Cost of Bird Food

[peanut]

I'm spending too much money on birdfood!!!
Due to the poor summer last year the price of oats etc has gone through the roof. I switched to buying oats as they used to be the cheapest option but they've gone up so much almost £20 for 25kg!!! used to be £15.
As for feeding sunflower hearts, I now put those in a protected feeder so only the small birds can get them.

To my horror the 25kg sack of oats that I bought 2wks ago is nearly empty I'm going to stop feeding so often and only do twice a day from now on morning and evening.

Anyone else feeling the pinch?

[jacob marley]

I feed a lot of Muesli mixed with grated cheese and chopped up bread twice a day at moment three times when it is realy cold but 25kgs in 2 weeks .
How many birds are you feeding are they Turkeys or Geese that amount in 2 weeks seems a touch excessive.
The Muesli i buy is the supermarket own brand not to dissimilar to the price you are paying .
Surely if you bought larger bags of muesli it would work out cheaper or perhaps you do not frequent supermarkets i am sure you will over come .jacob

[peanut]

No Turkeys or Geese! just the usual Wild birds, though I do have a lot of Doves, Wood Pigeons, Jackdaws, Starlings and Blackbirds........If they keep eating this much they'll be too fat to fly, that'll teach 'em!!!

[smallblueplanet]

hey jacob, with the cheap muslei keep an eye out for added salt, bad for birdees. (I've just been looking at the e-numbers/salt thread and googling for info - amazing what has lots of salt added to it!)

[smallblueplanet]

....though I do have a lot of Doves, Wood Pigeons, Jackdaws, Starlings and Blackbirds........If they keep eating this much they'll be too fat to fly, that'll teach 'em!!!

Are you feeding them or fattening them for Xmas!

[peanut]

Now there's a cunning plan!!!!

[allotmentlady]

Make your own! Bird Watcher's Digest: Do It Yourself Projects

[areia]

i make my own fat balls out of lard or veggie suet then put in oats, seed and dried fruit very cheap to make and they go nuts over it (pardon the pun) had some dried veg mix which i put in as well, along with all the fresh bread crumbs i have. I do have bird feeders but when i make fat balls everything else gets eaten last, shame to say i get the chavs of the bird world starlings, pigeons, magpies, i do put seeds round the edge of garden as the robins thrushes and blackbirds like them. I'm in competition with my neighbour she gets all the sparrows finches and pied wagtails i love them the chicks look like little pom poms bless em, kinda of eeire though i think i potter around the garden and it looks like a scene from the birds, word gets round and all the roof tops around me fill up slowly and they watch me

[jacob marley]

Make your own! Bird Watcher's Digest: Do It Yourself Projects

Thank you very much for that link it is now in my favorites jacob

[jacob marley]

hey jacob, with the cheap muslei keep an eye out for added salt, bad for birdees. (I've just been looking at the e-numbers/salt thread and googling for info - amazing what has lots of salt added to it!)

I can't be doing to much wrong the amount of bird's queing up to get fed @6.30 am some mornings i think i have all the birds in North Warks Robins ,Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnocks, Black Birds, Pied Wag Tail ,House Sparrows, NutHatch,Doves, Magpies,Long Tailed Tits,Have also seen Sparrow hawk,and Goshawk,in the garden which is only natural .
I feed Nuts as well 4 feeders and a seed feeder so we do not do to bad jacob

[matthew2riches]

i can't afford to feed the birds as well. i have got 6 greedy hens to keep full!!

they do get the bread ends on the bird table when i have them but other than that i don't.

i will be growing a whole whord of sunflowers this year so i will dry the heads out and they can have a head a week - i think that's fair.

i can't say i see particularly many birds on our site as their are a lot of cats about in the neibourhood.

[smallblueplanet]

....
I feed Nuts as well 4 feeders and a seed feeder so we do not do to bad jacob

I'm sure you don't jacob. You always seem to be posting good birdy sightings too. I thought it might be useful for others to be careful of hidden salt in food for birds - not just salted peanuts as a no-no.