Do you love to feed wild birds, but find a large bag of seed too cumbersome to work with? Or that insects move in, making the seed unusable? Well, here is a great way to store bird seed that makes it easy to pour and keeps it bug-free.

I love feeding wild birds, so we usually buy seed in 40 lb. bags, like this.

I store it on my screened-in porch in a plastic outdoor storage container that I got from a garage sale.  It has a hinged lid, but is not sealed.  So, no matter how tightly I rolled down or tied up the bag of bird seed, it always managed to become home to beetles, ants, or moths, that would stream out when I next opened the bag.

It was also hard to not spill some of the seed when scooping it out of an unwieldy 40 lb. bag. And, of course, that loose seed also attracted bugs.

See? Here is my storage container.

Ready to get other areas of your home organized?

Grab your free guide of 10 fast and easy ways to get organized for under $10 below, created by a professional organizer (me 😊).

Dealing with bugs is something we do a lot of here in Florida.  Recently, I wrote another post on how I dealt with them in my pantry, and I use the same technique to keep my bird seed bug-free.

How to keep your pantry bug-free!

Here is how to store bird seed neatly and bug-free!

*This post includes some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my full disclosure policy.

I have found that the key is to use smaller, SEAL-ABLE containers.

So when I get a new bag of bird seed, I grab my gallon-sized freezer storage bags (or re-use empty ones).  I always use the freezer bags because they are a little thicker and sturdier than the regular ones and hold up longer.

I also use a left-over plastic dog treat container that has a screw-on lid and a rectangular clear plastic container that has a seal-able locking lid because I love re-using perfectly good items.

I use the plastic container as the holder for the storage bags.  Just put an opened bag into the storage container to fill it.  That way, if any seed spills out, it is still in the container and not scattered on your porch!

Use a bird seed scoop to fill up the bags.

Can I just stop a minute and tell you how much I love my bird seed scoop?  It really does make filling the feeder so much easier!  There’s a slider at the bottom, so you simply slide it through to stop the flow and slide it back when you’re ready to pour.  Very easy and fits nicely in a long, narrow feeder like ours. Here it is on Amazon.

Since the scoop holds so much seed and it can be hard to control the flow, I also use a small plastic cup to “top off” the bags, like this.

Ta-da!

Once you’ve filled all of the bags and containers with seed, seal them up and put them in your outdoor storage container.

So, this is what 40 lbs. of bird seed looks like now.

Here’s the bottom layer.

And here’s the large plastic container full of seed on top.

Best part of all?

It’s easy to grab one bag and scoop the seed right out.  Zip it back closed and it is ready for next time, bug-free. And you won’t break your back trying to lug around a giant bag of bird seed, either! A win-win in my book!

So, if you are struggling with bugs or hard to scoop large bags, try this easy way of how to store bird seed easily and bug-free!

I’d like to hear from you. I’ve always just used bird seed, both here in Florida and also when I lived in Michigan. Tell me, do you also use suet cakes to feed your wild birds? Do your birds like it?  How about the squirrels? If I hear good things from you, suet may be my next treat for the birds. 🙂

Enjoy those birds!

~ Pam