells left behind under your feeders.
It's an excellent all-purpose blend that attracts a wide variety of birds and works well in tube, hopper and tray feeders.
Available in 5, 10 and 20 lb. bags.
Seasonal Blends
Birds' nutritional needs change throughout the year, and our seasonal blends are designed to help meet those needs.
Winter SuperBlend® is packed with protein and fat to provide birds with valuable energy during cold weather.
Nesting SuperBlend® provides protein, fat and calcium to support nesting birds and their growing young during spring and summer.
Seasonal blends are available in 7 or 8 lb. bags.
Choice Blend
A great everyday blend featuring a variety of sunflower seeds, safflower and peanuts. Choice Blend attracts many of the birds we enjoy seeing at our Western North Carolina feeders.
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Seed Cylinders
Want less mess and longer-lasting bird food? Seed Cylinders are an easy, convenient way to feed your birds.
Seeds and other premium ingredients are tightly packed into a solid cylinder that fits into specially designed feeders. Because birds have to work a little harder to remove each bite, they often spend more time at the feeder—giving you more opportunities to watch them.
Popular varieties include Hot Pepper, Hot Pepper Cranberry, Hot Pepper No-Mess, Woodpecker, Cranberry and seasonal favorites.
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Suet
High-Energy Food for Year-Round Feeding
Suet provides birds with concentrated fat, protein and calories and can be offered throughout the year.
Our Wild Birds Unlimited suet is made from high-quality rendered beef kidney fat and includes nutritious ingredients such as peanuts, tree nuts and insects. Rendering removes moisture and helps create a higher melting point while protecting the suet from spoilage.
Suet is especially attractive to woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and other insect-eating birds. It's particularly valuable during cold weather, when birds need extra calories, and during times when natural insects may be harder to find.
SuperSuet®
For even more nutrition, try SuperSuet®. These premium suets and no-melt varieties contain the highest levels of protein and fat in our WBU suet lineup.
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Finch Food
Goldfinches and other finches have some definite food preferences. Two favorites are Nyjer® and fine sunflower chips.
Nyjer®
Nyjer is a small, oil-rich seed similar to the tiny seeds finches naturally find in plants such as thistles and goldenrod.
It's especially attractive to American Goldfinches, House Finches, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins and other small-billed seed-eating birds.
Because Nyjer is so small, it's best offered in a specially designed finch feeder with tiny feeding ports.
WBU Finch Blend
Our WBU Finch Blend combines Nyjer with fine sunflower chips—two foods finches love. The sunflower is already hulled, making it easy for finches to eat while providing valuable fat and protein.
Finches can be particularly picky about freshness. We also carry Feeder Fresh, a natural product that helps keep finch food fresh inside your feeder.
Tip: Store extra finch food in your refrigerator or freezer to help maintain freshness.
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Peanuts
Peanuts are nutritional powerhouses, providing birds with plenty of protein, fat and calories.
Shelled peanuts attract chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers and jays, while peanuts in the shell are especially popular with Blue Jays and squirrels.
Watch a Blue Jay closely and you may see it fly off with an entire peanut to hide for later—a behavior known as caching.
Peanuts are also a favorite ingredient in many of our premium seed blends and suet products.
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Bark Butter®
A Favorite of More Than 160 Bird Species
Jim's Birdacious® Bark Butter® is a spreadable bird food that has attracted more than 155 species of birds across North America.
Spread it directly on tree bark or use one of our Bark Butter feeders. Prefer something even easier? Bark Butter Bits® offer the same appeal in bite-sized form.
Both are also available in Hot Pepper varieties.
Bark Butter attracts an incredible variety of birds, including woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, bluebirds, wrens, thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks and more.
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Hot Pepper Bird Foods
Feed the Birds, Discourage the Critters
Hot pepper bird foods are a great option when squirrels and other mammals are helping themselves to your feeders.
Birds do not respond to capsaicin—the compound that makes peppers hot—the same way mammals do. That means birds can happily eat hot pepper-treated foods while squirrels and other mammals generally prefer to look elsewhere.
We carry an extensive selection of Hot Pepper seed blends, Seed Cylinders, suet and Bark Butter products.
Our loose Hot Pepper seed formulations are made with a higher heat level than many competing blends, making them especially effective at discouraging unwanted feeder visitors.
Tip: Use a feeder with a roof or weather guard to help keep rain from washing away the hot pepper oils.
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Mealworms
A Bluebird Favorite
Mealworms are an excellent source of protein and fat and are especially popular with Eastern Bluebirds. Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers and other insect-eating birds enjoy them too.
We carry both live and dried mealworms.
Live mealworms are especially useful during nesting season. Parent birds readily carry them back to their young, and the moisture in live insects provides growing nestlings with both nutrition and hydration.
Dried mealworms are convenient, easy to store and can be offered throughout the year.
Tray and cup feeders with higher sides work especially well for offering mealworms.
Tip: Keeping Live Mealworms
Live mealworms can be kept for several weeks in the refrigerator at approximately 40–50°F. Ours come ready to refrigerate in containers with bran.
Planning to keep them longer than a week? Ask us for feeding and storage tips—we're happy to help.
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Not Sure What Food to Choose? Come in and talk to us and we'll help you choose the best bird foods for your yard and the birds you want to attract!