Chuckanut Premium Squirrel Food - 20 lb.

We'd been feeding our backyard squirrels peanuts. I've been buying low salt, shelled peanuts and leaving them in small handfuls on the doormat whenever they come to the door looking for a handout.Since this has now become a very regular (and expensive) routine, I googled "peanuts for squirrels" to see about more affordable options. Not only did I find that peanuts are not all that good for them, but also found that Chuckanut pumpkin seeds are both a better financial and practical option.The squirrels obviously prefer peanuts over this, and when I put a mixture out for them, they sniff around and pick out the peanuts first. Once the peanuts are gone though, they happily move to the pumpkin seeds. I am only mixing the p-nuts and pumpkin until I run through the remaining couple of cups of p-nuts I have left. After that's gone, I plan to just feed the Chuckanut.A couple of things to take note of:- 20 lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but dried pumpkin seeds weigh very little so the actual size of this 20 lb bag was surprising - - it's about the size of a standard bed pillow!- if feeding this from a feeder out in your yard, no problem. But . . . if feeding out on a doormat like we are, the fact that these seeds are in the shell, mean that a big mess is left behind. It's kind of silly that I didn't think of this ahead of time, but the peanuts we were feeding were shelled, so no residue left behind. These pumpkin seeds are still in their shell, so not only is there a mess of empty shells left behind, but it's difficult to know what is empty shell trash, and what is uneaten seeds.To remedy this, I'm now putting the seeds in a small bowl so they pick the seeds from the bowl, and end up dropping most of the empties on the mat.In summary - - - happy squirrels and happy humans knowing they are feeding the critters food that's good for them. Bonus in that Chuckanut is waay less expensive than human peanuts too.

My four squirrels love it. Did not take long to develop a taste for pumpkin seeds. They have been feeding on it today for seven hours straight. But only in my metal squirrel feeder bought from Amazon. I put a trial handful on the ground a few days ago in the midst of some sunflower seed scraps from a bird feeder above. They would not touch it. Just continued feeding on the sunflower seed scraps as they had always done. Then I put a scoop or two on a tray feeder with no other feed as a second test and they began feeding off and on. Now I am wondering what I've started. This stuff is not cheap! I may have to skip a day or two between refills. Overly fat squirrels, like some of my overly fat sparrows, don't appeal to me.The scraps of this feed appeal to my only Blue Jay, but no other bird will touch itMay 31, 2017 update: A cardinal is feeding a little on the pumpkin seeds in the tray feeder. The squirrels are very sloppy eaters when there is an ample supply of feed so it would be helpful for the birds to develop a taste for pumpkin seed and clean up after the squirrels. I have my squirrel feeder on one side of my deck within arms reach of my window. Scraps litter the deck close to the feeder.

I have been buying this 20 lb. bag of pumpkin seed for years, and have never had a complaint. But the bag I purchased in March 2021 was filled with broken, mealy-looking seeds, half of which the squirrels wouldn’t eat. I thought perhaps I had gotten old stock. The bag I purchased in July 2021, when I unsealed it, had a very thick two inches of spiderwebs at the top of the bag, and contained about 1/2 of the amount of pumpkin seeds that’s supposed to be in there. I store this stuff in a closed off, cool, and dry location. The bag was sealed and intact; there was no evidence of rodents or other critters getting into it. I don’t know what’s going on at Chukanut, but they need to get their act together and fix these problems — other comments indicate that I’m not the only one encountering these issues with their product.

I have been feeding the squirrels behind my home with generic Critter Food for as long as I have been living here. The critter food contains Corn, sunflower seeds, peanuts and a small amount of random other stuff. The squirrels eat everything except the corn. The result is a yellow haze on the ground of partially nibbled corn kernels. I decided to make my own critter food. I mix these pumpkin seeds with sunflower seeds (purchaed at big chain store) and some raw unshelled peanuts. The squirrels are happy and there is no more yellow corn stuff hitting the ground.My custom blend is much cheaper to produce. Of course, you need to have somewhere to store two twenty pound bags of seeds. Love my squirrels.

Excellent price as I compared to 50 lbs. of local peanuts and within a few dollars. There seems to be much more of the Chuckanut in a bag then peanuts in the shell.Thought at first the squirrels did not like them as they did not disappear as quickly (lasts days instead of hours) but soon saw they eat the Chuckanut where they frantically buried all the peanuts...tearing up the lawn and making my dogs fatter.I Do suggest, depending on feeder size, not filling to the brim as they do compact and clean up is a bit more than with peanuts. In other words less is more! So far everyone is happy...keep all posted.

Very small pumpkins seeds. The squirrels dont really care for them and end up wasting more than they eat. I have to clean up the mess and have had to pluck 2 pumpkins starts from under the feeder! I thought they were roasted?!

I would rate this product more highly except that the last two sacks of it that we have gotten have been "webby". Kind of gross, although the squirrels still eat it, but I found it to be on the icky side.

This is a re-review - the first 20# package was great and the squirrels loved these seeds. This order, another 20#, is full of bugs and moths hatching. If you buy these, do not keep them in your home, but store them outside in a closed container until you are ready to feed the squirrels each time. I will definitely look elsewhere for treats for our squirrels - the bugs and moths are not a pleasant part of the product.