An Easy Recipe For Wild Bird Suet

!: An Easy Recipe For Wild Bird Suet

We literally timed birds to see how long it would take them to find this simple, nutritious mix and begin "chowing down". The first time we set it out, it took about twelve minutes! After that, it's was as though they'd been hanging around waiting for more because it took less than two minutes for them to fly in! Even if we go several weeks between refills, they find it quickly, no matter where we place it in the yard! That makes it great for taking photos. Even the most impatient photographer gets a quick chance at a close up.

We wanted to share it with you because it's so simple and it's guaranteed to be good for wild birds if you use the correct ingredients.

FOOL-PROOF, NUTRITIOUS SUET MIX

1 cup beef suet (You can render your own or purchase pre-packaged suet from your grocer's freezer department.)

1/2 cup natural, unsalted peanut butter (It's important the peanut butter has no additives of any kind and definitely NO added salt!)

Mix the two together to make a consolidated mass. The consistency doesn't matter as long as it sticks together when compressed. In fact, you can vary the proportions. We don't even bother measuring! If your suet is liquid, wait until it has solidified before mixing. Good quality, natural peanut butter needs mixing before measuring. Press into cakes, balls, or tubes, as dictated by the shape of your suet feeder. Stuff into holes of trunks, or make your own feeder. You can make a suet feeder almost as easily as you made the suet mix. You can add other ingredients to the mixture, such as nut pieces, seeds, blueberries, sunflower seeds, etc. The beauty of this recipe is that it is so versatile and so flexible. To save time, the recipe is easily doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. Freeze excess in sealed packages.
HOW TO MAKE A QUICK AND EASY SUET FEEDER

Cut a section of tree trunk from a firewood pile or a piece of recent deadfall. The log should be 4-8 inches in diameter and about 12-16 inches long with the bark intact. If the log chunk is too big, it may be very heavy and difficult to support. Do not use a log that is rotten or too green. A rotten log will fall apart and may be moldy, A fresh cut log may leak sap onto your suet mix and make it unpalatable. We use aspen or poplar as conifers can be too stringent though a well-aged conifer may be okay. The bark helps birds cling while they feed. If there is no bark, gouge foot holds with a carving tool. You can also get fancy and create perches by adding doweling or mesh. Also, trunks with natural bits of branch protruding make nice perches. (You can email us for a photo.) Drill holes randomly. The holes can be anywhere from 1 inch to 2 inches in diameter. We use wide drill bits of varying sizes. Screw a strong O-ring into one end for hanging. Stuff holes with the suet mix and hang it in a safe feeding place, away from cats and close to cover.

We made this feeder in about 15 minutes. The suet mix took about 5 minutes to make. Regular visitors include nuthatches, woodpeckers, chickadees, and magpies. By adding other ingredients we have also seen jays, finches, siskins, redpolls, grosbeaks, and sparrows picking at the feeder. If you want to exclude magpies (they can eat the entire recipe in about 5 minutes!), make it more difficult for them to perch by using a smooth-barked or un-barked log with tiny perches a magpie can't sit on.