I just filled most of my feeders today and used 7 suet cakes, one bag of bluebird pellets and 18 pounds of feed.
Lucky for me all of my feeders did not need filled.
I use 7 ears of corn per feeding for the squirrels.
I also have wild rabbits and chipmunks which I feed as well.
The cost of animal feed keeps going up.
It costs us between $400 and $500 per month to keep all of the animals – domestic and wild – well fed.
What I would like to know is if any of you have tips for saving money on feed or know where one could find coupons for wild bird supplies?
I do have coupons for my horse feed and those are fairly easy to find.
The chickens, ducks, turkeys, peacocks and guinea food I have never found coupons for.
I also have not found coupons for the rabbit or goat feed.
However I do sell eggs which does help to pay for the poultry feed.
The goats will eventually give me soap and I will have some of that for sale which will help cover their costs.
The rabbits are angoras which give me fiber that I can spin and use for clothing.
Their supplies are much cheaper than clothing, even at second hand shops.
Hay and straw I pay full price for and have been told by my hay supplier it is going up to $10 per square bale.
I am currently paying$2.50 and use 16 bales per month.
Straw runs $4.00 per bale and I use approximately 30 bales per month.
If anyone has stale bread, vegetables or fruits that they are not using for human consumption, etc. I would be glad to pick them up for my critters.
I do not want any moldy items but know some people clean out their fridge on a regular basis and toss stuff that is still edible, just a bit stale or overripe.
Then there is the plant a row garden!
Thank goodness for all the animal manure.
The ground is improving yearly and the crops are getting more abundant even with this terrible weather.
My carrots are going to town and so are the potatoes.
I still haven’t got my first red tomato but they are growing and when they do start to ripen I will have a bumper crop.
The sugar snap peas were delicious and although I only got three batches in the freezer from the spring crop I will reseed in the fall and hopefully get more.