Our small business is susceptible to the changing weather patterns. Here in the southeast the 90 degree weather is just about to break. We’ll finally be in the low 80s by the end of the week.

With the upcoming fall season comes a plethora of bird food. Fall plants are fruiting (dogwoods, service berries, etc,) tree nuts are falling (hickory nuts, acorns, etc,) which means… you will be using much less bird seed at this time of year.

How much less?

Here in NE Atlanta it is considerably less. As an example my fly-through feeder (pictured below) typically needs to be filled twice a day during the season, yet right now there is still seed ready to be eaten after 2 full days! That is a 4x change and the first acorns haven’t fallen yet!

As a business we notice it in wild bird seed sales. Every September, October, and early November seed sales drop but once the berries are all gone those backyard bird feeders become very important supplement of food for our wild birds. By winter your supplemental wild bird feeders become extremely important to your local birds.

What should you do this time of year?

This is a great time to take down your old feeder and give it a good cleaning. Use soap and water to clean the feeder; add in 1 part bleach to every 10 parts of soap and water to kill any remaining bacteria.  I also replace my large feeders with smaller ones this time of year. By going smaller I have less wild bird seed at risk of getting wet and being wasted.

Have a great fall, get ready for the migrating birds which will be arriving to a backyard near you very, very soon!