Offering cracked corn
Cracked corn is one of the cheapest seed options for attracting birds to your yard. It will attract a variety of birds, including sparrows, jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, doves, juncos, nuthatches and towhees. If wild game is in your area, it may also attract quail and pheasants. We actually purchase our corn from the local feed store for about $5.00 for a 50lb bag. You cannot get much more cost effective than that!
What to watch for when purchasing cracked corn
The interior of the kernel readily soaks up moisture. It therefore is quick to rot.
If the corn is too finely ground, it will turn to mush.
If the kernels are too large, smaller birds such as juncos and sparrows will have a hard time eating it.
How to offer cracked corn
Cracked corn will stay good longest protected in a waterproof hopper feeder. Most of the birds coming to my hopper feeder are finches and grosbeaks, however, and they do not seem to care much for corn.
Offered on a platform feeder, it will attract jays, cardinals, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
At the ground feeder, it will attract predominantly sparrows and juncos.
Added benefits:
Since sparrows eat cracked corn and cracked corn is cheap, I would prefer them to eat this than the more expensive black oil sunflower seed I keep in the platform and hopper feeders. House sparrows will eat from any feeder, but they seem to prefer to feed on the ground. Keeping cracked corn in a ground feeder for them greatly minimizes the amount of other seed they consume. It can also be scattered on a concrete porch or other hard surface. Be cautious about spreading it directly on the ground due to the potential for rotting.
Birds are not the only wildlife that likes corn. Squirrels, raccoons and opossums also eat it. I have not had too much difficulty with nighttime visitors at my feeders (they just got into our feed stores), but squirrels are a constant. In theory, giving them corn will curb their voracious appetites and save a little on other feeds. If this is true, I would hate to see how many sunflower seeds they would eat without the corn!
cracked corn, corn, backyard birding, birding, birdwatching, bird feeding, bird seed
September 5th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Hello! You visited my Texas RV Travel blog. I followed you right back here!
You may want to read a post on my Endangered Spaces blog. One of the problems facing us in global warming is that the birds we see at our feeders may move north. With the loss of bays and estuaries to rising waters, we may see extinction as a reality for many birds.
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