help reduce my feed bill!!!

lola · #1 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 04:29 PM

look at this it frightened the life out of me - worked it all out today, it's the monthly total for all my cage/aviary birds, chickens and reptiles.... how can I knock it down without reducing the healthy stuff as they're all apparently happy fit & well.....other people must've had this problem too!!! sensible help & advice please and WITHOUT selling off half of my animals and birds................

FEED BILL

Birdseed:

Cockatiel mix 3 x 14.50 = 43.50
Foreign finch 3 x 14.25 = 42.75
Millet 1/3 box 16.50 = 5.50
Total: £91.75

Chickens

Mixed corn 1 x 8.00 = 8.00
Layer pellets 1 x 8.00 = 8.00
Porridge kg 12 x 0.65 = 7.80
Total: £23.80

Livefood:

Crickets 500 large 4 x 6.83 = 27.32
Locusts 100 medium 4 x 11.99 = 47.96
Mealworms regular per kg incl del 2 x11.98 = 23.97
Total £99.25

Frozen mice

Honeybrook small per 50 incl del 3 x 14.66 = £44.00

Fruit & Veg

Lettuce any type 1 per day 30 x 0.50 = 15.00
Apples 1 per day 30 x 0.14 = 4.20
Pears ½ per day 15 x 0.17 = 2.55
Carrots per kg 2 x 0.45 = 0.90
Cress per punnet 12 x 0.23 = 2.76
Grapes per kg ½ x 3.50 = 1.75
Cabbage/greens 4 x 0.65 = 2.60
Kale 5 x 1.10 = 5.50
Spinach 4 x 1.20 = 5.00
Total: £40.26

Full Total £299.06

peaches · #2 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 04:38 PM

A month!!! Bloody hell.....

No idea of price of bird seed, where do you buy it? Try somewhere that sells it loose or in bulk.

Alot of mealworms too, do you really need so many lmao (have no idea what your feeding of course)

Veg...umm what about a local veggie box scheme? Or see what you can get cheap at the end of the day at a supplier/grocers.

freekygeeky · #3 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:07 PM

mine has reduced a hell of alot, Mealworms....
by breeeding them

greenlikegecko · #4 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:11 PM

do you buy all your dry food in bulk from a supplier?, if not maybe buying > 15kg bags of bird seed would be bit cheaper and you norm get free delivery if you spend enough...

have you ever thought about breeding mice? (could you kill them?) also if you have space you could breed insects (there are many online guides on how too) id say if you could keep a coloney of mice they dont require much looking after tho insects are harder to breed (especially if you dont like touching them or escapees)

good luck

NBLADE · #5 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekygeeky

mine has reduced a hell of alot, Mealworms....
by breeeding them

you could try breeding the crix, mealworms and locusts, that should reduce your feed bill, i used to breed them, but stopped after a while. After i sold the chameleons my food needed cut back a lot, the chams put the beardeds to shame when it came to eating lol

underdog · #6 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:13 PM

For livefood would breeding it yourself not be the ultimate answer?

Also for bird food, I am not sure where you buy it, but for my African Gray I buy a 20kg sack of the stuff that costs £14, if I bought it in smaller bags at a different pet store it would cost almost 3 times that. So could worth shopping around.

Issa · #7 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:17 PM

How do you feel about breeding your own feeder rodents? As long as you have the stomach for the culling part you can produce your own a lot cheaper than even online suppliers. Less annoying when a fussy feeder refuses as well.

NBLADE · #8 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 05:21 PM

i breed my own mice and rats and it does save some money, but i would need a lot more before i would stop needing to pay about £100 every month on mice and rats,
but another benefit is you know exactly what it was fed on, and when it was frozen, and would likely be in really good condition, so would benefit the snakes.

lola · #9 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 06:35 PM

The cockatiel seed and foreign finch too IS in 20kg or 25kg sacks - I use THREE of each each month and they're what - £14.50 ish each!!!! I've shopped around but can't seem to get this size much cheaper plus I'd have to collect it which means time & fuel, this place delivers for free.

I couldn't kill the meeces 0 horrors!!!! this seems to be the cheapest place for the small mice, 50 for a tenner plus delivery isn't bad - they're for the owls and the snakes - I'm selling the snakes

so that'll reduce that a little but not a lot - the 2 owls have 2 each a day

I've tried them on chicks coz they're like pennies each but they won't touch em, funny old things

Mealworms - the owls too - and for the chickens coz they're not free-range, they live in the large aviaries, they have a small handful a day. The lizards don't like them much. Think I'll have to be hard and cut them right down so no more for the chooks.

I've also now ordered and am setting up a breeding roach colony so hopefully will be self sufficient in insects but not for a while...

Locusts - hmmmmm - do they NEED them.... they so flippin expensive for what they are....

thanks for all the replies - all is appreciated and any advice is welcome

brittone05 · #10 (**permalink**) 13-03-2008, 07:42 PM

Roaches are nutritionally better than locusts anyway so you can't go far wrong changing them over

That is a whopper of a food bill - though I used to be bad with £50 a week on reptile food alone lmao

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