Attract Birds With White Proso Millet Seed

Which Birds Eat White Proso Millet?

Adding white proso millet to your seed offerings can bring in a variety of smaller birds. In addition, its high protein and fat content makes it a beneficial choice. “It’s a small seed, so your small-beaked birds will like it — painted buntings, chipping sparrows, house finches, even doves,” Danny Daniels, a longtime employee at Wild Birds Unlimited in Summerville, South Carolina, and amusingly self-proclaimed “seed general,” says. He mentions that birders can often choose between standard white proso millet and hulled. Hulled millet removes the seed’s casing, so it makes for less mess.

According to Karen Hammond, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited locations in Wilmington and New Bern, North Carolina, other birds that eat white millet include sparrows, cardinals, finches, buntings, grosbeaks, wrens, and pine siskins. Crows, waterfowl, and starlings tend to avoid it, she says. Danny adds a general rule: “the smaller the beak of the bird, the more likely that bird is to eat millet.”

Difference Between White and Red Millet Seed

Neither Danny nor Karen recommends offering red millet to wild birds. They agree that red millet is frequently used for caged pet birds, and that in outdoor seed mixes, it’s not desirable. “Red millet is less palatable to most species, and it’s often used as a filler in lower-quality mixes,” Karen says.

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Best Feeders to Serve White Proso Millet

Danny serves white proso millet by putting up a tube feeder with a cage around it. The cage helps, he explains, because it allows the smaller birds to eat without the threat of larger birds swooping in. Too, it can help with discouraging common backyard foes. “[A cage] allows me to put that feeder in an environment where I wouldn’t be able to put it because of squirrels,” Danny says.

Caged Seed Tube Feeder

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Birders might also sprinkle white proso millet in a platform feeder with holes small enough that the seed won’t slip through. In addition, adding it to a ground feeder or putting some seed on the ground can bring in ground-feeding birds, which usually flock to millet.

Reasons Why Birds Are Not Eating White Millet

If your backyard birds aren’t eating white millet, Danny recommends ensuring the seed is not clogged in the feeder. “The biggest problem you have with any seed, particularly smaller seed, is if it gets wet,” he says. Karen agrees: “Only put enough seed out to last a few days, and adjust as necessary,” she says. In addition, make sure your bird feeder is clean, and the seed is fresh.

To combat the wet-seed problem, Danny recommends not filling feeders all the way. It’s easier to keep seed loose if it’s not crammed in the feeder. “The bird doesn’t want to have to fight the seed to get the nutrition necessary to survive,” Danny says. Karen mentions that if the seed is stored properly in a cool, dry, airtight container, white millet can last up to two years.