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Vitakraft Honey Stick Cockatiel
by boingoholic
I have two cockatiels, they are quite young and still very fussy, however this is one product they cannot get enough of! however this product is better of used as a treat, to much can cause obesity, a fat bird is no good!! The honey treat is baked on a wooden stick, so it is long lasting. These treats are usually found at local pet ... stores in packs of two for about £2. These treats have a vitamin and mineral enriched biscuit type batter mixed with the highest quality ingredients of fruits, seeds, and vegetables available. i would not feed this to your bird all the time, not only cockatiels eat this, parrots, budgies and parakeets like it to. it has a clip on the top so you can clip it tidly into the cage or aviary, i have mine hanging outside the cage so they can explore the outside of there cage a little bit more without being to timid.
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Bill Oddie's Really Wild Bird Food
by nykied
I recently read a review on this Bill Oddie bird food and, although the review itself was very good and fully deserved the 'VU' rating I gave it, I didn't really agree with it, so I thought I'd give my side of the birdfood story.
Mr. Nykied has become more interested in birds (the feathered variety, I hope!) of late and ... purchased a bird feeding station, which has hooks for hanging feeders from. These feeders need to be filled with tasty birdfeed, so the last time we were in Morrison's, we had a look down the bird seed aisle. He picked up a bag of Morrison's own brand and then saw a pack of this Bill Oddie version. It was on offer at £2 for a 2kg bag (usually £2.95), which was at least a pound cheaper than the supermarket's own brand. Bargain.
The packet in nice, as it has a list of the birds you can expect to see in your garden, along with pictures. The actual bird food is 100% natural and contains English wheat, yellow millet, black and striped sunflower seeds, milo, panicum, pinhead oatmeal and flaked and cut maize. It also says that it doesn't contain any split peas or coloured dog biscuits, which apparently other bird foods sometimes have in as a filler.
As soon as we arrived home, the other half filled up his bird feeders and hung them up to wait for the birds to arrive. And arrive they did. In their hundreds. Well, in their tens anyway, which kept Mr. Nykied quiet for a while as he watched them eating the food he'd so lovingly placed outside. So far so good.
After a few days, however, old eagle eye Mr. Nykied noticed that there didn't seem to be any bluetits coming to the feeders any more. He monitored this carefully (as all good geeks should) and came to the definite conclusion that the blue tits were staying away. So he thought he'd try filling one of the feeders up with a different feed whilst keeping one filled with Bill Oddie's nuts, to see if the blue tits came back.
They did, but the day after filling the feeders up, it was noticed that one very quickly became empty whilst the other remained almost completely full. Cue the Scientific Geek coming out! Initially, he hypothesized that, because one of the feeders was higher than the other and closer to the hedge, the birds couldn't see it as well. So he filled the empty one (with the other brand of seed in) and swapped them over, so that the untouched (Bill Oddie's bits-filled) one was now lower down and furthest away from the hedge.
But no, that didn't make any difference. The next evening, the Bill Oddie one was still untouched whilst the other one was empty. Mr. Nykied decided that the feeders themselves were making the difference, so he swapped the contents over. Still no difference. Just for good measure, he swapped the feeders (complete with their swapped contents) over again.
But each time, no matter which permeation was tried, the birds ate the feeder with the other brand of feed whilst completely ignoring the Bill Oddie feed. So the natural (and only) conclusion was that the birds didn't mind the feed and would eat it if there was nothing else on offer, but they prefer the other brand we offered them. That was nothing special, by the way, just Wilkinson's own brand.
In conclusion, if you want to give this bird feed a try (not yourself, it specifically tells you on the bag that it's not for human consumption!), then give it a go. £2 from Morrisons at the moment. And if you find that the birds in your garden don't like it either, then it can be stored in a cool dark place for up to 6 months. As for our household, we'll be sticking with the Wilkinson one!
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Bill Oddie's Really Wild Bird Food
by nayland
Being that I'm a really keen gardener, it goes without saying that I also love the birds that visit my garden, especially in the winter when they are looking for food. I make my own selection of bits and bobs for the bird table with crumbing up lots of different foods for them, but I do like to have a bag of bird food in the cupboard so ... I can keep their tube feeders well topped up ( especially in this cold weather that we are experiencing at the moment!).
I usually buy a premium bag of seeds from my 99p shop on a weekly basis, but while out shopping recently I saw that my Poundland shop had restocked with this "Bill Oddies Really Wild Bird Food" I have bought this in the past and found that it went down really well, but suddenly they seemed to stop selling it and I wasn't going to pay £3.45 ( I know it is a bigger bag 2kg, but it is still a lot dearer!) which is what our local pet store charges ( sorry birds!).
This comes in a very eye catching plastic bag which is white and purple with a picture of the man himself Bill Oddie (the little wacky man with glasses from the old classic "The Goodies" that was on many years ago!). What I particularly like about this feed is that apart from the fact that it is a good mixture that caters for all wild birds, but down one side it show's you a selection of birds ( also describes them) that will love this feed. If you have small children then it is great to keep the empty bag and show them the birds on this which then they can keep an eye out and see who can spot the most in one day!.
This feed consists of Wholesome English Wheat, Striped and Black Sunflower Seeds and Yellow Millett. The yellow millett is tiny little seeds which make it perfect for birds with small beaks. This attracts a lot of different species including Great Tits, Blue Tits, Greenfinches, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow and Dunnocks to name just a few. I must admit I have got to move my tube feeder to a different spot as where it is now I have a cheeky pair of collared doves that have worked out that if they sit in a certain spot they are at the right height to peck into the feeder which I don't mind, but they are so greedy they can almost finish a tube in two days. I'll have to get them a different feeder and monitor what I put into it!.
This food is not just for the tubes, but can be put loosely onto a bird table or simply scattered around on the ground. This can be used all year round, but now is when they seem to really need it as the trees and bushes are all bare, until all the new berries appear on them in the spring.
I don't know if this is because of this particular feed, but I keep getting a family of Long Tailed Tits ( at least 6-8 in each visit!)sitting on my bird table and I must say that I think that they are one off my favourite little birds!. I also noticed that there was a selection of different Bill Oddie items for sale so I shall buy some of those next time I'm in there and let you know how I get on!.
So if you are visiting your Poundland look out for this 800g bag and treat your wild birds in this cold snap!!
ps.......Just noticed that Amazon are selling this for £6.59 for a 6kg bag so I might just get it from there from now on!
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