Bird seed compare

Post pics from phone showing seed types and amount eaten in 24 hours.

In order tested

Valley Splendor Supreme Blend Bird Feed $19.98 / 40 pounds

Wagner's 13013 Four Season Wild Bird Food, 40-Pound Bag $19.20 (including shipping)

Hill Country Fare Wild Bird Seed $7.78 / 20 pounds

3-30 @19:20 Wagner's on right and Valley Splendor on left. You can really see the Valley Splendor has a lot more sunflower seeds in it.

4-02 @17:51 After 46 hours the Valley Splendor is almost empty and the Wagner's is just below half. I might note here too most of what is in the spill tray is sunflower seeds.

4-04 @08:40 Swap sides, Wagner's on left and Valley Splendor on right.

4-06 @12:09 After two days, a lot less seed is gone than before and it really shows a lot more of the Valley Splendor is gone from the feeder than the Wagner's. Note though there appears to be a good bit more in the tray on that side too though.

4-06 @19:38 Next day reloaded the Wagner's on left and replaced Valley Splendor on right with Hill Country Fare.

4-08 @20:03 After two days we seem to have gone through a lot less seed. Note even though the Hill Country Fare side has less seed in the feeder it also has less feed in the tray so I would assume it is actually being eaten.

410 @07:49 Day three without refilling.

4-11 @07:56 Day four

4-12 @09:41 Day five

4-13 @08:02 Day 6 it looks like some of the bird will eat the Wagner's when the Hill Country Fare is low

4-13 @08:19 Once again just to confirm which side the feeder is on is not a factor I reloaded swapping sides. So now Wagner's is right and Hill Country Fare is left.

4-14 @07:22 After a day

4-22 @ 19:18 After 8 days.

So oddly the cheapest per pound seed, Hill Country Fare, also seems to be the most liked when you look at waste and it means I only need to refill once a week. I should also note since the Hill Country Fare has been out there doves have been stopping by though they need to eat from the try or by sitting on the bird bath being too big for the actual feeders.

Though I have to admit I'm seeing fewer small birds these and definitely not filling every perch as I've seen when I had Valley Splendor in both feeders so that might be a factor for you too. Compare the pics in my Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder Compare

where I had Valley Splendor in the larger feeder and a small seed only mix in the small one (because that was all you could use in it) Or this one from a couple weeks before I started the compare with Valley Splendor in both.

With these more common one with Hill Country Fare and Wagner's in the feeders.

Though this one cardinal might be a factor too.

Note I've found some even cheaper seed at Wal-mart. Given the above results  I'm tempted to try it against the  Hill Country Fare once I use up some of this other seed. Also thinking a mix of the Hill Country Fare and Valley Splendor might be and option too. For now I've mixed the couple pounds of Wagner's with close to 40 pounds of Valley Splendor I had left and to use them up in one feeder which might also indicate if a  Hill Country Fare and Valley Splendor might be worth while.

Update 6/16/2017: The amount of seed I have been going through has really dropped put I decided to do another test with 

Garden Treasures Wild 35-lb Bird Seed Bag (Millet) $14.98 / 35 pounds ( about 1 penny more / pound than Hill Country but is available nation wide at Lowes.

vs Hill Country Fare Wild Bird Seed 

Left and right respectively. I also added Audubon Park 1844 Berry Treat Suet Cake Wild Bird Food to the holder under the bird bath. 

You might also notice I added an upper baffle as one of my squirrels figured out he could leap from the side of the house onto the tray.

After 5 days I think it is safe to say Garden Treasures Wild 35-lb Bird Seed Bag (Millet)  lost.

 Also my semi flying squirrel figured out how to he could just reach a feeder with a vertical leap. 

But even he thought the Hill Country Fare Wild Bird Seed was better.

And as far as I can tell no one has touched the Audubon Park 1844 Berry Treat Suet Cake Wild Bird Food. The squirrel sniffed it while crossing between feeders but gave it a pass.

BTW you can see the progress and time lapse video of the feeders in these tests at KTXLEAND28 Wundercam

Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder Compare

Comparing the
Brome 1057 Squirrel Buster Standard Wild Bird Feeder Ordered on August 29, 2016
and the
Perky-Pet 337 Squirrel-Be-Gone III Wild Bird Feeder Ordered on October 4, 2016

A little background

I had a 12 perch Birdscapes Deluxe Grandview Bird Feeder I really liked. It held 8 pounds of seed and was easy to fill. I'd fill it about once a week. But then this happened.



With the reduction in cats out here a squirrel decided to show his displeasure with the feeder not being refilled in a timely manner. So I went looking for something to not only keep the squirrels from spilling all the seed but chewing up. I bought the steel clad Brome 1057 Squirrel Buster Standard Wild Bird Feeder but the larger seeds were clogging it up so quickly almost no seed was getting dispensed so I bought the, also steel clad, Perky-Pet 337 Squirrel-Be-Gone III Wild Bird Feeder. Later I happened on finch seed for the Brome feeder that seemed to work well. Both work on the idea of a spring loaded outer shell that slips down to cover the seed when something as heavy as a squirrel climbs on. Like

After 4 months use

I've had both of these awhile now and I still seem to be going through a good amount of seed compared to my old non squirrel proof one.even though I have not seen one of the squirrels attempt access. Since it was calm yesterday so I did a sort of timed test to see where all the bird seed is going. I have not seen Sid (Squirrel Indigenous Demon) testing the anti squirrel features since I installed the new feeders but I wanted to confirm he and the wind were not taking the seed. I filled them both at 8:23 AM. The Squirrel Buster feeder holds 3/4 quart of finch seed.  The Squirrel-Be-Gone holds the same 8 pounds (about 5 quarts) of seed my old feeder did but it seems to go faster.


And then took pics at 6:05 PM. Here is what they looked like by 6 PM. The Squirrel-Be-Gone

and the Squirrel Buster


After reviewing the video I found the feeders are full of birds most of the day (saved some interesting shots here) but wind and squirrels did not seem to be a factor. By the time I went out at lunch today the Squirrel Buster was virtually empty with at most an once left.


At first glance it might look like the Squirrel Buster dispensed more seed but as it turns out it took about a quart more seed to refill the Squirrel-Be-Gone. That might have been partly caused by the Squirrel Buster being almost empty which might have made some birds go to the other feeder. Bottom line it would seem I just have a lot of hungry birds about. I even saw one of the "larger" birds on the smaller feeder though some of the people on Amazon said they would trigger the squirrel defense. I have not seen anything as large as a dove or pigeon try and land on either. As a general rule though any birds larger than a finch seem to prefer the larger Squirrel-Be-Gone.

One issue though is you have to make sure the squirrels can not climb the pole and reach the feeder. Otherwise this happens.

There is a baffle under the tray but this guy sorted if he climbed up on the ledge the other side of the walkway from the feeder he could make the jump to the tray and then climb up.

Update 6/16/2017: Adding a baffle above did not help because flaps did not close when Sid junped up from the tray to the feeder. Had 2 more notches left to loosen springs so I did that for next round. FYI you adjust the springs here

Here is Sid hanging onto one feeder and the the other.

I finally gave up trying to keep Sid out though the above works on the rest. For Sid I put corn in the tray and he seems OK with that. As an unexpected bonus dove started showing up too.

Drinking water

I did a Facebook post comparing the testing results of drinking water available locally with that of filtered water.  When I get time I'll try to replicate here with related. Till then, it is public so have a look.

Below is the recreation of the Jun 4th 2015 post with follow on posts.

I bought a water tester the other day to know when to change my water filters. What I found shows just how crazy this whole market is.
Note this is NOT the tester that comes with the Zero Water system. It is the high end one from the same company that supplies the testers to Zero Water.

From Pur tap connected filter. Note Was reading mid 300s with old filter so swapped out. Went over 800 till I let it run for awhile!

HEB store brand drinking water

The winner so far. Might need to get a couple high end brands for comparison too.

Another store brand of drinking water.

Zero Water 23 cup dispenser. Note this is with a new filter and they say to replace it when it hits 6 with the provided meter which should be about 8 gallons with my water. I'll be checking to see what happens around 8 gallons. Note if the filters do only last 8 gallons it will be cheaper to buy the purified drinking water at $0.79/gallon than Zero Water filters at $13.30 per filter and by the tester possibly better for me.

Water straight from tap. Well water after the water softener.

From other posts

Wal-mart distilled water

Wal-mart drinking water

Ozarka for compare