Suet provides energy to wild birds during winter. It attracts woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches and chickadees alike.
Suet can become rancid quickly in warm temperatures, making it wiser to provide it only during winter. Furthermore, it may clog the pores on some bird species’ belly feathers, making breathing difficult for these birds.
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Feeding Tips
Suet blocks are a go-to choice among birders for their ease of use and appeal to a range of birds. These blocks can be placed directly onto feeders or placed directly onto the ground or bark for backyard feeding, providing energy in an easily consumed form – especially important in summer when adult birds require additional calories to defend their nests against predators and brood their young.
Suet can be enhanced to make it more appetizing to specific species of wild birds by including various ingredients, such as chopped unsalted nuts (especially peanuts), seeds, kitchen scraps or dried fruit bits, mealworms, flies or crickets.
Other considerations when providing suet to backyard birds include the type, size and location of their feeder. Some models feature cages to prevent squirrels or other critters from taking advantage of an opportunity for theft; other feeders allow one or multiple blocks of suet to be offered at once.
Making Suet Cakes
Suet is a highly calorific food designed to draw wild birds to feeders during the coldest times of year. It typically consists of seeds, nuts, oats and corn; these ingredients provide protein, fats and oils essential for bird survival during these months of cold.
Make or buy suet blocks yourself or purchase them at garden centers, pet stores and online retailers that specialize in wild bird supplies. Suet blocks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes designed to fit specially made hanging feeders that resemble small cages.
To make homemade suet cakes, combine rendered lard in a bowl with heated water until it becomes malleable enough for hand work. Mix in wild bird seed mix, peanut butter or any other moist ingredients as needed before pouring the mixture into an appropriate container for cooling (like your suet holder), or cutting individual cakes that will fit a regular squirrel feeder or another suitable container.
Making Suet Blocks
Suet blocks provide long-lasting, high-energy food sources that attract woodpeckers, flickers and chickadees. Available in various shapes and sizes to fit log feeders or mesh cages that keep out squirrels or raccoons, suet blocks are an effective means of feeding birds for several seasons at a time.
Suet block ingredients can be tailored to meet specific needs and seasons, such as adding black oil sunflower seeds for winter warmth and using grubs for feather growth in molting birds.
Homemade suet blocks can be created easily at home using dry ingredients and animal fat (wet ingredients). Once mixed, pour the mixture into plastic containers, ice cube trays or molds that fit your feeders and place in the freezer until solidified – this makes an enjoyable family activity and kids will delight in seeing how their efforts benefit backyard bird feeders!
Keeping Suet Clean
Temperature fluctuations in your region could cause suet to melt at times, potentially creating a messy situation and increasing its susceptibility to mold growth. To prevent this happening, opt for no-melt varieties of suet as an extra safeguard.
Birders sometimes customize their suet recipes to draw certain birds in, by including specific ingredients like seeds, grains, nuts (such as peanuts), fruits and insects. Suet can even be formed into certain shapes to attract certain species.
Ruby-crowned kinglets can be seen foraging along shrubs and tree trunks across North America, easily identified by their small green-gray frames, flicking wings and white eye rings and bars. Berry-flavored suet nuggets attract them as well as other small birds such as bluebirds and orioles; you can purchase them at most wild bird supply stores or online. Their smaller shape makes cleaning and refilling simpler while their appealing berry flavor ensures greater success at attracting these species of birds. It is essential that your feeders remain clean in order to attract the best birds!
