Cole's SA20 Safflower Bird Seed, 20-Pound

I purchased this seed to mix in with some others I had and create my own blend for my song birds. My birds seem to love it, as this is the first thing gone in my feeders. The size of the seeds worked well with the feeders I have. Because of the fondness from my birds for this. It does not make much of a mess. Overall I think this is a good sized bag and priced well. It is pretty odorless.

I love that this bird seed is not favored by the squirrels and it doesn’t germinate grasses.

I was getting a lot of grackles and starlings at my backyard bird feeder and they would empty it in half a day, while pushing out the more desirable birds. Previously I used a high quality mixed bird seed and would get numerous birds such as cardinals, house finches, purple finches, chickadees, nuthatches, juncos, blue jays, red bellied woodpeckers, red winged black birds, mourning doves along with the grackles, starlings, sparrows, and cow birds.Since switching to safflower seed I get much less of a variety of birds but I don't get nearly as many of the "nuisance birds". The majority of the birds I now get are doves and finches. They absolutely love this stuff and can be seen around the feeder almost constantly. I initially thought I'd save a little money since the blackbirds wouldn't be pillaging my feeder on a daily basis, but it seems like the finches and doves can go through the seed almost as quickly. Combine that with the fairly high cost of this seed and I'm probably breaking even.I also have seen more cardinals since switching to this seed. A few sparrows still come by but they seem to just pick through the seeds knocking them to the ground, which the doves and cardinals seem to appreciate. I have seen very few grackles or starlings if any since switching and the squirrels don't seem to take as much interest either. I have seen a couple of cowbirds but they don't stick around long. I am a little disappointed that I haven't seen the red bellied woodpecker in a while, nor have I seen many nuthatches which seemed to be more plentiful before, but all in all I'm satisfied with the product.I get a bit less variety of birds but much fewer of the undesirable ones. The price seems a little high but the quality is good. All in all I would say this was a good switch.

Call me crazy, but I bought this seed to feed the chipmunks, whom my indoor cats find endlessly entertaining. I put the seed in a dish on the ground by a window, and while the chipmunks fill their cheeks up greedily, only very hungry squirrels bother to eat it. The squirrels far prefer sunflower seed, so they hang around under my regular bird feeder, and leave the safflower for the chipmunks. They only eat the safflower when the bird feeder runs out. This is a huge relief for me, since I wasn't interested in feeding all of the neighborhood squirrels. Chipmunks don't eat nearly so much, so this 20 lb. bag lasts a while.For all of the normal people out there buying this product to feed birds, the fact that squirrels may head over to your neighbor's feeder for cheap sunflower seed could mean a significant cost savings for you in the long run. Mind you, I'm not saying that squirrels won't eat safflower, only that it's not their preference. I can also attest from previous experience that cardinals love safflower (although they won't eat from a dish on the ground).

It's cheaper than at Home Depot. I don't have to lug it home. I go thur this stuff fast as I feed about 35 Morning Doves, 20 Cardinals, and a few Sparrows a day with this feed. The package at Home Depot says Doves don't eat Safflower seed, well mine do, and they do a lot. I started using Safflower seed to not attract Squirrels to the feeder. Squirrels, unless starving, do not eat this seed. (I feed the squirrels and other birds Unsalted nuts, cause I don't like hungry critters) The Cardinals love it.

Nice clean seed and well packaged. This seed attracts titmice, cardinals, finches and chickadees but squirrels won't touch it which is wonderful. I feed the squirrels their sunflower mix in a separate place in the yard so the poor birds have a nice clean, not crooked, messed up and chewed on feeder. The squirrels can sure make a mess of the poor birds' feeder.

The birds wait for this every morning. There is a good bit of shell waste, but not quite as much or as big as sunflower shells. I mostly love that the cardinals really like this, and the squirrels don't!

A neighbor of mine told me about safflower seeds, which the big black crows hate. I've seen blue jays eat it, cardinals, doves, finches, etc., so it's a good all-purpose seed and it doesn't make weird weeds grow in your yard under the bird feeder. My review is really about the merchant selling the seeds. It takes FOREVER to get your product. First you get a date, then you get a woops, sorry we're running late, then you don't even get your product. I'm still waitng for my latest order. From now on, I'll just go to the local "birding" store and buy it there.