What do you feed and what does it cost (1 Viewer)

pduxon · Oct 16, 2003

Out of interest what do you feed to your birds?

And how much are the little chaps eating you out of house and home?

I tend to avoid fat balls since the starlings go mad for them.

I've 2 peanut feeders and 2 "seed" feeders. These normally have a multi food in them. Can't remember what I picked up from Rye Meads on Saturday, cost £5 a week??

Andrew · Oct 16, 2003

The Starlings devour my fat blocks too! I generally make two fat blocks a week out of a bar of lard (25p) and some ground peanut/seed combo (£1) and generally put out a bag of shelled sunflower seeds a week (£2), peanuts are filled once every three weeks (90p split three ways, three feeders) so my bill is about three to four quid a week. That would get me a bus ride to Dawlish Warren to see even more birds!!!

Brian Stone · Oct 16, 2003

Peanuts tend to go slowly in our East Mids village garden. Just one mesh feeder lasts a few weeks. Seed is a different matter. I now buy a "premium" (with de-husked sunflower) mix of seed which I provide in a tube feeder and on a tarmac drive but I will be switching to a ground feeding mix for the drive soon.

About 100 birds max on the food at once at the moment costing probably 12-15 pounds a month. This may increase through the winter. I use Vine House Farm
http://www.vinehousefarmbirdfoods.co.uk/index.html

Fat balls are OK but they get thrown around the garden a bit by the Starlings and Jackdaws. I have a few millet sprays (i.e. still on stalks) hanging from trees at the moment and they are proving popular with House Sparrows, which are hanging from them tit-like to feed.

joser · Oct 16, 2003

I do occasionally buy fat balls but again, I also find the starlings will devour these if positioned where they can easily get to them. I also have 3 sunflower heart feeders, 2 sunflower seed feeders, 2 nut feeders and a niger seed feeder (which hardly gets used). I tend to buy in bulk every few months or so as I find it easier and cheaper this way. Ive just filled out the form and the next batch is gonna cost me 50 quid but that should last me a while so my bill is about 10 quid a month

helenol · Oct 16, 2003

Loads. Loads.

seb_seb · Oct 16, 2003

I buy fatballs but have no starlings so they usually end up being eating by the squirrel, who manages to get it wherever it is put.

Elizabeth Bigg · Oct 16, 2003

Peanuts, black sunflower seeds, mixed seed, porridge oats (very popular with the blackbirds), sunflower hearts, home made fat ball mixture (I have a restricted-size-entry holder for this), and of course - mealworms. We have a BIY (breed your own) scheme for these, but supply often doesn't keep up with demand, especially when there are hungry chicks to be fed, so we also buy some by mail order. Mini size for growing on for 2 or 3 weeks, and regular size for immediate feeding.

I have a large squirrel proof triple tubed feeder (we call it the monstrosity - I posted a picture of it a few weeks ago), 5 hanging peanut feeders, a seed feeder, one squirrel proof bird table, 2 ground feeder tables (the squirrels get a large proportion of the food on these - but it's only oats and mixed seed). Finally two plastic feeders fastened on windows via suckers, for the mealworms.

I've been looking at catalogues for a pole and attachments for more hanging feeders, and it is about to go on my Christmas list - but as I can't expect the birds to wait so long, immediate delivery is going to be requested!

I don't think I dare add up the cost per week - but since I buy in bulk, I'd have to average it out over a long period.

Tammie · Oct 16, 2003

Here in Canada, I feed them suet cakes with fruit, sunflower seed bells in mesh bags and black oil sunflower seeds.
A thirty pound bag of seed is about $16 CDN. The suet cakes are anywhere from $.99 to $2.49 CDN. The seed bells are $2.39 CDN.
At the most expensive season (winter), I go through about a bag of seed a week along with one or two suet cakes and 2 bells, costing about $25 CDN per week.
I'm not sure if that's good or bad!!

Geoff Brown · Oct 16, 2003

like Brian I buy from Nicholas Watts at Vine House Farm. There is an article about him in the very latest edition of the RSPB Birds magazine which came through the post this morning. I seem to keep a hungry flock of about 20-40 house and tree sparrows alive and well and the cost for premium seeds and peanuts works out at about £10 - 15 per month. I did notice early in the morning the other day however that a young rat had discovered the feeders so I hope he doesn't bring the rest of the family along.

Mike D · Oct 16, 2003

Hi Geoff,
Nice to hear you have Tree Sparrows, never seen one in my garden in the 5 years I've been here.
As to the original post, if all else fails I buy corn for chickens from the local petshop, along with black sunflower seeds in the husk and shelled peanuts. All for feeding to caged/domestic birds so it is guaranteed pure. Unfit for humans though, so keep the kids away from the peanuts.
Mike

Bill Came · Oct 16, 2003

I found a pet food suppliers, on the A4 near knowl hill, its a lock up container in a garden centre, opposite the wyvale garden centre, there you can buy 25 kilos of good quality peanuts for £25.00 and 12 kilos of sunflower harts for £17.50, one of the cheapest suppliers around, for anyone living in and around Berkshire.
regards
Bill....

smeltmill · Oct 16, 2003

Dear all,

I have just added up last year’s food consumption and wish I hadn’t.

400Kg Black sunflower
100kg Peanuts.
50kg Peanut Granules.
50kg Rolled Naked Oats.
50kg Pinhead Oats.
50kg Oil Seed Rape.
25kg Linseed.
300kg Niger Seed.
20kg Safflower Seed.
50kg Raisins.
25kg Mixed canary seed.
25kg Millet
25kg Hemp
75Kg Fat.

Regards.
G B-S.

Elizabeth Bigg · Oct 16, 2003

Bill Came said:
I found a pet food suppliers, on the A4 near knowl hill, its a lock up container in a garden centre, opposite the wyvale garden centre, there you can buy 25 kilos of good quality peanuts for £25.00 and 12 kilos of sunflower harts for £17.50, one of the cheapest suppliers around, for anyone living in and around Berkshire.
regards
Bill....

Sorry to be a killjoy Bill - but do these peanuts have a guarantee that they have been tested as "Safe Nuts" - ie aflotoxin free? There is a Bird Care Standards certification from some companies. Tested nuts obviously cost more. The sunflower hearts sound a good buy though. There has been a lot of discussion about this on the BBC nature boards over the last ten days or so, which has fortunately alerted some people to the dangers of aflotoxin contamination.

Elizabeth Bigg · Oct 16, 2003

smeltmill said:
Dear all,

I have just added up last year’s food consumption and wish I hadn’t.

400Kg Black sunflower
100kg Peanuts.
50kg Peanut Granules.
50kg Rolled Naked Oats.
50kg Pinhead Oats.
50kg Oil Seed Rape.
25kg Linseed.
300kg Niger Seed.
20kg Safflower Seed.
50kg Raisins.
25kg Mixed canary seed.
25kg Millet
25kg Hemp
75Kg Fat.

Regards.
G B-S.

Have you dared to work out the cost????

Fuchsia · Oct 16, 2003

Here in France it's hard to find suppliers but I have found seed and balls which keep a large flock of blue and great tits very busy along with a couple of marsh tits and my fave nuthatch. Luckily the few starlings here don't come near and no sign of a squirrel.
They get through about 4 small fat balls and one full seed dispenser every other day - cost about 5E (about £3.50) a week. Not bad at all for the pleasure they bring.

Jen :hi:

Adalia · Oct 16, 2003

I buy a 20 kilo bag of premium wild bird food for £8-50p.I also buy Black Sunflower seeds@£1-12p a kilo and mixed British Finch seed @ 55p per 500gr.Plus of course bread, sultanas,which my Blackbirds rely on to feed their offspring and which the starlings steal at every turn!Peanuts hardly move in the summer months but the Greenfinches and Blue Tits are back on them with a vengeance.

Most of the time I just have my garden birds to look at and they are worth whatever it costs for the sheer pleasure they bring me.

smeltmill · Oct 16, 2003

Dear Elizabeth,

No

Regards,
G B-S.

Bill Came · Oct 16, 2003

safe nuts

Elizabeth Bigg said:
Sorry to be a killjoy Bill - but do these peanuts have a guarantee that they have been tested as "Safe Nuts" - ie aflotoxin free? There is a Bird Care Standards certification from some companies. Tested nuts obviously cost more. The sunflower hearts sound a good buy though. There has been a lot of discussion about this on the BBC nature boards over the last ten days or so, which has fortunately alerted some people to the dangers of aflotoxin contamination.

All is says on the sack is Grade "A" peanuts for wild birds, I'm certainly aware of aflotoxin and would be mortified if I thought by saving money, would put any birds at risk. I shall find out there supplier to see if they are certified.
many thanks
Bill...

Leif · Jan 24, 2004

Bill Came said:
I found a pet food suppliers, on the A4 near knowl hill, its a lock up container in a garden centre, opposite the wyvale garden centre, there you can buy 25 kilos of good quality peanuts for £25.00 and 12 kilos of sunflower harts for £17.50, one of the cheapest suppliers around, for anyone living in and around Berkshire.
regards
Bill....

Sounds worth a visit.

I normally pay about £12.50 per 25Kg of black sunflower seed in the husks. This is from a garden centre near the M3 in Hants (junction 5 I think). It is on the same road as, and 100m to the north of, the big Long Acre garden centre. The seeds are sold from a building containing pet food, next to the centre proper. It might well be a Wyvale place.

Charles Harper · Jan 25, 2004

I feel like I should be posting to a different thread, but--

An orange a day, halved, at a cost of about 2500 yen (£15) per winter.

What do you feed and what does it cost (1 Viewer)

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