How to Make Your Own Birdseed

Commercially purchased birdseed often contains basic seeds that are inexpensive and generally unappealing to birds. They will attract birds, but the variety of birds will be low, and if a better food source is found they may not come at all. Making your own birdseed, using a variety of different seeds, will attract many different birds, and will also provide them with the calories they need to survive.

Things You'll Need

  • Metal trashcan
  • Trashcan liner
  • Black sunflower seeds
  • Millet
  • Broom
  • Flax seeds
  • Peanut hearts
  • Cracked corn
  • Safflower seeds
  • Builders' sand
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Clean out a large metal trashcan with a lid. Put a trashcan liner into the can. Ensure the liner is the proper size for the can, and extends all the way to the bottom.

    • 2

      Pour 15 pounds of black sunflower seeds into the can. This commonly used seed has high energy content and is desirable to most varieties of birds. Add 10 pounds of millet to the sunflower seeds, and stir the two together using the wooden handle of a broom.

    • 3

      Add 5 pounds of flax seed and 5 pounds of peanut hearts to the mixture, and stir well. Flax seed is a favorite of finches and sparrows, and peanut hearts are high-calorie energy boosters that help keep the birds energized as they migrate.

    • 4

      Mix 2 pounds of cracked corn and 3 pounds of safflower seeds into the birdseed as before. Cracked corn is especially favored by blue jays, quail, doves, blackbirds and magpies.

    • 5

      Combine 2 to 3 pounds of coarse builder's sand with the birdseed, and stir well. This sand, called grit, is eaten by birds as a digestive aid, and will help break up some of the harder seeds.