For those of you that feed sunflower seeds, do you feed the grey striped or the black striped?

I only feed sunflower seeds to the wild birds. Voted "other" since I use the Black Oil seeds. We go through 50 pounds roughly every two weeks in the winter.

We use Black Oil too & only for wild birds.
I don't think Winkie knows what sunflower is 'cause he won't eat them.

Leigh have you tried the ones already shelled non salted.......... or is it not a good part of diet.........I know w fed to wild birds when I lived in family home..all winter.......

My tiels get a small amount of grey striped seeds. The black seeds are considered to be better for wild birds since they're higher in fat, but I think indoor birds are better off with fewer calories. Not all of my tiels like sunflower, and I used to have a bird who enjoyed cracking the shells off but wouldn't eat the seed.

I only use sunflower seeds from the sunflowers I grow, so they are a seasonal treat.

I buy white sunflower mostly. Sometimes I will get a little grey stripe. Sometime they get safflower.

Karen ........ I use whatever is in the quality seed mixes that I purchase and that is mostly the darker colored ones with racing stripes mostly on the edges. All my flock members are fully flighted in long sized flights or get plenty of flight time in the house, so they can of course burn the calories off much easier than clipped birds can.

Okay, I was at BP today with Bella getting food and picked up a couple other things.

While I was getting food for her I was going to get her a few new mixes that hopefully would have no sunflower seeds in them. Sadly there are veeery few that do. I know sunflowers are bad for our FIDs but I also recall for at least when I did dieting that they have some benfits in terms of fiber. The stuff in the food is for the most part shelled. I got her the Island Treat nut and fruit mix that has hulled sunflower seeds and I looked over the others that have it. Other than the just tomatoes berry mix that she got also and the veggie mix most have it. That is unless I go back to making my own stuff.

I was always under the idea that sunflower seeds should be avoided like the plague but are they harmful when given in moderation with a balanced diet?

IMO, No

Mother Nature has created a nutritional power pack that is hard to beat in sunflower seeds. Healthy unsaturated fats, protein and fiber, plus important nutrients like vitamin E, selenium, copper, zinc, folate, iron and phytochemicals come wrapped up in this small and perhaps unsuspected package – a sunflower seed.

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Sunflower Seed