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Mom called me asking if I knew where I might find cheap bulk grape jelly. I guess she has a bird feeder or something and is looking for gallons cheap. Any ideas? She is buying sams/costco at this point, which appears to be about a buck a pound. I've seen #10 cans online, but they're $9 per 8lbs, so...
Your Mom likes orioles?
Go generic at WalMart or some other store brand.
Grapes+pectin+sugar
One batch should make more than a gallon.
Grape juice and jello?
The Shamrock Foods walk in store
https://search.yahoo.com/local/s;_yl...O&fr=yfp-t-901
Tell her to watch a canning video and make it herself for next to nothing....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB378roYmSY
Orioles like jelly for the sugar. We don't use jelly because it's messy but the birds do come to both oriole and hummingbird feeders with a 1:4 sugar water solution. Oriole feeders have larger ports than hummingbird feeders but you can also remove the flower ports from some hummingbird feeders and the orioles will use those.
The most common oriole in Colorado is the Bullock's Oriole. We get a constant flow of orioles to our feeders, maybe 15-20 pair a day, and in a few weeks we'll start seeing juveniles. They have one brood and the adults begin migrating south by early to mid July.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps03alu46f.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...pss4ohbgjy.jpg
How cool!
I haven't seen any around here. We set out an Oriole feeder last year, and I put out a dish of grape jelly and another or orange slices. Back in Minnesota, that's all it would take for Baltimore Orioles to come to the yard.
The squirrels made short work of the oranges, and the neighbor's apiary benefitted greatly from the sugar water and the jelly. I guess happy honeybees aren't bad, but I would have loved to seen and heard some Orioles.
Mom's still living in Nebraska, but I'm assuming that's what this is. It's funny... when she was younger, she had zero interest in birds. But my grandma (her mom) had me over refilling birdfeeders with all sorts of nasty stuff all the time. The hummingbird syrup was the worst, because it would always make such a mess. But she let me shoot her pellet gun at the squirrels and wouldn't tell my parents too, so there was that (I was really young). Anyway, long story but my parents moved into her house to take care of her, and now that she's gone, my mom is definitely starting to turn into my grandma. It's sweet to see. Mostly - it's always hard to watch your parents get old though. This bird thing is only the latest part.
I keep hearing about this shamrock place, guess I'll have to check it out.
Mom used to can food like a mad woman, but she hasn't really done anything in a long time. I miss that homemade canned tomato soup. Mmm.
First year we have had oriole's in our yard. Feeder keeps them around. The other birds seem to like it as well. Blue birds got pushed out as soon as homes went up behind me. The blue bird boxes have swallows in them. Keeps the skeeters down. As my yard continues to mature we get more birds as others have moved because of development.
I don't know how you put out hanging feeders with the winds we get. I tried that years ago and the high winds we get every spring/fall just made a mess of things.
I've noticed a bunch of Finches hanging out at my place, but I know nothing about birds, do I don't know if that is special or not.