How we pick

Seed & Sprig is a new publisher. We do not have a workshop full of feeders, a year of backyard trials, or an ornithologist on staff, and every one of those is a thing we could claim in a sentence and nobody could check. So we do not claim them.

What follows is what we actually do, in enough detail that you could repeat it.

What we do

1. Compile published manufacturer specifications. For every one of the 25 products in our registry we read the manufacturer's own listing and record what it publishes: seed capacity, dimensions, port counts, materials, mechanism description, warranty terms, and for foods the full ingredient list and guaranteed analysis.
2. Cite each of them. Every product card on this site carries a link to the source the specifications came from. If we could not find a figure, the spec row says “not published” rather than filling in a plausible number.
3. Do the arithmetic nobody else publishes. Capacity against a realistic refill interval. Baffle geometry against the distances squirrels are documented to jump. Cost per edible pound rather than cost per pound. Fat content across seed types for cold-weather feeding.
4. Convert authority guidance into a beginner's decision. Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch, the American Bird Conservancy and state wildlife agencies publish the behavior and safety guidance. Our job is to turn that into “hang it here, put this in it” without losing what the source actually said.
5. Print the disagreements. Published figures in this category contradict each other — squirrel clearance distances are the obvious example, and one product on this site has two different heights published by two different sellers. Where sources conflict we show both and say which we would plan around.

What we explicitly do not do

• Hands-on testing. We have not mounted, filled or observed these products. No page on this site says or implies otherwise, including softened forms like “in our experience.”
• Long-term durability trials. We cannot tell you how a feeder looks after three winters, because we have not watched one for three winters.
• Accept free product. None, from anyone.
• Accept payment for placement or ranking. None, from anyone. Commission rates do not enter the ranking.
• Invent credentials. Nobody here is an ornithologist, a wildlife biologist, or a certified anything. Who writes this.

How picks are ordered

The weighting differs by product class, and it is applied in this order:

Feeders

1. Does the mechanism address the real failure mode? A weight shroud that only works when a squirrel stands on it is a partial answer, and we say so.
2. Can it be cleaned in about two minutes? Project FeederWatch asks for cleaning every week or two. A feeder that takes twenty minutes will not be cleaned, so cleanability outranks capacity here.
3. Does the capacity match a realistic refill habit? Bigger is not better; it is a trade against seed freshness.
4. Which birds does it admit and exclude? Exclusion is a design feature and it has costs — a cage that stops squirrels also stops cardinals.
5. What does the maker commit to in writing? Materials and warranty terms, as published.

Seed and food

1. The ingredient panel. Single-ingredient bags rank above mixes. Mixes with milo, red millet or cracked corn in the first three ingredients are marked down, because most feeder birds discard them.
2. Guaranteed analysis, particularly fat content for cold-weather feeding.
3. Cost per edible pound, not per pound.
4. Whether the food matches a feeder we recommend. Nyjer in a sunflower port is money on the grass.

Baffles and poles

Geometry, then materials, then fit. Length or diameter is what defeats a squirrel; steel is what survives being chewed; and pole diameter decides whether a given baffle fits at all.

Why every roundup names something to skip

A list where everything is recommended is a list that has not made a judgment. Each of our roundups names one product or one category of product to walk past, with the reason. It is the fastest way for you to see whether our reasoning is any good — and if you disagree with the skip, you now know exactly where we differ.

Where our numbers come from

• Product specifications: the manufacturer's own published listing, linked on every product card.
• Bird behavior, feeding and hygiene: Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch, the National Audubon Society, the American Bird Conservancy, and state and federal wildlife agencies.
• Prices: pulled live from Amazon and date-stamped when they render. If there is no live price, the button says “Check price” — we never print a remembered number.
• Never: competitor affiliate pages, forum posts, or our own recollection.

How often we revisit

• Roundups and comparisons: quarterly, and whenever a top pick is discontinued.
• Prices: daily, automatically.
• Seasonal guides: annually, ahead of the season.
• Evergreen guides: every twelve months, or whenever authority guidance changes.
• This page, the disclosure and the editorial policy: every six months.

Every page carries a published date and a last-updated date, and the updated date reflects a real edit — not the day the site was last deployed.

How to tell us we are wrong

Email info@seedandsprig.com or use the contact form. If you can point at a spec we got wrong, a source that has moved, or a product that has been discontinued, we will fix the page and note the correction on it. Corrections go to the top of the pile — see our editorial policy.

If we ever do test something

If that changes, this page changes with it: what was tested, for how long, and how. Until that is true and documented here, the no-testing statement stands on every commercial page, unchanged. There are currently 45 guides on this site and the number of products we claim to have tested is zero.