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Sunflower Hearts (1 Viewer)

boger

Active member
Can anyone tell me how I can remove the husk from sunflower seeds ? I have a lot of time on my hands and am also able to get hold of sunflower seeds cheap=£16 per 25 kilo. The only thing is I hate the mess that the birds make so I want to shell them first.
 
Am I stating the obvious to you when I say it's probably much easier if you buy the sunflower hearts without the husk?

Why don't you let the birds shell them, then sweep them all up, (the husks, that is!)and use them in the compost heap, or suchlike?

Regards
 
Well said, Helen. I'm lucky in that I have found a farm foods wholesaler only 3 miles from here, and as well as selling bird food loose (they supply plastic bags, and you just take as much as you want from large hoppers), I can buy a 25kg sack of hearts for £19. They load a sack into the car for me, and I then decant some into a spare sack that I can carry. That reminds me - I still have about 12kg in the back of the car!!!!!
 
I'm sitting at my computer reading Birdforum but if I turn my head I can see some of my feeders. The Blue Jays are on a tube feeder and on the platform feeder. They are stuffing their cheeks then flying awy to unload then back they come for more. I find sunflowers growing in a lot of strange places in summer.
If they did the same with sunflower hearts, and I'm sure they would, I think the cost would be prohibitive. I might try some in a Blue Jay/Grackle proof feeder and see how it goes.
I don't mind the mess but may be partly due to the climate. By the time there's a good lot of hulls on the ground, snow usually covers them, re-covers the next layer and on and on. In spring the hulls dry and blow away or rot down to help the lawn.
Then there's the side benefit of getting birds like Savies, songs and Juncos rooting through the hulls for whole seeds.
I also wonder if the whole seeds aren't better for the birds. Don't the bills need the rough hulls to stay worn correctly? I certainly don't know but it would seem reasonable that they do.
Of course, I don't rake lawn clippings or leafs either so maybe it's not so much that I don't mind the hulls but am just lazy.
 
snowyowl said:
If they did the same with sunflower hearts, and I'm sure they would, I think the cost would be prohibitive. I might try some in a Blue Jay/Grackle proof feeder and see how it goes.

Blue jay and grackle proof feeder?? Do tell me where to get a few!! Thanks!
|=)|
 
Elizabeth Bigg said:
Well said, Helen. I'm lucky in that I have found a farm foods wholesaler only 3 miles from here, and as well as selling bird food loose (they supply plastic bags, and you just take as much as you want from large hoppers), I can buy a 25kg sack of hearts for £19. They load a sack into the car for me, and I then decant some into a spare sack that I can carry. That reminds me - I still have about 12kg in the back of the car!!!!!
Do you think you can persuade your supplier to start mail order, Elizabeth? Even with carriage, that price is a lot cheaper than I've found.
Mary
 
Elizabeth Bigg said:
I'm lucky in that I have found a farm foods wholesaler only 3 miles from here, and as well as selling bird food loose (they supply plastic bags, and you just take as much as you want from large hoppers), I can buy a 25kg sack of hearts for £19.!
Could very well be worth me taking a drive out there and picking some up!
 
Starzz said:
Blue jay and grackle proof feeder?? Do tell me where to get a few!! Thanks!
|=)|
The weight sensitive feeder that I mentioned for squirrels also works for Blue Jays and Grackles. I've got it set so that nothing bigger than an Evening Grosbeak can get food from it. Unfortunately I don't have any Evening Grosbeaks.
I've got feeders set up on two sides of the house. The ones on the west side were busy all summer but have now been completely abandoned by everyone whereas the feeders on the east side are busy. I wish I could figure out why?
It may be just that most of the activity previously was from A. Goldfinches with a few Pine Siskins and Purple Finches mixed in, with Mourning Doves, Jays etc cleaning up spilled feed on the ground. The small species seem to have become scarce in my garden and the bigger guys are hittingthe feeders that they can land on rather than scavenging and with no small species spilling seed that makes sense, there probably isn't anything to scavenge..
 
Mary said:
Do you think you can persuade your supplier to start mail order, Elizabeth? Even with carriage, that price is a lot cheaper than I've found.
Mary

Can't you try and persuade your normal supplier to do you a good price? I can buy a 25kg sack for £20 from any one of three suppliers in my area (Carmarthen). One of them didn't stock these before, but they are getting them in especially for me now, and I just told what I was paying elsewhere and they matched it, which was great because they are the nearest and save me a bit of fuel.
 
boger said:
Can anyone tell me how I can remove the husk from sunflower seeds ? I have a lot of time on my hands and am also able to get hold of sunflower seeds cheap=£16 per 25 kilo. The only thing is I hate the mess that the birds make so I want to shell them first.
£16 not cheap.I pay £10. for 20kg and over the internet £16 and thats to my door
 
The seed stocked by a local pet shop is from the human food chain at £28 per 25kg. The quality varies - American is good, plump seed, but that from China is thin and poorer quality. Song bird, I can't imagine them doing it any cheaper, - it takes an effort to put it in the car for me!
Where do you get yours from on line, please P Cliffe?
Mary
 
Try your local Indian spices specialist they sell sunflower hearts a lot cheaper than
bird food suppliers and they're fit for human consumption so they're good enough
for the birds!

ghostrider.
 
songbird said:
I have just found this website which may be a bit cheaper, the price for 22.68 kg of sunflower hearts is £18.99 but they charge £6.99 for delivery up to 20 kilos, plus 20p per kilo above, so not sure what that works out to. If you are lucky enough to live in the Surrey area, and spend over £15 its free delivery. Take a look anyway.

http://www.surreypetsupplies.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Seed.html

Unfortunately they don't deliver to the Woking area - but although I have to pay more than their price for black sunflower seed, I can get a much better deal on hearts. I use two different places, both within about 3 miles of Woking.
 
Mary said:
The seed stocked by a local pet shop is from the human food chain at £28 per 25kg. The quality varies - American is good, plump seed, but that from China is thin and poorer quality. Song bird, I can't imagine them doing it any cheaper, - it takes an effort to put it in the car for me!
Where do you get yours from on line, please P Cliffe?
Mary

Mary,

I use Kennedy wild bird food and they can be found at www.wildbirdfood.uk.com. When I col...out next door to the Lincs Trust Lakes. Phil
 
John Marshall said:
P.Cliffe,

I too would like to know where you get yours from at £10 for 20kg. I can nip in my car and get some!!!

Follow the details that I posted to Mary. When I collect I also pick up seeds for others so it pays. I also order over £50 worth on line to receive discount.

good driving
Phil
 
P cliffe said:
Follow the details that I posted to Mary. When I collect I also pick up seeds for others so it pays. I also order over £50 worth on line to receive discount.

good driving
Phil


I get my sunflower hearts and other Bird foods from this web site http://www.wildbirdfeeds.com there sunflower hearts work out at 25.98 delivered to your door and i recieved mine the next day. They have alot of other products aswell which range from feeders to nest boxes of all varieties, have a look...

www.wildbirdfeeds.com

Regards,
Mark
 
Mark Evans said:
I get my sunflower hearts and other Bird foods from this web site http://www.wildbirdfeeds.com there sunflower hearts work out at 25.98 delivered to your door and i recieved mine the next day. They have alot of other products aswell which range from feeders to nest boxes of all varieties, have a look...

www.wildbirdfeeds.com

Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark. I noticed that this is your first post so I would like to welcome you to BirdForum from those of us on staff here. Enjoy!
 
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