Storing bird food correctly is one of the most important parts of maintaining a good bird feeding routine. A correctly stored bag of bird food will normally keep for up to a year, if not longer. However, an incorrectly stored bag of bird food can quickly turn mouldy, develop bacteria, or get eaten by other animals.

There are a few quick steps to follow to ensure your bird food is stored correctly.

Store in a cool space

We recommend keeping your bird food bag in a nice, cool space. This will help prolong the shelf life of your bird food and keep you feeding those birds longer. A cool outdoor garage or a dark storage room in your house would be ideal for this.

If your food is stored in a place where temperatures fluctuate, like a wooden shed, this will cause the temperature of the bird food to fluctuate, too, increasing the risks of mould growth on your food. A warmer storage space could also influence the quality of your seeds.

Keep it in a dry environment

Arguably, one of the most important things to remember when you are storing your bird food is to keep it dry. Allowing bacteria to develop on your bird food will open the doors for a whole host of problems. It will deter the birds away, or it could potentially cause them harm through an illness.

Instead, we recommend storing your bird food in a dry space and carrying out a spot check of it every so often. Any food that you think may have been spoiled should not be used. If you’re unsure about whether it has been damaged or not, it will normally appear clumped together, or it will produce a bad smell. 

Keep away from hungry pests

If you are storing a bag that has already been opened, we would recommend sourcing a container for your bird food bag to make sure that it is properly protected from any unwanted pests that may be lurking around.

An airtight and watertight container will help to keep your bird's food safe and sealed. Unwanted visitors like rats and mice will carry and spread diseases very easily, so if they get into your bird food, they could leave potentially harmful bacteria/nasties on the food. They will also help themselves to your bird food and continue to come back for more!

If you follow our three quick tips on storing bird food, you shouldn’t have any problems, and your bird food can last for a year or more, depending on your usage.

Now that you know how to store your bird food correctly, you can read our other useful guides, like ‘How to clean your bird feeders’.