Feeder guide by bird

Chickadee Bird Feeder

Q: What do black-capped chickadees eat at feeders?

Sunflower seeds, peanuts, suet, peanut butter and mealworms.

Almost any chickadee bird feeder works: chickadees are one of the easiest birds to attract to feeders, for suet, sunflower and peanuts, and they do not mind tiny hanging feeders that swing in the wind or window feeders ⁴.

Everything below about feeder design, foods, placement and cleaning is drawn from Project FeederWatch ¹² and All About Birds ³⁴.

Black-capped chickadee — one of the easiest birds to bring to a chickadee bird feeder — Photo: Dawn Huczek from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What chickadees eat at feeders

At feeders Black-capped Chickadees take mostly sunflower seeds, peanuts, suet, peanut butter and mealworms; they peck a hole in a seed's shell and chip out tiny bits ⁴. In the wild, insects and spiders make up 80–90 percent of the diet outside winter, and about half of it in winter, when seeds and berries fill the rest ⁴ — so suet, which is a good choice for insect-eating birds ¹, is as important as seed.

Which chickadee bird feeder to choose

A tube with short perches suits them and keeps out grackles and jays ¹; a window feeder brings them to the glass ⁴; a suet cage that is only accessible from the bottom keeps starlings off while chickadees hang from it ¹. Shelled peanuts in a mesh feeder work better for chickadees than whole ones, which jays carry off ¹.

Chickadees also use nest boxes: put one up well before the breeding season with a predator guard, and fill it with sawdust or wood shavings — they are especially attracted to a box they can excavate — at least 60 feet into a wooded area if House Wrens are around ⁴.

Placement, squirrels and windows

Place feeders close to natural cover such as trees or shrubs, which offer birds refuge from predators, but not so close to strong branches that squirrels can jump across — a distance of about 10 feet is the usual guidance ¹. Windows are the other hazard: collisions kill perhaps a billion or more birds a year in North America, and older rules about safe feeder-to-window distances are no longer thought valid — if a window is near a feeder, treat the glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, external screens or cords, rather than worrying about the distance ³.

Squirrel baffles — barriers placed between squirrels and feeders — are usually the best defense. Squirrels can jump to feeders placed less than ten feet from a tree or building, so a pole-mounted feeder in the open with a baffle below it, or a tilting baffle at least 18 inches in diameter above a hanging feeder, is the arrangement that works ¹.

Keeping the feeder clean and the birds healthy

Clean seed and suet feeders regularly — every week or two, and more often during heavy use or wet weather — by scrubbing off debris and washing the parts thoroughly with warm water and dish soap ¹. Hummingbird feeders need cleaning far more often, every couple of days and ideally every time they are refilled; discard the solution and clean immediately at any sign of cloudy water or black mold ¹.

If a sick bird appears — House Finch eye disease shows as red, swollen, runny or crusty eyes, and avian pox as wart-like growths around the eye, bill, legs and feet — remove the feeders the bird is using for a couple of weeks and clean the feeders and the area thoroughly, so disease is not spread at the feeder ². Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds and spreads the same way ².

Recommended feeder types

Hopper Feeder →Tube Feeder →Suet Feeder →Window Feeder →Peanut Feeder →Full bird profile →Plants for this bird →

More feeder guides

Platform Feeder →Hopper Feeder →Tube Feeder →Suet Feeder →Hummingbird Feeder →Window Feeder →Tube vs hopper feeder →Suet vs seed feeder →Black oil sunflower feeder →Squirrel proof bird feeder →No birds at the feeder? →

Frequently asked questions

What do black-capped chickadees eat at feeders?

Sunflower seeds, peanuts, suet, peanut butter and mealworms ⁴.

What is the best chickadee bird feeder?

Any small feeder: a tube, a window feeder or a bottom-access suet cage; they even use feeders that swing in the wind ¹⁴.

How often should I clean a bird feeder?

Every week or two for seed and suet feeders, more often in wet weather or heavy use; every couple of days for hummingbird feeders. Scrub, then wash with warm water and dish soap ¹.

How far should a feeder be from a window?

Distance rules are no longer considered valid; instead make any nearby window bird-safe with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, exterior screens, or hanging cords ³.