I use both.

I use raw, whole peanuts in the shell. The shell provides some protection from pathogens that might harm the birds. The jays love them
I use roasted, or blanched, splits. The cooking kills off any salmonella present prior to bagging and shipping.

Salt can kill birds, and cooking kills enzymes and much nutrition value in food

How about just plain old raw, unsalted boiled peanuts still in the shell?

"Boiled" peanuts are not "raw" peanuts to my way of thinking.

I'm not sure what I use--the peanuts-in-shell are "raw" I'm pretty sure, but the pieces (look like warehouse sweepings) might be roasted. I'll taste one next time I am out there (the deck and "three seasons" room where thge bird stuff is).

Obviously after being boiled they are no longer raw, but the reason I mention it is for those of you that are worried about the birds. I buy raw peanuts in the shells, neither roasted nor salted. They can just be boiled for a short while if you are worried about pathogens harming the birds or roasted.

I found the following information on website: http://www.avianweb.com/feedingwildbirds.html

Peanuts: Feeding shelled unsalted peanuts isn't messy and they are highly nutritious for the birds that can eat them. Most birds can shell whole (unshelled) peanuts, with varying degrees of effort. Squirrels love peanuts. However, don't feed RAW peanuts to squirrels and other animals because it can seriously hurt them. Raw peanuts and other legumes contain a trypsin inhibitor or substance that inhibits or prevents the pancreas from producing trypsin, an enzyme essential for the absorption of protein by the intestine. Squirrels fed a steady diet of raw peanuts, soybeans. other legumes, and sweet potatoes could easily develop severe malnutrition. According to the Washington State Cooperative Extension Service, roasting hulled raw peanuts for 20 to 30 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring them frequently, will destroy the trypsin inhibitor and render them suitable for feed. If that sounds like a lot of work, buy roasted peanuts but be sure they aren't salted. (Salted nuts of any kind should never be fed to wild animals.)

ÂPeanuts are liked by the following birds: Bluejays, Scrub Jays, House Finches, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Magpies, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows eat peanuts.

I am wondering about the cautionary note against feeding raw peanuts to wild animals, including wild birds. The cautionary note is pretty strongly worded. Wild birds and other wild animals eat raw peanuts all the time. Of course, any lopsided diet, of peanuts or otherwise, will always be bad.

• Out here in the high desert, thousands of miles from any ''natural'' peanut we have a bird called a ''scrub jay'' that is perfectly obsessed with peanuts.

• How does this bird first learn that it likes peanuts?

• One year we picked up a package of mixed nuts, walnuts, pecan, Brazil nuts and others. The jay would carry off any nut except the almond. Why does the jay think it wants a Brazil nut or a walnut? Why does it think it does not want an almond?

Yes all the nuts were in shells. It was interesting to see a jay making off with a walnut bigger than its head. It took a lot of effort.

Chickadees can hold only half a peanut kernel in their small beaks, they can't hold a full peanut kernel.

I was thinking that maybe it was the light-colored shells of the almonds? Maybe the almonds are treated with something different?? Who knows....but it would be interesting to find out!

A couple of years ago I was able to sit outside more and experiment with the jays. I would select peanuts that were to me of similar size and shape. The jays would examine two or three, never four or more, before taking one away to bury it. I would add weight to one peanut of similar appearance and after examination they would take away the heaver one. This I repeated many times.

I tried painting Some with a pink felt point. They would take the unpainted peanuts first and come back for the painted ones.

Perhaps I can try coloring an almond brown.

That would be an interesting experiment......as long as the coloring wasn't toxic. Isn't it funny how we humans think we're so smart, but don't appreciate how incredibly smart other species are? I forget if it was blue jays or crows, but I remember reading about how they would find a nut, drop it on the highway, and then wait overhead in a tree to pick it up, after a car ran over it and broke it open. Pretty smart!

Hey Albert..........I had forgotten about potential cyanide in almonds. You might read up on that. Maybe the blue jays sense they shouldn't risk it??

This site suggest roasted is better...

https://www.backyardchirper.com/blog/a-guide-to-feeding-birds-with-peanuts/

I serve both roasted and peanuts in the shell. The birds love them! I use to serve raw out of the shell but I found the roasted ones to be a favorite among the birds, especially the smaller birds so I buy roasted now vs raw out of the shell. Plus the roasted ones smell delicious.

When the starlings are bad then I put out peanuts in the shell so the Jays can get them.