Wild Bird feed - where to buy?

HardyEustace

Now that aviary supplies has finished trading, I'm once again at a loss as to where to buy food for wild birds.

I'm looking for peanuts, (shelled) sunflower seeds (a massive hit at my feeder) and some nyger seed.

Any recommendations?

Ulmus

I used to order kibbled sunflower seed in bulk from the UK but delivery charges are now too expensive to do so. It gives a whole new meaning to the word "goldfinch".
There is a supplier near Charlestown Shopping Centre, Finglas, Dublin called the Corn Store. They don't have a website. They sell 20 kg of sunflower hearts for €38. I'll have to visit them. It will mean chopping the sunflower seed in a food processor, a tedious business.
I've given up on niger seed and peanuts as the goldfinches, chaffinches and linnets which visit my garden prefer kibbled sunflower.

swifts need our help!

I know feed sunflower hearts only and in nyger feeders. Food processors create a fine dust which blocks the feeders

Two companies I have tried to order hearts from via Amazon have cancelled my orders despite not having area restrictions

Eglinton

I'm going to piggyback this thread.

I'd like to buy bird food in bulk. I tend to use sunflower hearts and nyger which are costing an arm and a leg each week. The likes of Woodies and Maxi Zoo are incredibly expensive per kilo at the rate my birds go through it (up to 30 goldfinches at a time run down a nyger feeder in hours).

Is it possible to buy say, 30kg bags anywhere?

Most garden centers also seem to be very expensive. Even for peanuts, the cheapest I've seen are around €3 per kilo.

All help appreciated.

swifts need our help!

sunflower I buy costs £1 per kilo. 30Kg for £30 and no postage
https://www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk/p/WEB9541/wild-bird-sunflower-hearts-seeds/gjw-titmuss-ltd/15kgs-sunflower-hearts#.VlCc2TZOdJw/

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

swifts need our help! wrote: »

sunflower I buy costs £1 per kilo. 30Kg for £30 and no postage
https://www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk/p/WEB9541/wild-bird-sunflower-hearts-seeds/gjw-titmuss-ltd/15kgs-sunflower-hearts#.VlCc2TZOdJw/

They told me they would only deliver to the UK.

Woodville56

What i often wonder about when buying birdfood in bulk quantities is the quality of the product. I presume some of the seed mixes are of better quality & variety and therefore of more nutritional value to the birds, albeit a bit more expensive ? May not be as big an issue with nuts, but over the years I've noticed quality variances there too ! Any recommendations / comments welcome on best quality seed mixes and also nut suppliers

magicbastarder

one of the best ranges of birdfood i've seen was in birdwatch ireland's office, but they don't sell in anything like the bulk that a lot of big stores would, so their prices aren't competitive.

swifts need our help!

There's a warehouse in England where packages for Ireland can be delivered to post free and are then picked up and brought to Ireland for delivery

dee_mc

Register with DPD's new ParcelWizard service (the same as Parcel Motel but you get your first 3 deliveries free) for UK companies that won't deliver to Ireland
I think the weight limit is 40kg

savagethegoat

my local co-op superstore (Mallow) has a good range. Some in quite large containers.

Eglinton

I did a lot of research on this over the weekend as I was determined to find better value.

I found this website http://newbawnwildbirdfeed.com/ based in Wexford. Far cheaper than anywhere else I've found so far. They seem to be in to their quality as that was definitely a concern of mine too.

I ordered almost 80kg (hopefully enough to get me most of the way through the winter) of sunflower hearts, nyjer and peanuts and the cost worked out:
30% cheaper than birdfood.ie (not sure what their delivery charge is so might even be better value than this once that's added)
60% cheaper than my local Woodies in Lucan.
and about 50% cheaper than my local garden centre.

Ordered Saturday evening, arrived yesterday (Tuesday) by courier, well packaged. Will let ye know if the birds like it!

Alun

birdfood.ie has free postage on orders above €50. What do newbawn's charge?

Eglinton

€ per Kg Sunflower Hearts Nyjer Seed Peanuts Fat Balls
Birdfood.ie 2.43 3.63 3.08 1.25
Woodies 5 5.5 4.5 0.34
Maxi Zoo ? ? ? ?
Garden Centre 5.13 4.4 2.4 0.3
http://newbawnwildbirdfeed.com 1.5 2.2 1.96

....and because I use spreadsheets all day in work I was anorak enough to work it out. Costs are based on what I could see on their websites for the biggest containers/bags available. Cost displayed per kilo (or in the case of the fat ball - per fat ball).

Eglinton

Alun wrote: »

birdfood.ie has free postage on orders above €50. What do newbawn's charge?

That's good. Must bear in mind as they have some nice feeders and nestboxes. It was €21 in total. So must have been €7 per item. Although not sure if they went by weight or item. Even so, it was much cheaper.

Keplar240B

Does it make environmental sense producing and importing food to feed wild birds?

I guessing some of it no

Just looking at my peanuts there , they are from Nicaragua FFS
That cannot be right.

They send on Springwatch that 50% of people feed garden birds

maybe for another thread?

Jayzesake

Keplar240B wrote: »

Does it make environmental sense producing and importing food to feed wild birds?

I guessing some of it no

Just looking at my peanuts there , they are from Nicaragua FFS
That cannot be right.

They send on Springwatch that 50% of people feed garden birds

maybe for another thread?

Personally, I think that is an excellent point.

savagethegoat

it is an excellent point of course. I doubt the birds would agree though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Any suggestions for alternative, local, sources of feed for garden birds? I keep teasel heads and sunflower heads for them but they last only a week or so.

Capercaillie

Keplar240B wrote: »

Does it make environmental sense producing and importing food to feed wild birds?

I guessing some of it no

Just looking at my peanuts there , they are from Nicaragua FFS
That cannot be right.

They send on Springwatch that 50% of people feed garden birds

maybe for another thread?

You are probably correct, but I'm sure you eat bananas imported from half way baround the world as well! I'm upscaling in Spring and planting 0.25 acres of linseed/quinoa for bird seed!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Capercaillie wrote: »

You are probably correct, but I'm sure you eat bananas imported from half way baround the world as well! I'm upscaling in Spring and planting 0.25 acres of linseed/quinoa for bird seed!

Here, here. My Bananas, oranges, etc keep me healthy and probably helps feed a family of workers somewhere. Likewise my peanuts do some good too.

Jayzesake

Capercaillie wrote: »

You are probably correct, but I'm sure you eat bananas imported from half way baround the world as well! I'm upscaling in Spring and planting 0.25 acres of linseed/quinoa for bird seed!

Fair play. But the ideal is creating a wildlife-friendly environment, by planting native plants in our gardens and, where possible, actual habitat conservation and creation.

Keplar's point is very valid in that a) it it an indictment of the state of our own environment that wild birds need to be fed by people and b) that if it comes from somewhere like Nicaragua, the food they are being fed is probably being grown as a monoculture on land that was once rich habitat for other birds and wildlife.

Capercaillie

Jayzesake wrote: »

Fair play. But the ideal is creating a wildlife-friendly environment, by planting native plants in our gardens and, where possible, actual habitat conservation and creation.

Can't disagree with that. Planting the linsed/quinoa for twite. Population crashing. BWI are supposed to plant a crop of linseed for them on their reserve but haven't for last ten years!

Keplar's point is very valid in that a) it it an indictment of the state of our own environment that wild birds need to be fed by people and b) that if it comes from somewhere like Nicaragua, the food they are being fed is probably being grown as a monoculture on land that was once rich habitat for other birds and wildlife

People put birdseed out for the pure enjoyment of it as well. Great watching the little fellows in the garden.

Jayzesake

Capercaillie wrote: »

People put birdseed out for the pure enjoyment of it as well. Great watching the little fellows in the garden.

That's the nub of it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Probably the most positive side is the power to draw people into a closer relationship with the natural world, with hopefully the potential in some cases for that to develop further into a deeper awareness, and even to somehow personally making a concrete difference to the deterioration of the natural world.

savagethegoat

I'm just going to pretend the peanuts are all grown in West Cork. :-)

It's very valid that it is a waste of resources to ship food half way across the world just to feed birds, but the benefit to our mental health must make up for that a little. Very therapeutic , watching my birds.

Amalgam

Aldi have Sunflower hearts, unbroken, for €2 per 1kg. Not bad for piecemeal and over the counter. See below.

I was buying Dealz at 700g for €1.49 but they're just crumbs of late, mostly broken.



Just a heads up, photo taken at the Parnell Street branch of Aldi, Dublin.

diomed

Johnstown Garden Centre near Naas.

swifts need our help!

60kg of sunflower hearts arrived here this morning from Titmuss in England. £1/kg

Capercaillie

swifts need our help! wrote: »

60kg of sunflower hearts arrived here this morning from Titmuss in England. £1/kg

Will they deliver to Republic of Ireland?

swifts need our help!

I don't know. What I'm thinking of doing is getting a load of local birders to place one huge order with me and see if we can get a better deal

In a local garden centre they have sunflower hearts for £7/kg!!!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Capercaillie wrote: »

Will they deliver to Republic of Ireland?

No. I tried.