Sunflower heart's price rockets!! (2 Viewers)

[The gaffer]

Has anyone noticed how much sunflower hearts have gone up recently? I got a 22kg bag which cost me £24.50 towards the end of last year and as I am need of another I went to my local pet and garden shop and was informed that they would be around £29 (bag size has increased to 25kg) but I had to ring up yesterday to confirm the price. I was amazed to find out the price was actually £34!!! I have looked online at various feed suppliers and their prices are all the same.

I enquired at my local shop if it was due to the price of fuel and was informed that that was part of it but it was mainly due to a lot of growers changing over from growing sunflowers and growing crops for bio-diesel.

It started me thinking can we start a list of suppliers who can supply sunflower hearts cheaper (including postage).

My supplier works out at £1.36/kg and I have to collect myself so if we add a couple of pounds for fuel that gives a final price of £1.44/kg.

Can anyone recommend anywhere cheaper?

Thanks

Brian

 

[MalR]

Has anyone noticed how much sunflower hearts have gone up recently? I got a 22kg bag which cost me £24.50 towards the end of last year and as I am need of another I went to my local pet and garden shop and was informed that they would be around £29 (bag size has increased to 25kg) but I had to ring up yesterday to confirm the price. I was amazed to find out the price was actually £34!!! I have looked online at various feed suppliers and their prices are all the same.

I enquired at my local shop if it was due to the price of fuel and was informed that that was part of it but it was mainly due to a lot of growers changing over from growing sunflowers and growing crops for bio-diesel.

It started me thinking can we start a list of suppliers who can supply sunflower hearts cheaper (including postage).

My supplier works out at £1.36/kg and I have to collect myself so if we add a couple of pounds for fuel that gives a final price of £1.44/kg.

Can anyone recommend anywhere cheaper?

Thanks

Brian

Hi Brian,

I found your post very interesting. I have always ordered my sunflower hearts (and everything else, for that matter) from CJ Wildbird Foods. I had always assumed that buying in bulk online would be the cheapest option. But I am paying way over what your supplier is charging. Currently, a 20kg sack of sunflower hearts is £52. I know you're looking for somewhere cheaper, but tell me where you usually go and I'll happily use them. 25kg for £34 is a lot better than 20kg for £52. It will be very interesting to see if anyone knows of a cheaper source.

Malcolm

 

[SUPPRESSOR]

Malcom,
Walter Baily's at Par here in Cornwall 23k sack for £24.99 and I thought that was expensive. Mind they seem to go up in price every month.
They are top quality and are stamped (China for human consumption)
fiddler.

 

[Mary]

If you've nowhere local to collect your own, I recommend http://www.wildbirdfood.uk.com/acatalog/Bird_Section.html

They work out at £1.54 per kg, (22kg for £33.95, post included). The price has gone up recently, but they always deliver quickly, and seed quality is ok.

 

[barnstormer]

Has anyone noticed how much sunflower hearts have gone up recently? I got a 22kg bag which cost me £24.50 towards the end of last year and as I am need of another I went to my local pet and garden shop and was informed that they would be around £29 (bag size has increased to 25kg) but I had to ring up yesterday to confirm the price. I was amazed to find out the price was actually £34!!! I have looked online at various feed suppliers and their prices are all the same.

I enquired at my local shop if it was due to the price of fuel and was informed that that was part of it but it was mainly due to a lot of growers changing over from growing sunflowers and growing crops for bio-diesel.

It started me thinking can we start a list of suppliers who can supply sunflower hearts cheaper (including postage).

My supplier works out at £1.36/kg and I have to collect myself so if we add a couple of pounds for fuel that gives a final price of £1.44/kg.

Can anyone recommend anywhere cheaper?

Thanks

Brian

I've just paid £15 for a 12.5 kg bag so it's about the same, and £17.50 for a 12.5 kg bag of nyjer.this was at wheatly hill near peterlee.

 

[Dougie Preston]

I've got to pay for increased shipping costs at the local shops due to a remote location, but still would refuse to pay those sort of prices!!!

I feed the garden birds on what's sold as a bag of "mixed grains" other known up here as chicken feed. The bags are 25kg and I pay under £9 per bag. There are no husks and the birds can't seem to get enough.

Maybe you should give your local farm shop a try?

 

[lpantic]

Anybody in the US also seeing this? My local supplier has not had the "hearts and chips" available at all the last few times I looked so I had to buy either a mixture or the full sunflower seeds, which generate a mess to clean up on the patio under the feeder. Not the end of the world but a task that I would like to avoid. Also, given the cost of transport, the hearts & chips although costing more per pound are all food so the net true cost is less.

 

[POP]

I've got to pay for increased shipping costs at the local shops due to a remote location, but still would refuse to pay those sort of prices!!!

I feed the garden birds on what's sold as a bag of "mixed grains" other known up here as chicken feed. The bags are 25kg and I pay under £9 per bag. There are no husks and the birds can't seem to get enough.

Maybe you should give your local farm shop a try?

Have to agree with you I bought a 20kg bag of kibble maze and a 20kg bag of wheat,cost £14.50 for the two,mix them together makes an excellent feed.

POP

 

[Mary Evelyn]

It isn't just sunflower hearts, everything has gone up considerably, and still rising..

 

[barnstormer]

Have to agree with you I bought a 20kg bag of kibble maze and a 20kg bag of wheat,cost £14.50 for the two,mix them together makes an excellent feed.

POP

What kind of birds are attracted to this mix and what kind of feeder do you use, is it ground fed or a seed feeder ?.

 

[POP]

What kind of birds are attracted to this mix and what kind of feeder do you use, is it ground fed or a seed feeder ?.

I use several seed feeders.

POP

 

[The gaffer]

Latest price is £1.80/kg and my supplier says that the price is still climbing!!

 

[balvert]

The price of seed has been a bugbear of mine for a number of months now.

Not only is the price of husk-free seed mixes increasing, but the quality of seed is deteriorating.

I have always bought my seed from RSPB Online Shop, simply because of the charitable nature of the organisation. Over the course of three to four months I noticed that the quality of seed is much poorer, with very few sunflower hearts mixed in with other seed (most of which the birds seem to discard). I am sure that the sunflower heart:mixed seed ratio was more favourable. Yesterday I gave in and spent a small fortune at Pets at Home, buying 12.75kg of pure sunflower hears for £28.99.

 

[Geoff Brown]

Take a look at or Google Vine house Farm, Deeping St Nicholas, Lincolnshire. They are a bit cheaper than some of the others and grow a lot of the seed on their own farm.