Mama+Tate

__The Big Birdseed Battle!__ By Tate

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=Introduction =

For my experiment I am creating my own custom birdseed and feeding it to birds next to Wagner's Deluxe Blend to see which one is more popular = = =**Question**=

Do birds prefer the factory birdseed or **Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**?

=Hypothesis=

I think the birds will prefer **Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™** over the factory blend because **Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™** is made fresh where as the factory blend is made in a factory. Also because I am basing the ingredients on the birds in my area while the factory blend is generally meant for all areas.

=Overview=

I will find the amount of different fall and winter birds in our area, the type of food that each one likes will make up the ratio of how much different food I add to the blend. At Mama Tate's Kitchen, we don't stop at good enough, we only settle for the best ingredients, because that's what our customers deserve, the best. = = =Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™ Recipe=

Mix up all ingredients and add to bird feeder.

Ingredients
Scarlett Fiery Chips (Stripped Sunflower Seeds with Cayenne Pepper and Soy Oil) Jays like it as well as Cardinals. 5 tsps. Peanuts (For the Woodpeckers) 5 tsps. Chopped Raisons (For flavor) 2 tsps. Safflower Seeds (For Cardinals and Chickadees) 5 tsps. Scarlett Black Oil Sunflower Seed (Every bird in my area loves it!) 10 tsps. 27 teaspoons total. =



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= = = = = = = = = = =Wagner's Old Factory Style Birdseed Ingredients=

White Millet (for filler) Milo (For Jays and Cardinals and Finches) Cracked Corn (For Cardinals and Juncos) Black Oil Sunflower (For everyone) Stripped Sunflower Seeds (Readily eaten by Jays and Cardinals) Peanut Kernels (For Cardinals and Woodpeckers) Nyjer Seed (for filler) Safflower Seeds (For Cardinals and Chickadees) = = =Variables= = = Independent Variable- **Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™** VS Wagner's Deluxe Blend Dependent Variable- The amount of birdseed left after each day

=Procedure=

1. Make sure both feeders are side by side. 2. Add 27 teaspoons of Wagner's to one feeder and 27 teaspoons of Mama Tate's to the other. 3. Measure how many teaspoons are in each feeder at 8 pm each day and refill for the morning. 4. Record Results and Observations.

=Day 1 Observations=

My birdseed was much more popular than Wagner's today. The birds would try the Wagner's and then hop to mine. The remains of the Wagner's consisted of mostly milo (filler). The remains of mine mostly consisted of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (because there were 10 tsps added).

=Day 1 Results=

Wagner's- 22 teaspoons remain... 5 teaspoons were eaten. In Mama Tate's kitchen we call this a WHOOPIN'!
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 14 teaspoons remain... 13 teaspoons were eaten.

=Day 2 Observations=

I have realized that the birds in my backyard consist mostly of chickadees. The only birds I saw out there today were chickadees. Other than that though, today was just another routine win for **Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**. = = =Day 2 Results=

Wagner's- 20 tsps remain... 7 tsps eaten. = = =Day 3 Observations=
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 12 tsps remain... 15 tsps eaten.

Another win for Mama Tate. At this point the difference in quality between the birdseeds cannot be questioned. (It couldn't be a coincidence.) The birds aren't eating as much today... maybe because the thousands of nuts in my front yard are feeding them. = = =Day 3 Results=

Wagner's- 23 tsps remain... 4 tsps eaten. = = =Day 4 Observations=
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 14 tsps remain... 13 tsps eaten.

Today there was not a lot of activity. It was very rainy and cold so maybe some of the birds were sheltering in their nests. The few birds that did show up were mostly blue jays, so maybe they are less sensitive to the rain.

=Day 4 Results=

Wagner's- 27 tsps remain... 0 tsps eaten. = = =Day 5 Observations=
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 20 tsps remain... 7 tsps eaten.

A lot of activity from jay and bluebirds today. The birds seem to remember which birdseed is better, so Wagner's is even less popular than it was in the beginning.

=Day 5 Results=

Wagner's- 26 tsps remain... 1 tsps eaten. = = =Final Day Observations=
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 13 tsps remain... 14 tsps eaten.

Today is when daylight savings time began... so when I put the birdseed out at 7:30 am it was 8:30 am to the birds, their normal feeding time being around 7. This explains the low amount of activity today.

=Final Day Results=

Wagner's- 27 tsps remain... 0 tsps eaten. = = =Overall Results=
 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™**- 19 tsps remain... 8 tsps eaten.


 * Type || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 ||
 * Mama Tate's tsps eaten || 13 tsps eaten || 15 tsps eaten || 13 tsps eaten || 7 tsps eaten || 14 tsps eaten || 8 tsps eaten ||
 * Wagner's teaspoons eaten || 5 tsps eaten || 7 tsps eaten || 4 tsps eaten || 0 tsps eaten || 1 tsp eaten || 0 tsps eaten ||

Overall Teaspoons Eaten:

 * Mama Tate's Old Homestyle Birdseed™- 70 tsps eaten**
 * Wagner's "Deluxe" Blend- 17 tsps eaten**

=Price Analysis=

One full bag of Wagner's Deluxe Blend costs about $7. With all of Mama Tate's top notch ingredients and no filler at all... Mama Tate's ain't cheap. If I poured all of the Mama Tate's into the same size bag that Wagner's come in then it would probably be about $60, almost 10 times more. Yeah. HOWEVER, my data shows that the birds prefer my feeder almost 10 times more than the Wagner's, so the quality to cash ratio seems to be in check. = = =Conclusion=

I am a bit surprised at how much more popular my birdseed was than Wagner's. The birds ate a lot out of both at first but towards the end of the week they seemed to know which one was better. It seems that the birds have a taste for quality and freshness. My birdseed was also designed for this area, while Wagner's is designed for all areas, backing up my results. Wagner's tries really hard and they make okay birdseed, but they don't stack up to Mama Tate's. The guys at Wild Bird Center told me that the white millet and nyjer birdseed in Wagner's Deluxe Blend was all just filler to increase the weight to make it look like you were getting a lot for your money.

I realize I have been bias in my observations, but I can assure you that all of the data is legit and I tried to eliminate as many different conditions in my experiment as possible. I promise. (And Mama Tate DOES NOT break promises!)

=Bibliography=

Back of Wagner's Deluxe bag http://www.makeyourownbirdfood.com/index.html (used to see what each bird liked to eat) Thank you to the guys at Wild Bird Center for helping me pick out ingredients. (Bird Nerds)