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How to Feed Flax Seeds to Finches

Feeding finches in the winter brings them to where you can watch them. You can even get involved in one of the bird counting programs that universities like Cornell or the Audubon society run. According to Cornell University winter feeding of birds does not affect their migratory pattern. Purple finches and gold finches, two of the most common finches in the U.S., are frequent feeder visitors and both eat flax seed.

Things You'll Need

Thistle bird feeder
Sock thistle feeder
2-liter plastic bottle
Metal hanger
Wire cutters
Knife

Instructions

- 1
  Obtain a fine mesh wire tube birdseed feeder designed for offering thistle to finches. Remove perches if there are any. Finches can hang from the fine mesh and don't require perches. Fill the tube with flax seed and hang it from a tree limb or flower hook.
- 2
  Fill a seed sock, old or new, with flax seeds. Hang the sock in the yard somewhere you aren't trying to have "perfect" grass because some of the flax may grow.
- 3
  Make a thistle feeder from an old plastic soda bottle by poking holes in the bottle and putting straight pieces wire hangers that were cut into 8-inch pieces through the holes for perches. Cut vertical holes with a knife 1 inch above and below the perches. Fill the bottle with flax seeds and place it on a table. With this design perches are necessary because there is nothing else for the finches to hang from.
- 4
  Mash flax seed into suet and smear the suet against the bark of a tree.

Animals & Science