Living with Birds Sunflower Hearts for Garden Birds Bird Food

A sunflower heart is not the same as a sunflower seed. A sunflower seed has a hard outer shell, also known as a husk, and within this lies the sunflower ‘heart’. Many species, particularly smaller birds,have difficulty breaking open whole sunflower seeds in order to remove the hearts. This is the mostnutritional part of the seed, full of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Sunflower hearts are loved by manyspecies of garden birds. They are easier to consume, whilst also preventing the discarded husk wastearound your bird feeders.

Like many types of bird food, if not stored correctly sunflower seeds can go stale. They should be kept in a cool, dry place with minimum exposure to moisture, heat, or light to keep them fresh and nutritious for your garden birds. If they begin to give off an unpleasant smell, this could be a sign that they are turning bad.

Sunflower hearts are not able to germinate after being removed from their husks. Germination will only occur if the sunflower seed is whole and is exposed to the right levels of moisture, heat, and oxygen.

Sunflower hearts are not harmful to dogs if digested. However, whilst they are not poisonous, if the sunflower seeds are not dehusked first the shells can be hard for dogs to swallow and digest, so could present a choking hazard. Dogs can also have allergies to seeds and nuts, so it is best to be cautious if feeding sunflower hearts to your dog.