Nyjer seed, and why your finch feeder is being ignored

Nyjer — often sold as thistle, which it is not — is a small black seed from the African yellow daisy. It is imported, heat-sterilized so it cannot germinate, and the most expensive commonly sold bird seed per pound. Project FeederWatch credits it with attracting American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll.

The one number that surprises people

Wagner's publishes 13.5% protein and 8.0% fat for its nyjer. That fat figure is the lowest of any seed we list — black oil sunflower is 24%, safflower 25%. You are not buying nyjer for energy. You are buying it because goldfinches specifically want it, and because almost nothing else will eat it, which keeps the feeder theirs.

It needs its own feeder

Nyjer is tiny. In a sunflower-sized port it does not sit there and wait; it runs out, and within a day you have an empty feeder and a pile of expensive seed on the grass. It needs either a narrow-port tube or a mesh sock. See finch feeders.

A tube keeps it drier than a sock does, which matters, because nyjer's real enemy is moisture.

Why your finch feeder is being ignored

This is the most common nyjer complaint and it almost always has the same cause: the seed is old. Nyjer dries out, and dried-out nyjer loses the oil that makes it worth eating. Goldfinches simply stop coming.

The fix, in order:

1. Empty the feeder and pinch a few seeds. Fresh nyjer is slightly oily and firm.
2. Throw out anything more than a couple of months old, or that has been rained on.
3. Wash and dry the feeder — clumped nyjer blocks ports invisibly.
4. Refill from a fresh, small bag.
5. Give it a fortnight.

If the birds are still absent, it is a wider problem — work through this instead.

Buying it sensibly

• Buy small. The bulk bag is a false economy unless you have a busy finch feeder. A month at a time is the right unit.
• Store it sealed and cool. Nyjer goes stale faster than anything else on the shelf. Storage rules here.
• Fill the feeder part-way. A full tube of nyjer that takes six weeks to empty is a tube of stale seed by week four.

The seasonal pattern

Goldfinch numbers at feeders swing with the season and with the wild seed supply, and in much of North America a winter irruption of siskins or redpolls can fill a nyjer feeder that was quiet all autumn. A quiet finch feeder in October is not necessarily a broken one.

Is it worth it?

As a second or third feeder, yes — a flock of goldfinches working a nyjer tube is one of the better sights in a backyard. As a first feeder, no. Start with black oil sunflower in a tube, get that working, and add nyjer once it is busy. Our seed picks are here.