Feeding the Birds

Linda32

Hi, We usually buy from Wilkinsons, I imagine they are reasonable.

parsonswife8

We buy mixed seed and peanuts from Lidl and fatballs, usually from Netto.:)

Rage_in_Eden

We bulk buy when they have offers on at Pets at Home. There are some reasonable bird seed people on the 'net and I know one of my friends who lives in a non suburban setting goes to a seed and grain merchants...... depends where you are and if you've got storage really....Do you have a local pet shop? They could perhaps get you stuff from the wholesalers for a small fee.....

mardatha

Haiths Seeds are unbeatable for bulk and they have stuff that nobody else has
http://www.haiths.com/

silverjay

I have been getting mine from Poundland and 99p shops. They have the Bill Oddie range, bags of National Trust mixed seeds and 1.5 kg bags of Wild Bird mix.

I tend to buy a bag of mixed seeds and a bag of black sunflower seeds and mix them together as the birds seem to pick out all the black sunflower seeds and leave the smaller stuff.

Wilkos often have good offers on their bird seeds too.

itsallinthemind

I tend to ignore the cheaper mixes due to the fact they often contain biscuit to bulk them out.

I do not buy generally, but feed scraps. This year due to chaos I have not done much bar chuck random things on the lawn-must try better!

They can eat pasta, rice, porridge cooked or raw, most seeds and grains. The insides of potatoes(or mash) and soft non citrus friuts(love apples and pears) and sweetcorn. Dried fruits, non salted nuts, non salted bacon/fat/rind. Grated cheese, bread, braed crumbs, crumbs from cereal packets, cake, cat and dog food(summer as they can't get to worms-prefer dog apparently-good for babies in spring-good too for hedgehogs ) etc

Avoid salted nuts, salted bacon, cooking fats from meat trays(I know-people have done it for years!).

Make fat balls by melting lard or recycling it, add seeds(sunflower are the best as they need fat). peanuts, bread, random scraps, chill into old yoghurt pots(plastic disposable cups if not) in the fridge. Poke holes either side and hang on trees etc. If you use suet, then keep the plastic mesh stuff from previous fat balls. It helps birdies balance and not get stuck in the fat lol. Or smear into a pinecone with string around the top for hanging.

So much we put in the composter can be given to them. If rats are an issue then hang all scraps. That said you need a mix of things hung close to tree bark for creepers, plus on the ground/table. Rats tend to ignore bread an seeds though. If you keep it 4 foot off the ground, squirrels can't get to either.

If you like hedgehogs and get them visiting, don't put out any bread (nor milk) for the birdies as it upsets hedgehogs bellies.

Water, put lukewarm water in the morning and again after work/school run etc. Pop a ping pong ball in-stops it freezing up to say -5 degrees, past that not much good. Water if provided does need to be done daily, they will not drink it stagnant. Some people recommend a cheap paint tray, means two depths of water for different bird to drink and bathe from and is not heavy to lift/change water etc

Places like wilkinsons, pound shops etc sell meal worm(robins need this if they can't get to worm), nuts, hangers etc dirt cheap though if you do not get scraps.

*Comes up for air*

floyd

I get a 12.75kg bag of Natures Feast mixed feeder seed from Costco for about £7 which satisfies the sparrows, bluetits, wood pigeons and robins then I buy black niger seed in my local garden centre which does the doves, finches (green/gold/bull/chaff and siskin) and thats about £8 for 5kg.

I also get fatballs in Costco 50 for £5ish which keeps the starlings from hoovering everything else and odd bits of fruit and cake go out for the blackbirds.

I did try to find one thing that would do for them all to save a few quid but I found that they just stopped coming

Oh yeah and meal worms from home bargains at £1.75 fr a big tub

Fruball

I make my own bird cakes from suet/lard/dripping (whatever I have in) and porridge oats. Simple and cheap and the birds love it

I do usually buy mealworms etc but just can't justify the money this year altho having read this thread, perhaps I can find them cheaper than the £5/£7 I usually pay :eek:

I used to love to buy the live ones and the birds went mad for them!!!

Kirri

I buy pet food from a horse feed farm place just outside London, mine also does bird food 15kg for about £7 ish. Might be worth searching for suppliers like this as even in London there's normally one within a reasonable distance.

Sunnyday

We`ve been feeding the birds twice a day whilst everything has been frozen and i`m surprised at just how much food we`ve been getting through.

I buy mostly from Wilkinsons and poundland and have been feeding a mixture of two different types of seed, a fat ball, nuts, raisins and the suet pellets with mealworms each day.

The seed is the Bill Oddie stuff from poundland, value raisins from the supermarket and the suet pellets are from Wilkos.

Every day the little feathered friends are waiting for their breakfast and the garden is covered in birdies, i`ve been feeding on the bird table and sweeping the snow away and feeding on the floor for the larger birds and i also cleared the garden table and have been feeding from a big enamel plate on there too.

Don`t forget the water too everyone as they will need it when everything is frozen solid.

SD