Pisces

[E Orix]

Pisces
Seem to do this every year.
People buy from them on price not quality and forget about Sorry Mate!!! can't supply, your young birds will just have to die. How cheap are they now.
My supplier charges a little more,they are not big monster worms and I and his regulars will get worms through the season.
He knows when Pisces is running out because of the extra calls wanting his worms at any cost.He still supplies his regulars at the same rate.
If you insist on using anyone on an add hoc basis my I recommend that you set up an emergency colony and as I have said before only use it when the supply stops.

[Tintola]

Problem is that I am not an ad hoc customer. I have a regular order every fortnight of 2 kgs of mealworms and what ever else I need at the time. You can bet that all of the zoos etc. are getting their regular orders at the same cost.

[desertbirds]

Dont bet on that one Tintola.
Im not having a go at pisces but i noticed years ago that the small tubs were very inconsistant. I think when they ran low they had a lot less product in the tubs.

[Craig52]

David hi, I cant understand why serious breeders of finches and weavers etc,don't have their own colonies of mealworms and have to rely on suppliers.It's such a simple task breed them and manage them.

[Tintola]

crocnshas. I go through 3 kg of mealworms a fortnight at this time of year. The maintenance of such an operation to supply this amount would take up more time than I spend on the birds.

[Craig52]

I'm not having a go at you Tintola,but it's all the breeders with small set ups and just a few prs of birds,thier the ones that drain the suppliers at this time of the year and they are the ones who should set up their own colony.Of coarse large breeders of birds like yourself and orix, would have to buy in mealworms and other insects to feed large amounts of birds or you would have to start up your own livefood farms.

[Tintola]

I didn't think that you were I suppose it's a good lesson that I should have learnt years ago, that you should not rely on others to supply your needs or to structure the collection of birds, assuming that supply will always be available.

[djb78]

Well at this time if year alot of insects would be purchased by numerous amounts of people and all and well throughout the rest of the year and if everybody's breeding season gets better the larger amounts of live food is required so is it that the live food companies aren't breeding more to cope with the regular demand or is it that there are more people now requiring it or is it an unforseen forecast of demand.
Crocnshas to say that the serious breeders of finches should breed there own colony of live food is a bit harsh, some may not have the knowledge on how to keep them alive or keep the stock levels right so they can keep reroducing as there maybe many other reasons as to why the don't, I myself have stopped due to personal reasons so for this year I hahe had yo rely on live food companies or bad to no breeding of certain speices. I believe that education on how to raise colonies of mealworms and mggots mightbe a better way.

[natamambo]

Craig, while you're having a go at the small breeders think of the economies of scale. I buy crickets, mealies, maggots & woodies on a regular but rotating basis. I want healthy birds so the variety is essential. There is no way I could achieve this by breeding myself - I have neither the space nor the "heated coolrooms" required to keep alive enough colonies to feed a small number of birds across the critter lifecycle.

If Pisces run out this time every year then surely it's their stock management which is the issue - they know how far out they need to start increasing their numbers to have the supply peak about now yet somehow manage not to do it.

[desertbirds]

I'm not having a go at you Tintola,but it's all the breeders with small set ups and just a few prs of birds,thier the ones that drain the suppliers at this time of the year and they are the ones who should set up their own colony.

I only keep a few birds, single parent with limited time so why would i put time into breeding livefood ? I found it was one more chore that i didnt need at the end of the day, when i could actually sit down for ten minutes and enjoy watching my birds. Stress releif