Cole’s Wild Feed… is for the birds!!!

Tweet

The weather this Winter has been all over the place: somewhat alarmingly warm, then freaking-GAWD how low can our thermometer go? And that’s just us humans. We worried about the birds. Well some of us worried, others kept saying “they’re birds, they’re used to this.” We, dialogued, and the we-invited-them-here-we-have-a-responsibility-to-them brigade won out

To ensure that our feathered friends keep flying, we diligently fill the feeders in the RainyDayGarden because we know—as all of the books that ONE of us reads tells us—that finding food can be a challenge in the Winter: there’s not much left on the plants, and a lot of what’s on the ground is frozen there.

Attendance has been high during the harsher days and the visitors have been appreciative of the food.

The feed most preferred by our visitors? Cole’s Wild Bird Feed, of course!!!

Cole’s Wild Feed

Cole’s line of quality wild feed contains seeds that birds actually eat. They don’t add cheap filler seeds like Milo, Wheat, Red Millet, Flax, or old crop leftovers.

If you’ve ever bought the cheaper-than-cheap stuff and were a little surprised at 1) the number of sticks in the bag, and 2) how much of the stuff was not eaten by your feathery friends, you’ll appreciate Cole’s approach to bird seed. Their bags of bird seed may seem more expensive at first, but when you see that all of it is eaten every time, you see that Cole’s offers both value for money and value for the birds.

They are a family-owned business, and all they do is bird seed. Awesome sauce!

Each type of seed is specifically selected for its appeal to specific groups of birds. In our recent shipment, we got the following:

• Blue Ribbon Blend – Black Oil Sunflower, Sunflower Meats, White Proso Millet, Cracked Corn
• Nutberry Suet Blend – Sunflower meats, Raw peanuts, Pecans, Blueberry-flavored cranberries, Cherries, Apple slices, Suet Kibbles
• Suet Kibbles – Vegetable Suet, Wheat Flour, Peanut Flour, Berry Flavor, Vegetable Color
• Hot Meats – Sunflower Meats, Liquid Habanero Chili Peppers, Safflower Oil

All of Cole’s bird seed is cleaned at least four times to remove sticks and dirt. The seeds are never coated with chemical or oil to make it “look better.”

Cole’s Hot Meats

During the “bombogenesis” storm in early January, our close friend, Fatty McFatfat, gave us a master class on “The Art of Mindful Eating.” Or “Yoga for Agile, Tree-Dwelling Rodents,” not sure which.

As impressive as that was, we didn’t want to let Mr. McFatfat freely raid the feeders.

Realizing that moving the feeder to a different spot was merely an exercise in futility, we did the smarter thing and filled our open feeders with Cole’s Hot Meats instead.

Cole’s Hot Meats are sunflower meats infused with fiery hot habanero chilies. It is a great no-waste, no-mess feed, full of vitamins A and D and carotene for birds, and has a flavor that keeps the squirrels at bay.

The chili pepper plant evolved over time to be attractive to birds. When a bird eats a chili, the seeds remain intact and pass through the bird and into its droppings, where they are spread over a wide area to grow and multiply.

So while chili peppers may taste hot to mammals, birds do not feel the heat. At all.

Cole’s “hot” products contain only natural, non-toxic, food grade ingredients and chili peppers. No added chemicals or other synthetics whatsoever.

Sensible precautions are obviously warranted when handling this feed; we used a scoop to fill the feeder instead of using our hands. Because they’re chilies, people: don’t rub your eyes with that hand.

It did not take long for the cardinals and the blue jays to belly up to the feeders. Judging by the reactions, everyone but Fatty McFatFat approves of Cole’s Hot Meats 🙂

We’ll keep an eye out to make sure that Fatty McFatFat isn’t just giving us a head-fake, but it is looking good so far!!!