How many nuts inshell?

[riddick07]

So how many pounds of nuts do you feed your macaw in a year do you think? And how much are you spending on just the inshell nuts? Doesn't include pellets or mixes or anything else. Just the nuts still in the shell!

Curious where we are all at on cost on this for our macaws after just buying the last bulk order of inshell nuts for my macaw and mothers macaw. We buy bulk once a year & freeze them in airtight bags to keep them fresh.

 

[noodles123]

Lol- I don't have a macaw, but I was SUPER excited to give Noodles almonds and walnuts (English) in the shell...until she started eating the almond shell lol...No more nuts in shells for my genius...

 

[SailBoat]

The 'in shell' is the hard part of the question as we target de-shelled nuts (yes, our Amazon is so spoiled) and because he is an Amazon, no peanuts. Last year was two 5# bags of mixed nuts. Again, no peanuts.

I would guess that the shells likely add 50%, so that would equal 20# in shell nuts for our guy. He sits at a consistent 500 grams. With most Macaws running at 1250 grams or heavier that would bump the total to around 45# for a Mac?

Just my silly math!

 

[noodles123]

They aren't cheap---random/odd story-- One of my sisters and I made placing nuts(w/shell) in people's pockets and personal items a holiday tradition (pre-pandemic)--the goal has always been to sneak nuts onto people without them knowing lol (like the inverse of pick-pocketing) -BUT, I digress...Anyway, my point was that we always got the "scoop your own" nuts (in shell) around the holidays. Last time, I got maybe 2 medium-small scoops and it was like $10 (if not more)!


I'd say 25-50% of the time, they just got thrown back at us lol--- much like owning a parrot in that respect.
Didn't mean to de-rail thread lol! Just popped into my head when I saw your question.

 

[riddick07]

Yeah I was curious what people were spending on macaw nuts just in shell. I was seeing crazy prices people were throwing around for how much it costs to feed macaws. I would be broke if it actually cost as much as I see some people quoting.

It’s 100 dollars including shipping to get nuts for my macaw & my mothers for a year (mix of walnuts, filberts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans) . It’s about 32lbs of nuts between the two. I’m wondering just how many nuts everyone else feeds lol. My mother also does pistachios & pine nuts that she gets randomly throughout the year but I don’t feed those. So I spend about 50 dollars for a years worth of inshell nuts on Titan. I don’t do inshell for any of the other birds since they get enough in the mixes I buy.

The macaws really like breaking the nuts open, so it’s enrichment to an extent lol

 

[noodles123]

I think that sounds about right (if not a bargain), given the cost of my few scoops!

 

[riddick07]

I think that sounds about right (if not a bargain), given the cost of my few scoops!

I know, it’s the cheapest we found even with having to pay shipping. Was just wondering if other people really do drop an insane amount on nuts. I was watching people quote weirdly high amounts for just a month on other forums for feeding a macaw.

Overall I spend about 400 a year on pellets, mixes, & nuts for all 9 of mine. And it’s only that high because I pay for the high priced cockatiel seed mix instead of the cheaper seed. Fresh foods are whatever I eat anymore that they have too, so I don’t tend to add that up really. Besides the horse they are the most expensive to feed out of all of my animals haha. The Retics come in third place with having to buy 200 in rabbits a year. The cat in 4th & the roaches in fifth (the roaches feed all the creepy crawly arachnids). I breed rats & they feed 98% of the snakes & I sell enough pet rats to cover the cost of the rat care. So I save over a thousand a year there. The snakes on a whole would beat out the birds in food cost otherwise :17: