Why should you buy our seed? Birds & Beasleys owner, Sandy Shull, is glad you asked! Sandy gives you the skinny on our seed varieties’ quality and type versus the competition.

Hummingbirds are beginning their migration south. Birds & Beasleys owner, Sandy Shull, explains how you can help them have a successful journey in this episode of, Let’s Ask Sandy!

Hi! I’m Sandy with Birds & Beasleys! Today’s “Let’s Ask Sandy” question is: Where are the hummingbirds and should I take down my feeder? The answer is no, please don’t take down your feeder. The birds are migrating back right now. So what you’re going to see is the adult males are starting to migrate south, they’ll be doing that the next couple of weeks. Then following will be the juveniles and the females. So, it’s really important you put a feeder out and fill it up. Remember the ratio is four to one, four cups of water to one cup of sugar. Put it out because you are going to be the gas station for those birds if they pass through. Keep your feeder up through mid-September until you see your last bird, a couple of weeks after you see your last bird. If you have any questions, give us a call. Remember, it’s been an odd hummingbird year. Maybe we will get some more in August than we did in July. Thanks for asking Sandy!

Springtime means you may encounter baby and fledgling birds in your yard or pasture. What should you do about them, if anything? Don’t worry, Birds & Beasleys owner Sandy Shull is here with a bonus -Let’s Ask Sandy!-to answer your question.

Hi! I’m Sandy with Birds & Beasleys! Today, I get to be outside, which is exciting because I want to talk about what happens outside.

The question we’re getting right now is “What do I do when I find a baby bird?” It’s a hard question. So the first thing you need to do is stop and don’t do anything. Sit back, look at the situation, and try to decide what’s going on. Is it a baby bird that has feathers? Is it a baby bird that doesn’t have any feathers? Is it injured? Are parents near? So look again, and say to yourself, “Oh, it’s a bird, he’s hopping around, he looks healthy, he’s got most of his feathers on, and I think I hear an adult is feeding him.” Leave the bird alone. Now, 99% of the time, the birds are fine. It’s hard to watch, but you need to go ahead and leave them alone. The parents are feeding them, the birds has flegged.

If you find a bird that doesn’t have many feathers or has few feathers on it, look around to see if there’s a nest near. You might be able to see a nest where the bird has fallen out. If you can see that nest, you can pick the bird up. It does not matter about your hands, on the smell that’s kind of a wives tale, old myth. Put that bird back in the nest if you can find the nest. If you can’t, put it in a safe spot. Pick it up, put it up in a tree, put it in a bush, so it has a sporting chance.

The hardest thing is Mother Nature is cruel sometimes and we have to let the birds do what nature does. If it is a bird, like a raptor or an eagle, Montana WILD has the license to take it and they can help rehab it or take it to the vet to do some kind of repair or get medical attention.

Unfortunately, in Helena, we do not have some kind of rehab person for a non-raptor. So, no one legally can take a bird home with them. So, what I would say is put the bird up in a tree where it is safe, where the parents might be able to find it. Try to step back, it’s hard to watch. About only 10% of birds live their first year. It’s part of nature. It’s not a pretty sight, but it’s part of what we do. Know that you have probably saved a bird by putting it up in a bush where it is safe, away from kitties. When in doubt, give us a call. We’ll give you moral support. We’ll talk you through it.

Hop on the Last Chance Tour Train (Helena, MT), this summer! Take in the sights and learn about Helena’s rich history. This affordable attraction is a great way to entertain visitors. Treat them to a free gift thanks to Birds & Beasleys and other downtown businesses like the Holter Museum of Art. (Watch closely for a cameo by Sandy Shull’s mom and store founder, Jane Beasley!)

Hi! I’m Sandy with Birds and Beasleys and today I have my mom, Jane Beasley, with me. So, today’s Let’s Ask Sandy is, “What do I do when I have company in town? I want to do something fun!” You ride the Tour Train!

The Tour Train started June 1st, and it is a fun time! Adults are $9, Seniors are $8, Kids are $7, and under 4 is free. Ride the train, see what’s going on in town, find some good folklore. And here’s the fun part. If you ride the train and bring in your tour train ticket, you get a free gift, which happens to be one of mom’s little bird pictures, our honey, our bird book, or some playing cards, along with five other merchants, Imagine Design, Bert and Ernies, GMac’s Pottery, the Carousel, and they’re all willing to give you a free gift if you ride the Tour Train.

So, get on the train! Bring your friends, bring your family! It runs all summer long, check out their website for the times, or we can sell you a ticket here at Birds & Beasleys. Thanks for stopping by and ride the Tour Train.

Birds and Beasleys owner Sandy Shull is back with more information about feeding hummingbirds at your house. She tells you what to look for in a feeder, how to fill it, and how to care for it so your backyard birds stay healthy!

Hi! This is Sandy with Birds & Beasleys. I still want to tell you about a few hummingbird things.

“What kind of feeder should I get?” is a good question. There are lots of feeders out there, there are a lot of beautiful feeders out there. Let me tell you what to look for. We think you should pick a feeder with perches. There is an ongoing controversy with perches versus non-perches. We like perches because the birds will come in, they’ll land on the perch and feed, you’ll get to see them. Others believe that they should feed naturally because flowers don’t have perches. We, of course, want you to see them. That is number one.

The other one is we like a reservoir feeder like this one. So that the food is down here and when the wind blows they don’t drop. There are some beautiful feeders out there that have a little dripper, but what we find is that when they get swinging it gets to be a bubble in there, which then means you get ants and bees. For us, this reservoir one is really easy. This is my favorite feeder, it’s called the Fast Feeder. It’s not the most beautiful feeder, but it’s the easiest feeder. It comes apart, it’s very easy to clean, the plastic is good, you fill up the feeder about this full, you swing it on, you walk outside upside down so you don’t drip nectar in your kitchen. As you walk outside, you flip it really quick and hang it in the tree. Keep it up for a couple of days, when the fluid becomes cloudy or you see some mold in there, it is definitely time to change it. This time of year, you don’t need to change it as often, but in the summer, you might be changing it daily if the heat gets to it.

Then, if you’re really really patient, we have a little handheld one, you can put a little feeder nectar in there. Stand out, I say with a nice cold drink, sit in your chair, have a drink, and feed some birds. Thanks for calling Birds & Beasleys! Call us if you have any questions about hummingbirds.

The hummingbirds are back! Our customers often call with questions about how to feed and what to feed these delightful visitors. Sandy Shull is the font of all bird-related knowledge. So we say, let’s ask Sandy!

Hi! I’m Sandy with Birds & Beasleys. Today we are talking about hummingbirds and hummingbird feeders. We have had many questions coming our way here lately.

The first is: Are hummingbirds here? Yes, they are. They’ve arrived! We have seen them in town. We have heard about them up in Grizzly Gulch. So, put your feeder out there, it is time to get them out and get those little birds refueled from their long trip. Some of them may still be migrating on North, so they may just be using yours as a fuel station or a gas station. So, put your feeders up, it’s time.

The next question is: What do I put in my feeder? It’s a ratio of sugar water. It is four cups of water to one cup of sugar. Any kind of ratio thereof. It might be two cups of sugar, eight cups of water. Put it together, put it on the stove, boil it really quick so it dissolves. Let it cool. Put it in your fridge and then let it fill up your feeder as you go. You don’t need to fill up your feeders all the way this time of year, fill them up just a little bit until the birds really start coming. We will see most of our birds in June and July, but right now there are some hungry birds out there so get your feeder out.