Fall is for feeding

Ahh … Autumn's arrival.

The cooler days beckon your customers to return to their yards to play in the dirt again. While shoppers enjoy fall foliage on the way to your store, songbirds are foraging for food — and they could use your help.

Mama birds have been busy all summer nurturing their babies with worms, insects and berries. Fall changes are in the air, depriving wild birds of their full food supply. Too bad, because fall is the time many birds migrate and those fledglings need to bulk up their body weight to withstand the long flights. Even those birds that remain in the colder season need food for body fuel to make it through those crisp, cool nights. Opportunity knocks for independent garden centers.
 

Birding is big

Hopefully your center has discovered just how popular birding is with garden enthusiasts. Birding is the second most-popular hobby in the U.S. (next to gardening) and the fastest growing one. With an up-trending emphasis on outdoor living, homeowners are creating personal retreats in their backyards, and birding fits right in. If your garden center hasn’t tapped into the emerging birding market, why are you waiting?

Some centers carry bird seed (feed) only, but no feeders for customers to fill. Others carry bird feeders, but no bird seed. Smart stores carry both and often merchandise them together.
 

Birds know seed

Matching the seed with the songbird feeder ensures repeat sales and returning customers. Wild birds like some seed better than others. If they like what you sell, the birds eat more, customers run out more often, and return to your store to restock. More seed sales = more smiles.

An IGC should offer shoppers some basic birdseed choices and some functional feeders that radiate value. Let’s identify some seed essentials:

Remember that old jingle “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee”? Well, no wild bird (with a few exceptions) doesn’t like black-oil sunflower seed. It’s ice cream to most birds — especially cardinals. Start by selecting a seed supplier that offers black-oil sunflower seed in 25 and 40 pound bags and stock up. It sells well year round. Try for a brand that sifts the seed thoroughly before bagging, which reduces the amount of waste in the form of stems and chaff. Exercise prudent pricing as birding buyers focus on the current cost of sunflower seed in their comparison shopping.

A second type of seed to stock is a good mixed blend. Ideally, it should include black-oil sunflower, sunflower meats, safflower, cracked corn, white millet and some shelled peanuts. Try not to accept blends with milo as few birds like it. Some premium blends add pecans, canary seed, raisins, and other dried fruit. Customers like to see the blends. If it looks appetizing to them, surely the birds will like it, too. Try for a brand that uses clear, see-through packaging. Mixed blends can be stocked in popular 10 and 20 pound bags.

The third essential seed is thistle or Nyjer seed. This tiny black shell has even a smaller seed inside, which is thoroughly enjoyed by goldfinches and others. Nyjer costs more, but is offered in smaller clear bags ranging from 2 to 10 pounds. Nyjer will rank third in sales behind black-oil sunflower and mixed-seed blends.
 

A fistful of feeders

Functional feeders are essential to a good birding department, but there is no need to get carried away with too many decorative styles and colors. Stick to the basics.

Wooden hopper feeders succumbed to the popularity of tube-type feeders because hobbyists see the birds better and they are easier to maintain. For stores, tube feeders take up less valued shelf space, which makes it a win-win for all.

Tube feeders often come in three best-selling sizes: 10 inches, 17 inches, and 26 inches, and while available in a variety of colors, dark green sells best. Offer a brand with a thicker, durable, poly-carbonate clear tube with metal around the open seed portals. (This keeps critters from chewing and enlarging portals). To prevent rust, ensure you sell a brand that uses a stainless steel hanger and screws.

The seed portals on tube-type Nyjer feeders are different from those on the sunflower/mixed-seed varieties. They consist of tiny slits or round holes barely big enough for the finches to pull the seed out. You might want to opt for yellow color thistle feeders. It helps you, your staff, and the customer distinguish thistle feeders from the rest.

Your IGC need not carry the Cadillac of bird feeders (but then don’t carry the Yugo model, either). Find a brand better than what the big box stores carry that radiates both good value and quality and lasts more than a season. It might take some trial and error to find the “sweet spot” your customers is willing to pay for a good feeder.
 

Be a hummingbird helper

Lest we forget another popular bird that doesn’t find food in a seed feeder, remember the hummingbird. Various hummingbird species are found nearly everywhere in the U.S. and birding hobbyists love them. So what do they eat?

“Hummers” eat tiny insects and get liquid nourishment from flowers and customer-prepared “nectar” (sugar water). The nectar’s sucrose sugar may be sold in your store in small packets, like Kool-Aid, with the recipe of one part sugar to four parts water being the rule. The nectar may be mixed in a pitcher, and then refrigerated for easy feeder-filling later.

Hummingbirds are visually attracted to the color red, so it makes sense to stock only red feeders. If the feeder is red, the nectar need not be. Stick with clear nectar only. Some people prefer a shorter tube-looking hummingbird feeder where the nectar is visible. Others select a flying saucer shape. Your store should stock both styles. A glass globe or “jar” is preferred over the plastic ones. Glass holds up better in the sun, is more environmentally friendly, and cleans easier, projecting a better value.

In fall, hummers are preparing for their epic migration — some as far as South America, but don’t abandon your stock of feeders. Some species stay around all year, and humming bird feeders make popular Christmas gifts.
 

Encourage the hobby

As with any hobby, people begin with the basics, eventually craving more and expanding their collections. Birders start out with essential seed and feeders. As customers find success with your basic seed and feeder offerings, they will return to your store for the next layer in the hobby.

You can grow with them. Start this fall with the songbird “must haves” that beam value and quality. As winter (and holiday gift giving) approaches, add more products like suet, seed cakes, peanut feeders, thistle socks, seed trays, baffles, bird houses, and more. Grow with your birding hobby customers and they will grow and stay with you.

Mike is a retired retailer of award-winning stores. He continues to assist specialty retailers in their quest for business excellence. Mike and his wife Kathy live on an Audubon-certified bird sanctuary near Atlanta, Ga. andersonwriter@gmail.com