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Humble Beginnings

Richard and Nancy Cole started Cole's Wild Bird Products Co. out of their home. The photos above show the early days of Cole's, before it outgrew the house. They mixed their own bird seed in the kitchen and bagged it in the garage with the help of Richard's daughter, Elaine. Their office and product testing areas were housed in a bedroom.

Founders Richard and Nancy Cole surrounded by family

Cole's Wild Bird Products Company is a true "mom and pop" success story. Back in the early 1980's, Richard and Nancy Cole started feeding experiments in their backyard because the "birdseed in a bucket" they bought at the grocery store wasn't attracting the beautiful songbirds they wanted to see. They devoted hours upon hours researching the dietary needs of their feathered friends to find just the right combination of ingredients that would bring the most birds to their bird feeders. Neighbors started noticing the increased bird activity in the Cole's yard and came knocking for the secret. Soon the first dreams of an entrepreneurial business were born.

They would mix and bag their own seed in the garage at night after work and deliver it to neighbors and local stores on the weekends. A few years later Richard's daughter, Elaine, joined the family enterprise.

Eventually, demand became so great they all quit their "day jobs" and devoted themselves full time to the birding and nature business.

Now a little over 30 years later, the Coles are known throughout the birding community as leading experts and trailblazers in feeding and attracting wild birds.

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about Cole's history

The Cole’s Philosophy

If you’re like most people, you buy birdseed because you enjoy seeing your backyard birds up close. While some people think birdseed is just birdseed and it doesn’t matter what kind you put out, we know differently. Birds can be very picky eaters and if you put out the wrong feed, they’ll snub their noses at you and move on to your neighbor’s feeder looking for something better.

Buy the wrong brand and you lose two ways: first, you end up wasting money on seeds that most songbirds just kick out of the feeder onto the ground, second – and more important – you miss the increased variety and number of birds you could be attracting with a better wild bird feed.

With Cole’s line of top quality wild bird feed, you get what you paid for – more wild birds on the bird feeder and less waste and weeds under the feeder!

Birds are like people, give them what they like to eat and they’ll come back and bring their friends. Cole’s brings nature into your backyard and up-close. Isn’t that why you buy birdseed in the first place? If you put out wild bird feed to attract and help wild birds, then it makes sense to use the feed that does this best.