Are Sunflower Hearts Good for Birds?

Yes, sunflower hearts are good for birds! Sunflower hearts (that is, sunflower seeds with their husks removed) provide essential nutrition and calories, which is particularly important during winter but can be helpful all year round. A wide variety of birds enjoy eating sunflower hearts, so if you put some out in your garden, you should find that they disappear very quickly!

Read on for more reasons to feed sunflower hearts to your garden birds.

Sunflower hearts are high in calories.

Wild birds require high-calorie foods like sunflower hearts (which are rich in oil and protein) to survive cold spells and keep themselves warm. In the UK, this is relevant throughout the year because of our famously unpredictable weather — you never know when the temperature is going to plummet!

Sunflower hearts are easy to eat.

Whole sunflower seeds are also high in calories, but sunflower hearts have the added benefit of being easier for birds to eat. Some birds struggle to remove the shells from sunflower seeds, so why not do the job for them and put out sunflower hearts that have already had their shells removed?

Put simply: by offering shell-free sunflower seeds, you’re enabling a wider variety of birds to access the health benefits of sunflower hearts!

Sunflower hearts make less mess.

On a related note, sunflower hearts aren’t just good for birds – they’re also good for your garden! The shells (or husks) from sunflower seeds will often end up littering the area beneath your feeding table or bird feeder. This can be messy to look at and could also potentially attract pests.

Rather than wasting time cleaning up all of those shells, go with sunflower hearts. These are great for staying tidy (which is why they’re a key ingredient in our best-selling Tidy Garden Mix™).

Sunflower hearts are perfect for combining with other seeds.

Just like humans, birds require a varied diet. Sunflower hearts are good for birds, but an even better option is to offer a seed mix that combines sunflower hearts with other nutritious ingredients. This way, birds can enjoy the healthy fat and energy provided by sunflower hearts, while still getting vital nutrients and minerals from other seeds.

By including sunflower hearts in your seed mixes, you are helping birds to enjoy a high-energy, healthy diet!

Ready to start serving sunflower hearts?

As we’ve established, sunflower hearts are very good for birds when they are enjoyed as part of a varied diet. High-calorie bird feeds like sunflower hearts help to keep our feathered friends in robust health, especially during the winter and other cold periods.

If you want to add some sunflower hearts to your bird feeding station, we’ve got some great options for you here at Really Wild Bird Food. We offer premium sunflower hearts, as well as sunflower heart chips for smaller birds and fledglings. Use the buttons below to shop healthy sunflower hearts for your garden birds.

Premium Sunflower Hearts   Sunflower Heart Chips