Bird Suet Recipes, Best Suet Cakes and Suet Feeders
Bird Suet is a high energy food made from
animal fat (hard fat surrounding beef kidneys) and is particularly attractive to
woodpeckers.
Bird Suet feeders are mesh containers
which hold suet blocks and allows "clinging" birds to feed through holes. The
wire cages helps keeps out squirrels and raccoons.
During the summer months, suet can go
rancid and be a problem because it easily melts due to the warmer temperatures.
Here is a recipe that you can use to prevent those issues:
No Melt Hot Weather Suet Recipe
1 cup lard
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 cups quick oatmeal
2 cups plain yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar (optional, but gives a little calories/energy boost,
especially for wintertime use)
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Melt the lard and peanut butter in the microwave or in a pan over low
heat. If using a microwave, stop and give it a stir at least every 30 seconds
or minute.
Pour the lard and peanut butter mixture into the bowl with the dry
ingredients and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a container for cooling that will either fit the
dimensions of your suet holder or you can divide and roll the mixture into
balls or any shape you wish. If using say a bread loaf pan, line it with wax
paper so the loaf will be easy to lift up and remove. You can also use cupcake
tins lined with cupcake holders as well. You can cool the mixture in the
refrigerator.
After cooling, if needed, cut your suet loaf into individual suet cakes to fit your suet
feeder and enjoy the bird feast to come!
Any additional suet cakes can be stored in the freezer for future use. I
use one big ziploc bag and place the individual cakes between pieces of wax
paper so they will be easy to separate later.
Nuthatches, Woodpeckers, Jays & More Feeding From Bird Suet Feeder
Other Suet Recipes
The above recipe is a basic starter recipe for suet. You can replace the
cornmeal, oatmeal and flour with nuts, fruits, sunflower seeds, wild bird seed
mixes, etc. You just want the proportion of the lard and peanut butter mixture
(wet ingredients) to be enough to hold together the dry ingredients.
If starlings are a problem at your
suet feeder, discourage them by using a suet feeder with access only from the
bottom or which requires birds to hang upside down. Starlings are reluctant to
perch upside down.
If you want to buy bird suet online, the commercially produced suet cakes are
processed in such a way to help prevent the suet from melting and going rancid,
especially in hot climates. Melting is not such as issue, of course, during
winter bird
feeding.
Types of Birds Attracted to Suet
Black-capped and other Chickadees, White-breasted & Red-breasted Nuthatches,
Tufted Titmice, Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers,
Creepers, Cardinals, Wrens
Questions or Comments?
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