Living with Birds Sunflower Hearts for Garden Birds

Sunflower hearts are a firm favourite among garden birds and will attract a whole host of visitors to your feeders. Easily digestible, they are enriched with healthy oils and have exceptionally high energy content, meaning they are perfect for year-round feeding.

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.

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 most nutritional part of the seed, full of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Sunflower hearts are loved by many species of garden birds. They are easier to consume, whilst also preventing the discarded husk waste around your bird feeders.

Sunflower hearts for birds attract a wide range of species to your feeders or bird table, offering a nutritious and easy-to-eat food source. Among the enthusiasts of sunflower hearts and sunflower chips are Blue tits, Robins, Starlings, Collared doves, Dunnocks, Goldfinches, Great spotted woodpeckers, Great tits, Greenfinches, Long-tailed tits, House sparrows, Wood pigeons, Robins, Starlings and Nuthatches. These birds, known for frequenting bird feeding stations, find sunflower hearts particularly appealing due to their high energy content and ease of consumption, making them a favourite in any bird feeding setup.