For the 26 years that the Wild Bird Habitat Stores have been in business, white safflower seed has been a staple of the 21 varieties of wild bird feeds we offer in bulk and pre-packaged. It is a product that blackbirds aren’t really fond of and squirrels pretty much ignore. The only disadvantage to white safflower seed is the ability of seed dropped to the ground to germinate. Also the white shells deposited on the ground as the birds hulled the safflower tend to accumulate.

Then about 15 years ago a product called NutraSaff™ Safflower, sometimes referred to as golden safflower, was developed by scientists at Safflower Technologies International (STI). Safflower is primarily crushed to extract safflower oil for the food industry. But this new form of safflower seed slowly found its way into bird feeding market. NutraSaff Safflower is rapidly growing in popularity among those that feed birds in their yards. The availability and distribution of NutraSaff continues to expand to fill the needs of the bird feeding industry.

So what is the difference between the traditional white safflower used for feeding birds and the NutraSaff Safflower that is now available?

• NutraSaff Safflower was hybridized to eliminate the hard white shell leaving an extremely thin brown hull that is 40% thinner. This makes it much easier for the birds to digest the seed or get at the inner nut meat. It also leaves less mess on the ground than traditional white safflower, and although it is still a seed, it poses little problem with germination. 
• NutraSaff Safflower seed has 15% more oil content than white safflower seed.
• NutraSaff Safflower seed is 25% high in protein than white safflower seed.
• NutraSaff Safflower is 30% higher in fat content than white safflower seed and it’s the fat content of seed which provides the energy birds require.
• NutraSaff Safflower is organic, Non-GMO and free of pesticides.
• NutraSaff Safflower is preferred 2 to 1 by a large variety of your favorite birds over traditional white safflower seed.
• NutraSaff Safflower is disliked by squirrels as is white safflower seed.

NutraSaff Safflower seed has become the #1 wild bird seed sold at our two Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Lincoln. .That’s not to say we don’t sell plenty of the other 21 varieties of bulk and packaged wild bird feeds we offer. On an annual basis we sell about 14,000 pounds of wild bird feeds per week. Of that roughly 4200 pounds sold each week is NutraSaff Safflower seed.

NutraSaff Safflower seed can be fed to birds in most all wild bird feeders: seed tube bird feeders, hopper bird feeders, platform bird feeders, ground bird feeders, and a few mesh bird feeders designed exclusively for feeding safflower seed.

Most all backyard  birds will readily feed on NutraSaff Safflower. Cardinals, Chickadees, nuthatches, House Finch, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, and native sparrows. But I’ve noticed a few other birds that are attracted to NutraSaff safflower seed. The American Goldfinch, once they adapt to feeding on NutrSaff, they seem to prefer it over the more expensive Niger thistle seed.

In fact I have a thistle seed bird feeder I keep filled with our fresh, triple cleaned Nyjer thisle seed for Goldfinch hanging near a seed tube bird feeder that always has NutraSaff Safflower seed in it. It is now to the point the Goldfinch won’t go to the thistle seed feeder unless all the perches on the seed tube bird feeder with NutraSaff are occupied. I now feed more NutraSaff and less Nyjer thistle to the Goldfinch.

That’s good for two reasons. Nyjer thistle seed is more expensive than NutraSaff  by about 30%. Also NutraSaff is grown by American farmers where as Nyjer seed is imported from India, Ethiopia, and Burma.

To my surprise I have even had woodpeckers occasionally feeding on NutraSaff Safflower seed. I am amazed at the variety of wild birds that flock to our bird feeders filled with NutraSaff.

And that seed tube bird feeder with NutraSaff I mentioned? Squirrels are plentiful in my neighborhood and that feeder hangs in a tree. That’s right! In a tree where squirrels are constantly present. But 99.9% of squirrels will ignore both white safflower seed and NutraSaff safflower seed. I have several bird feeders that I keep stocked with NutraSaff that are accessible to squirrels and I have never had issues with squirrels robbing those feeders.

Another benefit of feeding a safflower seed, white or NutraSaff, is that it is not a preferred seed by the Common Grackle. They may pick at it some but often leave it alone. They do not over power the feeders with NutraSaff as they do black oil sunflower or most other wild bird mixes.

If NutraSaff Safflower seed is not available in your area ask your local wild bird feed store to stock it. I guarantee you, and your retailer will not be disappointed. We get our wild bird feeds including NutraSaff Safflower from Des Moines Feed, a 50 year old wild bird feed company in Des Moines, Iowa. Our wild bird feeds are delivered fresh to our businesses twice weekly.  

Seed. I encourage you to give it a try. If you do, be patient. Some of our customers have attracted birds to NutraSaff as soon as they filled their feeder. For others it has taken a few days before the birds discovered it.

Here is some additional information about NutraSaff Safflower