Mixed seed isn't popular with the birds around here, they don't like millet, and they won't touch nyjer or thistle seed at all, so my feeders contain just black oil sunflower seeds. I also scatter corn on the ground for the geese in summer, the turkeys in winter, and crows, squirrels and chipmunks year round. I put peanuts on the bird table for crows, jays, and raccoons all year, and add a couple of peanut feeders just for the birds in winter. The birds also get suet in winter, but it's too messy to feed them suet in the summer as the suet cakes go soft and disintegrate.
DH buys huge bags of sunflower seed and corn from the local feed store, and decants the bags into metal bins (garbage cans with locking lids) so that rodents can't get into the containers. The bins are in a garage-sized garden shed with numerous holes in the structure that allow mice and chipmunks to find their way in!
