Having run out of sunflower hearts, I decided to have a trawl
through the internet to see how much they cost.
Looking for a 25Kg bag I found that the variation in cost and
sizes available was amazing. Comparing around 15 suppliers,
taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote

Having run out of sunflower hearts, I decided to have a trawl
through the internet to see how much they cost.
Looking for a 25Kg bag I found that the variation in cost and
sizes available was amazing. Comparing around 15 suppliers,
taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!


One Garden Centre near here is about £10 per sack cheaper than the rest for
exactly the same "make" sunflower hearts
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Comparing around 15 suppliers, taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size
the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!

I buy from Food4wildbirds. Carriage is free for any order over £20.

A 25kg sack of sunflower hearts costs £37 or £1.48 per kg including
delivery.
http://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/

I'd be interested to know of a cheaper online supplier.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2015 22:25:37 -0000, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:



"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Comparing around 15 suppliers, taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size
the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg.

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!

I buy from Food4wildbirds. Carriage is free for any order over £20.


We get a discount from a local supplier because a load of us in the
village all order things together, one person sends an email around
requesting what people want and then sends the order in.
The supplier then gives a further 5% of his list price as he only
needs to deliver to one premises from which people collect it and drop
it off to the others when passing etc.
Might be an idea for others in places where a lot of people feed birds
and know each other.

G.Harman

"Bertie Doe" wrote

"Roger Tonkin" wrote
Comparing around 15 suppliers, taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size
the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!

I buy from Food4wildbirds. Carriage is free for any order over £20.

A 25kg sack of sunflower hearts costs £37 or £1.48 per kg including
delivery.
http://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/

I'd be interested to know of a cheaper online supplier.


I love the comment when they are talking up their Mealworms.......

"They are a delicacy that are loved by an array of birds,Tits, Robins,
Wrens, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Thrushes."

Actually in our case it's none of the above but Starlings, Magpies and
Crows.


--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article , damduck-
says...

On Thu, 26 Feb 2015 22:25:37 -0000, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:



"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Comparing around 15 suppliers, taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size
the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg.

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!

I buy from Food4wildbirds. Carriage is free for any order over £20.


We get a discount from a local supplier because a load of us in the
village all order things together, one person sends an email around
requesting what people want and then sends the order in.
The supplier then gives a further 5% of his list price as he only
needs to deliver to one premises from which people collect it and drop
it off to the others when passing etc.
Might be an idea for others in places where a lot of people feed birds
and know each other.

I buy all my supplies in 20 or 25 kg sacks from the local farm/animal
feed supplier. Their prices are lower than any birdlover birdfeed
website or petfood chain store or garden centre; and include free home
delivery.

Janet UK

"Martin" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:05:08 -0000, "Bob Hobden" wrote:

I love the comment when they are talking up their Mealworms.......

"They are a delicacy that are loved by an array of birds,Tits, Robins,
Wrens, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Thrushes."

Actually in our case it's none of the above but Starlings, Magpies and
Crows.

and here they are very popular with Jackdaws.

2 weeks ago I bought mealworms for the first time. 60g pack of 'Highfield
Mealworms', from the 99p Shop.

Likewise, the only bird that's shown an interest is a lone starling.
Fortunately magpies, crows and jackdaws, can't access my feeders :

http://s20.postimg.org/45zhwh1rh/IMG_2718.jpg

-

In article , montebrasite4
@ntl.com says...

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

Comparing around 15 suppliers, taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size
the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!

I buy from Food4wildbirds. Carriage is free for any order over £20.

A 25kg sack of sunflower hearts costs £37 or £1.48 per kg including
delivery.
http://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/

I'd be interested to know of a cheaper online supplier.

I bought mine from Twootz, WWW.TWOOTZ.COM £27.49 for 25kg sack,
free delivery. Not the absolute cheapest, but I've used them
before so "better the devil your know............" as they say.

--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...

In article , montebrasite4
@ntl.com says...
http://www.food4wildbirds.co.uk/

I'd be interested to know of a cheaper online supplier.

I bought mine from Twootz, WWW.TWOOTZ.COM £27.49 for 25kg sack,
free delivery. Not the absolute cheapest, but I've used them
before so "better the devil your know............" as they say.

Thanks Roger, I'll use those for my next order. Their nyjer seed is also a
bit cheaper.

"Roger Tonkin" wrote in message
...
Having run out of sunflower hearts, I decided to have a trawl
through the internet to see how much they cost.
Looking for a 25Kg bag I found that the variation in cost and
sizes available was amazing. Comparing around 15 suppliers,
taking their largest/nearest to 25Kg size the actual cost/Kg
varied from around 95p to £2.35 per Kg. Needless to say, RSPB
were the worst, and their cost that I calculated, did not
include delivery!

How do companies get away with charging so much, or is it our
fault for just going to our usual supplier!


I don't buy big bags. I do small ones at wilkinsons. I mix their canary
seed with sunflower hearts. It's very successful here.

@G.Harman that's a great idea to email round your friends to get a bulk order together and group discount from a local supplier.

It's a crazy difference in pricing here and pretty shocking that the RSPB is expensive considering they exist to save birds.

"Martin" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 27 Feb 2015 15:38:29 -0000, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:



"Martin" wrote in message
. ..

On Fri, 27 Feb 2015 11:05:08 -0000, "Bob Hobden" wrote:

I love the comment when they are talking up their Mealworms.......

"They are a delicacy that are loved by an array of birds,Tits, Robins,
Wrens, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Thrushes."

Actually in our case it's none of the above but Starlings, Magpies and
Crows.

and here they are very popular with Jackdaws.

2 weeks ago I bought mealworms for the first time. 60g pack of 'Highfield
Mealworms', from the 99p Shop.

Likewise, the only bird that's shown an interest is a lone starling.
Fortunately magpies, crows and jackdaws, can't access my feeders :

http://s20.postimg.org/45zhwh1rh/IMG_2718.jpg

Very ingenious :-)

Our jackdaws and parakeets would hang upside down to eat from something
like
that.

Spoke too soon. Within a couple of days of your post, a dozen starlings
latched onto the feeder and emptied it in 5 mins.

I've got nothing against starlings, there's a bird-table with barley, oats,
wheat etc available for the larger birds but the starlings prefer kibbled
peanuts, sunflower hearts and millet.

Solved the problem by removing the wire circular perch and hooks from above
feeder and the starlings have been forced to 'slum-it' on the bird table for
the past 3 weeks. Finches, tits, sparrows are coping easily with new
arrangement.