Buying Seed: Shells or No Shells?

Shells

 

We sell excellent seed blends with shells intact. As with all our food products, these blends are always fresh, filler-free, and highly nutritious. Seed in the shell is more resistant to moisture and molding. Some bird species cache (hide and retrieve later) the seed they find at your feeder. Cached seed in the shell is preserved longer with the protection of its shell.

Bags of seed sold with shells intact appear larger and always carry a lower price than shell-free No-Mess seed blends. The first impression is the bag with shells is a better deal – more food at a lower price. Actually, the bag with shells contains less food at a higher cost.

No Shells (Our No-Mess Blends)

 

Our unique No-Mess Blends feature seeds that have had their shells removed, leaving only the meat of the seed. No hulls on the seeds makes for tidier feeding since there's no debris on the ground to clean up. Pound for pound, our No-Mess Blends offer the best value because you do not pay for uneaten seed waste. The birds eat everything.

No shells. No mess. 100% edible. Our No-Mess Blends are great near flower beds, patios and decks.

Here are the facts:

No-Mess Blends are a better value.

All the large seed bags we sell in our stores are the same weight – 20 lbs. The bags with shells look fuller and bulkier because of the shells, not because there is more food in the bag. Because the shells take up more space, your feeder will empty quicker too.

A 20-lb. bag of a No-Mess Blend provides 20 lbs. of edible bird seed. A 20-lb. bag with shells provides approximately 11.4 lbs. of edible bird seed. The other 8.6 lbs. are shells. When you divide the price of the bag with shells by 11.4 lbs., the cost per edible pound is greater than that of a No-Mess Blend.

The shells dropped under your feeder create a few problems:

• Most blends carry a sizable percentage of black oil sunflower seeds. The shells from this seed contain tannic acid which can kill grass and other plants.

• The empty shells have some amount seed residue. The residue can attract unwanted visitors like mice and other creatures.

• The shell on a seed is nature’s way of protecting the seed and promoting germination. Birds can be messy and they often drop uneaten seed on the ground under your feeder. A seed in the shell is ready to germinate and grow. If you don’t want unplanned plant growth under your feeder, use a No-Mess Blend in your feeder.

• The shells quickly accumulate under your feeder, creating another task for your to-do list.

No-Mess Blends eliminate the problems with shells under your feeder.

Our No-Mess Blends = Better Value, No Damage to Plants, No Unwanted Growth, No Clean Up!

Stop by our store and let one of our Certified Bird Feeding Specialists assist you with the right seed blend to meet your bird feeding needs!