Wednesday 9 November 2011

Seed Prices on the Rise!

As many have noted over the past few months there has been a not so insignificant increase in wild bird seed prices. Though it is hard to get a solid answer from anyone as to why they have increased so much we can shed some light onto the various factors that have caused this upwards trend.

As a commodity prices are never set in stone and are affected by several factors. Two of the most significant factors to rising seed prices are environmental changes and uncertain economic times.

Economic uncertainty has caused many farmers to switch to higher profit grains and seeds. One of the leading factors in smaller harvests, which lead to higher prices, is corn production. Due to the increased popularity of ethanol many farmers have started to devoted more time and land to corn because of the higher profitability. Because of a lowered supply of sunflower seeds, and also safflower seeds, prices inevitably increase.

Perhaps the greatest factor of all of these is environmental changes. Large scale flooding, late springs, and delayed harvests have all negatively impacted the price of the commonly used black oil. There has been a similar trend in peanut production. This year a devastating drought and heat wave has sent peanut prices up from around $450 per ton to over $1200 per ton. This has unsurprisingly also affected the price of peanuts used for wild bird feeding because more of this year’s harvest will be used for human consumption.

So what does all of this mean to the consumer? Unfortunately this means that many have had to cut back. Though it is perhaps a frivolous expense to some, to others it is a lifelong hobby. The simplest way around the rising cost is to adjust how you feed. By reducing the amount of seed you put our each day you can stretch out how long a bag of feed lasts. There are also a many different types of feed that can be used to attract all sorts of birds for a lower price point allowing you to continue to enjoy the birds!

Tips on how to feed on a lower budget to come!

Friday 7 October 2011

Welcome to the Backyard Birder Blog!

The Backyard Birder is proud to launch our new blog!

Here you will be able to read insightful and engaging posts about birdfeeding, gardening, and home decor and holiday entertaining tips and tricks. We will also keep you "in the loop" regarding our upcoming events and events throughout the city that we are participating in. Our blog will be your one stop shop for everything Backyard Birder.

At the Backyard Birder we love a good contest and after the success of our last contest the "Front Door Appeal Contest", we will surely be having more! We will use our blog to announce new and exciting contests and of course the lucky winners!

Our new blog comes as a partner to fast approaching relaunch of our website http://www.backyardbirder.ca/. A new user friendly design will help you navigate our site finding what you need with ease.

On our website you will be able to view items that we have in store and purchase online through our web store. You will also find great links to all sorts of great birding sites.

We look forward to developing our new blog in the very near future! Get your binoculars out and be on the lookout on Twitter and Facebook for new blog posts and news!