Contents of trail mix:
Peanuts, Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, Walnuts, Brazilian Hazelnuts, Sunflower Kernels, Steam-crimped Corn, Shelled Pumpkin Seeds, Raisins, Dehydrated Cherries, Dried Cranberries, Dried Blueberries.
Do you ever see a product on a shelf and you’re like… Huh? Am I really seeing this? I don’t know who’s spending $46 on 20 pound bags of trail mix for their woodpeckers, but it kind of makes you wonder if people are buying it to eat themselves. I mean, at $2.30 a pound {with the exception of the steam-crimped corn}, it looks pretty good to me.
Who knows, maybe I’m the crazy one. 😉
Have a great weekend everyone,
~Mavis
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Rosaleen says
Apparently, I am crazy like you. My first thought was to read the ingredients to see if it might be targeted to people.
Mel says
We don’t buy that specific item, but we do spend a small fortune on wild bird feed, and we occasionally buy shelled peanuts for our red-bellied woodpeckers. They go crazy for them, and I love listening to them laugh in the trees. We also buy black oil sunflower seeds, sugar for hummingbird food, suet, meal worms, etc. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it to us. In early spring, we find hummingbirds hovering where we usually hang their feeder, waiting for us to put it out. They migrate insane distances just to eat in our yard, so of course we put out nectar for them. I can hear our crows right now chattering for my husband to go out and feed them–they sometimes leave gifts (shiny objects they find) by the feeder in thanks. We have as many as 8 feeders going at once, and we even have a Nest cam trained on them so that my elderly father can watch and listen to the birds from his computer in his city apartment.
Although, the bird feed budget would be smaller if raccoons didn’t raid the feeders every night. We have Nest cam footage of a raccoon teaching her 3 kits how to empty the feeders. I’d bring the feeders inside at night, but I think the bird feed keeps them away from the chickens and vegetable garden.
Tamara says
We love feeding the birds too! And probably spend way too much on feed, but it is so fun and we are teaching our grandsons about birdwatching. Great entertainment! We have the same issue with raccoons. This is our first time buying mealworms; we are excited to see how many bluebirds they attract.
Robin in WI says
We have a lot of woodpeckers (downy, hairy, red-bellied, and occasionally pileated) here and I bought something similar to this for them plus the chickadees and nuthatches this past winter to help them fuel up and stay warm. 🙂 Not at $46 for 20 lbs, however — not spending that much! I got a smaller bag for under $20 at Walmart and mixed it with sunflower chips. The woodpeckers mostly go for the suet feeder year-round — about $1 per cake for woodpecker suet at Walmart and Home Depot.
Jeanine says
We too feed the birds. Wild Bird Seed, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds , Suet, and I make Hummingbird Syrup. This year, we have Wild Turkeys and 8 baby turkeys come visit us a couple times a day. My hubby is trying to train them to come up to him when he shakes his bottle of seed. We have an old T made from wood out front our porch window that the birds land on and peck the sunflower seeds open. It’s getting a little ragged, but we can watch from the window. This year the turkeys fly up on the T and prim their feathers. Also, the babies will fly up and sit on the T. So fun, it’s our entertainment and the garden as well.
Linda says
We were gifted a woodpecker feeding log 3 winters ago. Our friend took a 15″ piece of tree limb and drilled random 3/4″ deep holes in it. By each hole he put a nail to be used as a perch. Each hole is filled with peanut butter for the woodpeckers, they go crazy over it. To make the task of filling the holes easier, we purchased a cupcake decorating set and fill it with peanut butter. It makes the filling job much easier and far less messy.
We also feed black oil sunflower seeds and special birdsong mix along with the hummingbird feeders.
Molly Jo says
that sounds so cool and very easy to recreate as a craft. I buy the dogs peanut butter in a spray can for their Kongs (much like cheese in spray can LOL) and it would be perfect for filling the holes, but is is rather pricey so would do as you do, with the decorator bag. I do hear a wood pecker in area so I could feed it now.
Diane says
Even cheaper to cut the corner off a sandwich baggie to squirt the peanut butter! And I wouldn’t think you need to make perches with nails, since they are used to digging their claws into the bark of a tree.
Jennifer says
I have no problem if someone is crazy enough to spend that much – I get the basic stuff for my two feeders and it adds up. My question was could I pick out the stuff my dh would eat and him not notice it was really meant for birds?!? Lol. He loves all of those nuts, except peanuts, of course
Linda schible says
Geez, suet is very cheap and you don’t have to get the really expensive bird seed. I don’t care what the price is, wildlife is worth every penny
Lana says
I bought that mix for our birds one year and they threw all the fruit on the ground. They didn’t get another chance!
Margo says
We feed lots of hummingbirds and go through about 8 to 10 lbs of sugar a week. We also feed many hooded orioles and offspring every spring from those nectar feeders as well. We also feed doves, finches, and sparrows, who eat a variety of seed and black oil sunflower seeds,and have a woodpecker family in our old agave stalk. That and the butterfly garden planted with butterfly bushes and milkweed for our visiting monarchs, make our yard a haven and sanctuary to sit in and watch. If everyone would feed, and watch the birds and butterflies, the world would be A better place. Don’t you think so?
Tamara says
How do you increase the number of hummers in your yard? We only see 2 to 4 each summer. We use two feeders and have bird friendly flowers but in all the years we’ve been here (32) the number of hummingbirds has not grown.
Margo says
I don’t know where you live, but I’m in So. California and on the migration route for several varieties. It may be that you get only a few because other natural foods and nesting conditions aren’t there for them. We did notice that we see many more birds since we added a water fountain and I’ve been told that’s one way to increase the bird numbers.
Joyce says
I agree we also have milkweed for the monarchs. We raise chicken so I am careful because of the foxes, coyotes and bears. Oh my.
Annette says
How do you keep ants out of your hummingbird feeders?
Margo says
We use ant moats, a cup like device filled with water and the feeder hangs below it. Works very well. You can google it for a diy version or buy them already made.
Brianna says
If I feed the birds I feed the bears. So I do not feed the birds because I do not want to condition the bears. My mother went to get a rake yesterday behind her garage and had a skinny juvenile brown bear staring at her. She pulled her feeder as soon as the bear left. We do not want our bears to be nuisance bears and have fish and game trap and relocate them or put them down. I have a ton of tree swallows this year and I haven’t had those before. They are fascinated with a bird house. Maybe I will hear chirping babies soon.
Nancy says
We feed the birds. Have 4 feeders (sunflower seeds & suets) and bird bath. Because of the bears, I take the feeders in every night, even put the shephherds hooks down on the ground because the bears have bent them all up! We have 7 hummer feeders, I take two of them in at night, rest are window feeders that they’ve never bothered (yet!). Yes, a pain but we so enjoy the birds – we live in Northern Wisconsin-our season is short and this is fun entertainment.
Lana says
A coworker of my husband’s would not listen when neighbors told her to take down her feeders because of the bears. One morning they got up and found their very large and heavy concrete angel statue that was in the middle of the front yard on their front porch with all the toes bitten off. They took the feeders down but it continued for weeks of the statue being on their porch every morning. They were kind of freaked out.
tia in boise says
ha ha ha!!! i swear i see a red m&m at the bottom of that bag!
Teri says
I see it too!
Kippy says
I make the sugar syrup for the hummingbirds. The pest control people said no bird feeders as the rats which we are trying to get rid of, love to eat bird seed/feed. Black sunflower seeds from Safeway pet aisle is added to the chickens’ feed.
Teri says
In my area the bears are attracted to bird feeders.
Margo says
We bought a bird net catchment that hangs from the seed feeder. The loose seed doesn’t reach the ground and it got rid of the rats
Patty P says
We have two Redbud trees right out in front of our livingroom windows, and I have been feeding the birds for years. This year on our Corona Stay at Home time, my husband finally got around to making a platform feeder…and we had many new varieties of birds visit! We have a farm at the north end of our county that bags bird food and sunflower seeds. The 50 lb bag of birdfood is $10….a steal. So we usually stock up for us and some of our friends (it’s about a 45 min drive one way). The sunflower seed is a little bit more ($15 for a 50 lb bag), but in addition to feeding it in a dedicated feeder out front, I supplement our goat’s diet with it too. It makes their hair so shiny and they love the sunflowers. We have a local company that makes suet cakes, but when I do buy the suet I get it at a local Mennonite market for cheaper than I can just walk in and buy it at the company’s warehoues ($8.55 for 12 cakes). I have gotten into making suet cakes too (they smell so good), but I haven’t done a cost comparison. I’m sure I’m spending more on the home made cakes, but I can put what I want in them too (including more sunflower seeds, nuts, dried berries). It really is worth it to us to see all of the different birds. We kept track this spring and we have had 24 different bird varieties so far this year!