# Is there now a national sunflower seed (for birds) shortage?



## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

I've been feeding birds for years. My birds only like black sunflower seeds. I have 5 feeders out.

I go through about 20 to 25 lbs of sunflower seeds every week. 

Lately I have had trouuble finding seeds in stores. I bought the last bags Walmart had a while back. I bought some at Tractor Supply but they have none now. I bought the last 2 bags that Kroger had a couple of weeks ago. Home Depot never has any.

None of the local stores have restocked.

Is this just a local situation?

We have the sorriest big box and chain store managers in all of the US. The managers are 100% useless and impossible to contact.

And their on-line inventory is NEVER, EVER correct.


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## poppy (Feb 21, 2008)

NRA_guy said:


> I've been feeding birds for years. *My birds only like black sunflower seeds.* I have 5 feeders out.
> 
> I go through about 20 to 25 lbs of sunflower seeds every week.
> 
> ...


Sounds like your birds may be a bit racist. I suppose it could be a seasonal shortage but we just feed them the general seed mix found about anywhere. I don't get to eat my favorite foods every day and I don't figure the birds are any better.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Our local situation has one family that own the large grocery store, liquor store, BP filling station, and laundromat. They also still run the family farm on the edge of town and usually grow oil seeds, sold at $2 or 3/50 lb bag less than "national brands" sold at Wally's....but they decided to grow corn this past year....End of season now with diminished availability....I guess we should've speculated in the oil seed futures market to hedge our costs.

I also have observed that the birdies all prefer oil seed to anything else. Even the peckerheads will eat oil seed if the suet has run dry....Nice thing about oil seeds is that the seeds inefficiently scattered from the feeders turn into sunflowers...Those little round "bird seeds" in the mixes are weed seeds.


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## sapphira (Mar 24, 2003)

Delivery is the problem here in Blue Ridge VA. Hard to get seeds sometimes. Cat food has been empty shelves lately unless you hit the store on the right day. Canned fruit is scarce and expensive. We are canning more and more. Having our fruit trees -5- professionally trimmed and taken care of - just had to do it this year for a decent crop.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

doc- said:


> ...Those little round "bird seeds" in the mixes are weed seeds.


What kind of weed?

Asking for a friend.


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## coolrunnin (Aug 28, 2010)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> What kind of weed?
> 
> Asking for a friend.


More likely milo

Sent from my SM-T550 using Homesteading Today mobile app


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Haha. I got the weed joke @GunMonkeyIntl

I found 50-lb bags of sunflower seeds at a local, family-owned yard and garden store this morning. So my birds are happy now.

The birds just rake those little round milo seeds out on the ground when I offer them the mixed seeds.

And they refused to touch thistle seeds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...d-mixes-are-filled-with-stuff-birds-wont-eat/


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

sapphira said:


> Delivery is the problem here in Blue Ridge VA. Hard to get seeds sometimes. Cat food has been empty shelves lately unless you hit the store on the right day. Canned fruit is scarce and expensive. We are canning more and more. Having our fruit trees -5- professionally trimmed and taken care of - just had to do it this year for a decent crop.


Canned cat food food too is because of aluminum shortage. So they say


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## Redlands Okie (Nov 28, 2017)

My ag center feed mill is currently out of several types of feed. Including different types of poultry and bird feeds, cattle, horse, etc. This place actually makes the products, packages them, sells them, ships them to others to sell. They seem to have plenty of the basic products, wheat, corn, etc. I am being told that they are having a hard time getting a variety of the trace ingredients that go in the mixes as well.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Forcast said:


> Canned cat food food too is because of aluminum shortage. So they say


ALUMINUM SHORTAGE???? The heck with cat food. My cat was wild for 2 years before I adopted her. She can forage for herself. This is a disaster of epic proportions. No aluminum means no beer cans means no beer. TEOTWAWKI has struck. 

Sunflower is grown here locally and out in the Dakotas. Drive down the road and see 10 foot tall plants with bright yellow seed heads as far as the eye can see. I don't think there is a shortage here yet but 50 lbs jumped from $19 last year to $26 this year. The snow is almost gone so there is wild food available for the birds. They won't starve if we can't feed them. On the other hand all those starving cats have a ready food supply.


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## Bront (Jan 26, 2021)

NRA_guy said:


> I've been feeding birds for years. My birds only like black sunflower seeds. I have 5 feeders out.
> 
> I go through about 20 to 25 lbs of sunflower seeds every week.
> 
> ...


 I don't feed birdys straight sunflower seeds...the bag I just bought has them mixed in though.

Woodpeckers..tit mouse..blue jays in this area lurve them..


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

Trying to entice Cardinals to my feeder .... they love black oil sunflower seeds. I seem to have the fattest doves in the area as they love them too.

I don't have a problem buying black oil sunflower seeds, but it sounds like I'd better stock up.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

I use BOSS as part of our goat feed. Few weeks ago I called the feed mill, to get prices and see what they had in stock. Told him I would be up mid week to pick up some BOSS and alfalfa pellets. He told me then that he would put aside a bag of Sunflower seed as they were flying off the shelf. Said due to the cold and the snow people were buying up triple what they normally buy to feed the wild birds. 
Guess I should thank people to keep the birds fat and fluffy for our cats.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Wolf mom said:


> Trying to entice Cardinals to my feeder .... they love black oil sunflower seeds.


Add some peanuts and watch the cardinals and blue jays compete for them.


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

Cat litter here. If you see it you better buy it.


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## IlliniosGal (Jun 3, 2019)

Might be a local issues, I have seen 40lb bags of sunflower seeds at both TSC and the local hardware store this week.

I buy directly from a farmer, I take my two big metal trash cans and he fills them right from the hopper to the cans in the back of my truck. Might cost a bit more, but I am supporting a neighbor and I don't have to deal with the plastic packaging.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Nimrod said:


> ALUMINUM SHORTAGE???? The heck with cat food. My cat was wild for 2 years before I adopted her. She can forage for herself. This is a disaster of epic proportions. No aluminum means no beer cans means no beer. TEOTWAWKI has struck.
> 
> Sunflower is grown here locally and out in the Dakotas. Drive down the road and see 10 foot tall plants with bright yellow seed heads as far as the eye can see. I don't think there is a shortage here yet but 50 lbs jumped from $19 last year to $26 this year. The snow is almost gone so there is wild food available for the birds. They won't starve if we can't feed them. On the other hand all those starving cats have a ready food supply.


The bird people have a huge problem with cats killing birds. 

.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Nimrod said:


> ALUMINUM SHORTAGE???? The heck with cat food. My cat was wild for 2 years before I adopted her. She can forage for herself. This is a disaster of epic proportions. No aluminum means no beer cans means no beer. TEOTWAWKI has struck.
> 
> Sunflower is grown here locally and out in the Dakotas. Drive down the road and see 10 foot tall plants with bright yellow seed heads as far as the eye can see. I don't think there is a shortage here yet but 50 lbs jumped from $19 last year to $26 this year. The snow is almost gone so there is wild food available for the birds. They won't starve if we can't feed them. On the other hand all those starving cats have a ready food supply.


The bird people have a huge problem with cats killing birds


doc- said:


> Add some peanuts and watch the cardinals and blue jays compete for them.


Dog kibble is what the birds steal here. Even with feeders they like it best. Go figure. 

.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

There has been a major grain supply change in the past 12 months.

we had a very poor ecconomy, many places shutting down, China was not buying grains from North America, the effects of the virus on shopping and eating made it look like very little grains would be used.

farm economics were very depressed. Farming looked dismal.

a year later, Iowa had a major wind destroy a lot of crop, South America got very dry and only average crops down there not the record we thought they would harvest. China had major major major flooding and it appears it wrecked their corn crop much much worse then they let on. Ukraine had a slightly worse crop then they expected. And now we are here with grains being sold around the globe, shortages looming, and South America ends up too wet to plant their second corn crop with big rains during their harvest time, usa is pretty dry in the west for this coming year, drought?

crop prices have shot up huge.

China has been buying every oil crop they can find, and buying a lot of corn.

sunflowers are an oil crop........

shipping and handling of all this has been difficult, with the virus. So many places are closed, or slow, or short on people.

all together, I will guess that birdseed is more on the back burner for a lot of companies, as they try to ramp up and rework how to make all the people food or feed that goes to make people food.

last year it looked like grains were going to drop even lower in price, and the future of processing and sales was very questionable. So none of these companies bought ahead, and locked in prices.

now, now if there is empty shelves, they have to go buy grain now, and prices are through the roof. So they are between a rock and a hard place. And there are still virus issues that make the future uncertain, production and delivery of product uncertain.

I don’t know sunflowers, they aren’t grown here. I would guess they have followed what the other crops have done.

corn was about $3 a year ago. Today it is $5.14 a bushel.

soybeans were $8 a year ago. Today they are over $14 a bushel.

Now, we will not run out of grain, feed, or food in the USA. Don’t worry!

but over the next 3 months, grain buyers will need to convince us farmers to plant the right types of grains that they will need a year from now. They do this by offering us better prices on the crops that are running low in storage, and not offering as good a price on crops that seems to be plenty available in the world.

the issue over the next 3 months is that both corn and soybeans are projected to be kinda low in supply, so both those crops might run up in price from here. It is an acreage fight, as both major crops need more acres planted.

that could convince some farmers to grow a few less other crops, and more beans and corn.

sunflowers are a small crop, so if they lose a few acres of production it will have a big impact on their prices into the future.

Sorry for the long read, but a little insight into how grain markets go. It actually works really well to keep us from ever running out of grain or food in this country. At very rare times like this it spikes grain prices up high out of the blue. Which normally most grain users buy ahead of time and can average out their prices. This one time might be different, as everyone was back on their heels because of the virus, and might not have bought ahead right.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

rambler said:


> There has been a major grain supply change in the past 12 months.
> 
> we had a very poor ecconomy, many places shutting down, China was not buying grains from North America, the effects of the virus on shopping and eating made it look like very little grains would be used.
> 
> ...


Kind of like lumber. Availability and price has been highly abnormal. 

We live in turbulent times.

And the government is "printing" dollars by the truckload and paying folks to not work. Go figure . . .


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## kinnb (Oct 23, 2011)

saw plenty of the oiled sunflower seeds at Rural King (KY) if that helps...

Peace,
Kyrie, Tao Blue SD AKC CGC CGCA CGCU TKN PAT, Deja Blue SD AKC CGC CGCU TKN PAT


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Menard's had a bunch of black oil sunflower seed and it was on sale in late January when I got mine. I got 2 big bags and still had half a bag left from December. I still have some from that first bag. I haven't looked lately except at Walmart and they had only a couple bags of the junk birdfeed.


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## HeyRaeTCA (Jul 16, 2020)

Interesting. I've been feeding BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) to my chickens (fermented) for 9 years now, and have never had any trouble getting them. The last trip to the feed store, I had to get the large sunflower seeds (with the white stripe) instead. Never would have thought China was part of the issue on not getting them.


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## kinnb (Oct 23, 2011)

was in my local-ish Walfart today, and they had a shelf full, the big bags....

Peace,
Kyrie, Tao Blue SD AKC CGC CGCA CGCU TKN PAT, Deja Blue SD AKC CGC CGCU TKN PAT


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## HeyRaeTCA (Jul 16, 2020)

kinnb said:


> was in my local-ish Walfart today, and they had a shelf full, the big bags....
> 
> Peace,
> Kyrie, Tao Blue SD AKC CGC CGCA CGCU TKN PAT, Deja Blue SD AKC CGC CGCU TKN PAT


How much? I've been seeing prices on the 50lb bag go from $25 to $37.50 in the last year.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

I found a 50# bag at a local plant store last week for around $26.00.

Big box chain stores apparently have more profitable things to worry about.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I kinda hate to say what I paid for my 50 lb bags. I'll just say it was less than $20 a bag. Now that the snow has melted and the birds are not needing the seed as much I'm worried the second bag will get all buggy before they finish it.


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## poppy (Feb 21, 2008)

NRA_guy said:


> Kind of like lumber. Availability and price has been highly abnormal.
> 
> We live in turbulent times.
> 
> And the government is "printing" dollars by the truckload and paying folks to not work. Go figure . . .


I read an article a year or so ago by an economist predicting these kinds of 'shortages' back when stimulus checks started going out. He also said they will get worse if more checks go out. He also predicted there would be excuses for the shortages but the real reason was money being printed out of thin air being poured into the economy. That money has to go somewhere and it has the result of devaluing the dollar. Shortages occur due to spending changes and financial realignment as that money inflates prices for everything we buy and will continue until the system realigns. The end result will be inflation and no return to previous prices. How does government appease the public for these price rises? Raise the minimum wage to give the masses the illusion they are getting more purchasing power. He said this has always happened in every country as their currency declined and ultimately failed.
I'm seeing signs he was 100% right.


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## NRA_guy (Jun 9, 2015)

Yep. 100% spot on @poppy.

Also, lots of employers of minimum wage workers are complaining that they cannot hire and retain workers because the government is paying them to not work.


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## poppy (Feb 21, 2008)

NRA_guy said:


> Yep. 100% spot on @poppy.
> 
> Also, lots of employers of minimum wage workers are complaining that they cannot hire and retain workers because the government is paying them to not work.


Very true. I don't think they will ever be able to stop the stimulus checks now in one form or another without crashing the economy. Pelosi is already saying even more may be needed. The liberals have been wanting a national basic income where everyone gets a check monthly to provide for basic needs and this may morph into that.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

poppy said:


> Very true. I don't think they will ever be able to stop the stimulus checks now in one form or another without crashing the economy. Pelosi is already saying even more may be needed. The liberals have been wanting a national basic income where *everyone gets a check monthly to provide for basic needs* and this may morph into that.


Correction-- monthly check to enslave them to the govt & party in power

The Bread & Circuses concept of politics goes back at least to Roman times.


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## poppy (Feb 21, 2008)

doc- said:


> Correction-- monthly check to enslave them to the govt & party in power
> 
> The Bread & Circuses concept of politics goes back at least to Roman times.


Very true but those clamoring for these stimulus checks are already enslaved to government mentally. Government is their god and in their minds the only thing looking out for them. Easy to spot them. They agree totally with every dictate issued by government and berate anyone who disagrees. It is a government cult.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

poppy said:


> I read an article a year or so ago by an economist predicting these kinds of 'shortages' back when stimulus checks started going out. He also said they will get worse if more checks go out. He also predicted there would be excuses for the shortages but the real reason was money being printed out of thin air being poured into the economy. That money has to go somewhere and it has the result of devaluing the dollar. Shortages occur due to spending changes and financial realignment as that money inflates prices for everything we buy and will continue until the system realigns. The end result will be inflation and no return to previous prices. How does government appease the public for these price rises? Raise the minimum wage to give the masses the illusion they are getting more purchasing power. He said this has always happened in every country as their currency declined and ultimately failed.
> I'm seeing signs he was 100% right.


that is a very nice, short, understandable explanation of it.

Paul


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