WHAT IS THE MOST ECONOMICAL WAY TO FEED GARDEN BIRDS?

[Duke Ellington]

I going through so much bird feed right now and was wondering if I could buy seed etc in bulk or at better prices.
I usually buy fat balls and mixed seed bags.

Duke

[cornykev]

Whilst Duke is awaiting replies does any one use there fat/dripping to make their own balls, its a shame to throw it away, sorry Duke.           

[Ellen K]

I have looked at this and now buy packs of fat balls from Home Bargains, pack of 6 for 49p.  They sell other stuff like peanuts and black sunflower seeds which are also good value.

And a local independant Pet Food place sells Sunflower Seed Hearts 2kg for 3.50.  They also sell 20kg bags but the saving isn't that great and you then have a mouse magnet to store in your house or shed.

Places like Wilkos aren't bad but you can beat them on price with a bit of searching.

TBH, one of my priorities is "no mess" and have found that fat balls and mixed seed produce a lot of uneaten stuff and it adds up if you put out a lot of food.  But the money adds up too, that's for sure.

[Paulines7]

I going through so much bird feed right now and was wondering if I could buy seed etc in bulk or at better prices.
I usually buy fat balls and mixed seed bags.

Duke

You don't have a location on your profile Duke so without knowing the area that you live in, it will be a bit of a hit and miss if any stores mentioned are near you.  

If you happen to live in my area, there are two shops called "In Excess", one 2 miles west of Salisbury and the other near Ringwood.  I bought a very large tub of fat balls from them quite recently and they are really good value.  

Some garden centres sell in bulk too.  Other than that, there are plenty of shops online such as RSPB or Garden Bird Supplies.  

There is a problem I have found when buying peanuts.  I bought a very big bag from a garden centre only to find that they deteriorated very quickly.  I ordered my last bag from RSPB a couple of months ago and they are much better quality.  However, I now find my birds prefer sunflower hearts, suet nibbles and fat balls, so the peanuts are left untouched.  

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you want to economise, don't buy seed mixes. Birds sort through for their favourites, and everything else ends up on the ground. It's better to have several feeders with different seeds.

Would it be cheaper to buy dripping and make your own fat balls?

[Flighty]

Feeding birds can get pricey so if you can buy by the sackful sharing with family, friends and/or neighbours as that reduces costs significantly.
Probably the best all-round garden bird food is porridge oats, and few garden birds don't eat it.  It's generally cheap, especially if bought in large bags.
I also feed them over-ripe fruit, apple and pear cores, stale bread and biscuit crumbs.

[grannyjanny]

I recently bought a 2kg bag of oats for the chickens & it was £2.70. It was Mornflake so possibly could get it cheaper. I pay £25. for a 25kg bag of bird feed which contains oats, corn & sunflower hearts. We are using 1 per month ATM, then there is black sunflowers, fat balls seem to last OK as does the suet block. The niger seeds have been ignored for a long time. OH sends me to shop in all weathers for apples . I only buy those when they are reduced or economy label in the supermarkets. Lets hope we get a mild spell .

[calendula]

lard mixed with anything that birds like - cheap cereal, bashed up nuts, fruits from your freezer etc - a pack of lard costs next to nothing

[Carol]

To make the Seed go further I mix in cheap porridge oats, Suet from Tescos, crumble bread and cheap raisons.  I have even crumbled up a couple of fat balls.  This makes the feed go a bit further.  I buy the cheapest Bird seed and mix it in with the sunflower hearts and kibbled peanuts.   I have been buying the fat balls for 9.99 for 40 balls.  I also buy the cheapest apples.  I think Golden delicious are at around 65p a pound. 

[pumpkinlover]

the Table mix I am using at the moment has oats in and the birds leave them till they build up on the table.  When we go away the lot gets cleared as I guess the birds get hungry! I was hard hearted and did not put anything out today to see if the birds got the message and stop being so choosy   My chickens and rescue pigeon are just as spoilt!

[sunloving]

I feed the birds with a bulk bag of mixed corn that i feed the chickens with £8.30 for 25kg. The sparrows love it. as the above posts say though you have to store the bag in a dustbin that wont attract mice or rats.Also use porrige oats all the birds seem to love it.
I find feeding the carnovres much harder and more expensive have made liver biscuits using a dog buscuit recipe before now (chop the liver then make a flour biscuit). Might root that out.

We are lucky in having four giant apple and pear trees and so have used them as bird food ever since august and still going.  so i guess the tip is store your un eaten apples in the shed if you have a tree until this time of year when really needed. 
At least theres a respite in the weather for them to get more out of the ground.
x sunloving

[pumpkinlover]

Oats still there today, but think I will clear them away and try the chicken grain- Thanks Sunloving
Anne x

[jimtheworzel]

iv e  used  a large pack of cheap marg, mixed with porridge oats and sun flower seeds and anything else i can find , and its cheap to make, and the birds love it

jimtheworzel

[tonybloke]

i chuck all of our meat and fish scraps onto the shed roof, crows, rooks, jackdaws sometimes have some of it, but mostly it's taken by gulls. 

[Toadspawn]

I buy large bags/sacs of peanuts, sunflower hearts, black sunflower seed niger seed and premium quality mixed bird seed. These are all fed separately in feedsers and as a mixture (except niger)with bread crumbs, sultanas, suet, porridge and chopped apple and scattered on the ground.
I will not buy any mixed seed containing cereals because invariably birds (except sparrows, pigeons and pheasants) will not eat cereals.
I make my own fat balls chopping all of the above in a food processor and then mixing with melted beef dripping saved from the deep fat fryer.
I find niger seed a bit of a waste of time in general with sunflower hearts being the most popular and eaten by virtually all birds.

[Carol]

I agree with you re Niger Seed.  I keep 2 feeders at the back door with the Niger Seed and really its only  now and then the goldfinches venture to eat the Niger Seed. 

Who do you buy your Seed from Toadspawn?   I use CJWildbird Foods but they have let me down recently.  I ordered seed 2nd Dec and got it 12 days later.   I ordered seed last tues.  21 Dec and took delivery this morning the 30th.    Sheer volume of orders I should say, but other companies are still doing next day delivery.

[Garden Manager]

Word of warning, too much economy can be counter productive. At best you can get poor quality products that never get eatedn and there is a lot of wastage and in the case of seed, unwanted weed growth beneath the feeder. At worst you could actualy be doing birds harm with unhealthy or unsuitable products.

I have recently started putting out sunflower hearts, which i know os more expensive than seed mixes or ordinary sunflower seed but there is far less waste and as a bonus seems to attract more species than mixed seed.

Fat balls are another thing to watch. Some makes seem to be very hard and dry compared to others and in my garden at least dont get eaten as much as softer moister types. I am curently trying to use up such a batch and am either having to break them up and put them on the bird table or soften them in the microwave. Next time i will go for a brand that i know my birds will eat.

[plotstoeat]

"I have recently started putting out sunflower hearts,"

I found the same thing: lots of different birds as soon as I changed to these
Even bramblings which we've never seen b4 in the garden. I think I bought them at Wilkos but could have been Home Bargains.

Our local bird reserve at Saltholme have had great succes with over ripe bananas during the cold spell but I think it was the larger birds that ate them. You can buy large bags fo 50p to a £1

[Debs]

. . . going off at a slightly different tangent here but..

while we were staying at a cottage in the lake district, the owner had hung home-made bird feeders from the trees. They were lengths of thich silver birch branches with large holes drilled through at intervals.
The holes were then packed with bird cake/fat ball mixture.
We collected some branches whilst there & once home, hubby drilled the holes.
They are much loved by smaller birds & are more pleasing to look at than coloured plastic shop bought ones.

Debs

[Duke Ellington]

They sound really nice Debs ......... do you have a photo of them ?

Duke