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

Charles Harper said:

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.

Click to expand...

What birds are attracted to this?

I really do not want to add the cost up! no really.

My biggest expense is mealworm and sunflower hearts.

I am managing to find the hearts cheaper and cheaper as I am findinf there are several seed merchants not to far away.

Sunflower hearts-22.5 kg £18

Mealworm (last year) at least £350 ooouuccchh I have alreadu decided that i will cut down the amount for this year.

Peanuts are VERY slow in the garden so very little cost on those. what nuts i do get I buy from C J.

Black sunflower. again just a few as the coal Tit seems to prefer these.

Make my own fat blocks in 2 litre tubs which tempts the starlings away from the main feeding area. I buy ready made fat tubs from C J which I put in a protected feeder so only the small birds can use it.

I guess one of the biggest expenses is my increasing range of feeders as I search for feeders that fulfil my requirements.

White-eyes, Elizabeth, and you can't keep the bulbuls away from anything. As I was telling shykra, I tried sunflower seeds the first winter, and got plenty of Great Tits too-- but our gardens are so tiny here that they and the bulbuls strewed seed husks all over the neighbors' gardens, and I began receiving unpleasant looks, so I stopped.

I don't think I'll add up my mealworm total cost - I'll probably say "ouch" too. We do have a breeding programme, but supply cannot keep up with demand espcially in the breeding season. One economy is to buy the mini size, and grow them on for 2 or 3 weeks - this is quite easy to do. At the moment we have 3 buckets in the utility room, one to provide the "nursery", one for breeding and one for recently bought full sized mealworms.

PS - Malcolm has done the sums after all - I'm relieved to say the total is tiny!!! compared with Sleeper's - £80.

Charles Harper said:

White-eyes, Elizabeth, and you can't keep the bulbuls away from anything. As I was telling shykra, I tried sunflower seeds the first winter, and got plenty of Great Tits too-- but our gardens are so tiny here that they and the bulbuls strewed seed husks all over the neighbors' gardens, and I began receiving unpleasant looks, so I stopped.

Click to expand...

Thanks Charles - how about trying sunflower hearts? I can understand about the husks - our garden looks rather messy because of these, but I'm not too bothered. As far as I'm aware the mess is confined to our own garden, because we have lots of shrubs and trees that they dive into to eat their chosen seed.

I only feed in the winter months but I am out in the country with lots of wild seeds, berries, etc. around. I have planted small crab apple trees and mountain ash and these provide a good crop in the fall. But seed seems inexpensive here, compared to what I am reading. I go through 2 or 3 40kg bags of hen scratch ($12 CDN each), 3 or 4 22kg bags in whole sunflower seeds ($16 CDN each) and 2 or 3 22kg bags of niger seed ($55 CDN each). I also go through about 10 suet cakes at about $1.50 each. Depends on the severity of the winter. It is now 28 below zero celcius, so the feeders are replenished daily. Total cost would normally be about $240 CDN. That is not too bad for the quantity, I think.

I daren't think about what it costs me each week, but its a lot. I buy 25kg peanuts @ £18.99,(lasts about 6 weeks) 20kg Wild Bird Mix by Ernest Charles @ £8.50 (lasts less than 2 weeks) 12kg Black Sunflower @ £9.99 (lasts about 3 weeks) tinned sweetcorn 22p a tin, lasts 2 days, sultanas, 49p a bag, lasts about 4 days, 4 slices bread a day (loaf 29p) 25kg Mixed Corn @ £4.75 (lasts about a month) 25kg layers pellets @ £5 (lasts 2 weeks)
and sparingly because they are so expensive Sunflower hearts @ £1.65 a kilo (lasts 1 week) So if anyone wants to work that out, please let me know! (I would add that I have three chickens which share some of this stuff, not all for the garden birds)

Edit, I completely forgot the fatballs! I get through about 3 or 4 every day, these cost 6 for a £1 from my local pet shop, which isn't too bad, because they are about double that elsewhere. She is also doing a box of 100 for £14, so am deliberating whether to indulge, but I shall only provide fat balls until April I think.

The cost of the various seeds and nuts is not too bad - they take a while to get through those....

What is proving to be a real drain is APPLES.... I started putting them out a couple of months ago when some Blackcaps arrived and now have to put out about 6 a day, which are very popular with the Blackcap (only 1 left now) Blackbirds, Starlings and Blue Tits.

If the birds are particularly bold and hungry, a whole apple disappears in less than an hour.

I buy big bags of economy apples from the local supermarket, but it must still cost a fortune...

Must tap up my local greengrocer.....

Well.......
We we feed the birds and animals.
My day starts with breakfast... fill up the empty large black sunflower seed feeder. I also have 2 peanut feeders, 2 bird tables, 1 seed feeder, fat ball, and I have just tried out a 6" mesh tray for seed. As it is successful, today I got another one that I am going to try nyger seed and finch feed. The nyger seed feeder went green at the bottom so no wonder the birds stopped using it. I threw away more than got eaten.
Anyway, I do the feeders and water, and the squirrels and blue/great tits, blackbirds, robins and jays are lining up for their peanuts. So the squirrels are trained (all except one) to eat in one area, and the birds line up on the other side of the garden for their handfuls. Then three piles of no husk/waste seed go on stones that are easy to scrub clean and keep the robins from fighting over it.
So then I notice Little Wonky Coal (a dark squirrel with a wonky tail) so they get some more, then Nobby (great tit with a bump on its head) is looking at me through the window... then it's elevenses....then lunch time....then the squirrels do their futile search and begging routine.....then Fezzy (pheasant) is looking in the back door... then it's supper time...! THEN, its time to put out the peanuts for the deer, badgers, foxes and hedgehogs (hibernating at the moment). This is cleared up by up to 25 mandarin ducks at dawn.

What does it cost? Probably too much. I think it may have got a bit out of hand but we enjoy doing it and they sure enjoy eating it so we are all happy!

I put out a cupful of mixed parrot seed twice a week just to keep them interested and a sprinkle of lard/oats/cheese ground into fine crumbs for the wrens; a bit more often if we have visitors.
Sometimes I put out scraps of meat or bacon rind for anything that wants it, usually currawongs or Kookaburra. I CERTAINLY don't feed the Kookas as they become very agressive and will take the sausages off the BBQ or the chop off your plate if they are fed regurlarly.

We don't have a severe winter here and there is lots of natural food available so I think its better not to feed.
When I lived in a different place I used to put out nectar for the honeyeaters but found it attracted the large and very bossy Red Wattle Birds; they chase off the smaller birds and take over the area, so I don't use it now but have planted some nectar-bearing plants instead. The great thing about the plants is that they keep on flowering when I am not here to put out food.
I am amazed at the amount of feeders and food used in gardens both in England and in USA and Canada. It must be a big industry.