This time of year many people choose to feed birds, which is a great way to support local native populations. I don't know about you, but the row after row of seed choices at the hardware store are intimidating. There are a wide variety of seeds available out there to choose from. Black oil sunflower is a favorite, but can be expensive. I've also found that the millet based seed is often just wasted. What you feed the birds really depends on where you live (an apartment manager may not like all the black oil shell husks) and the types of birds you want to feed. I'll cover choosing seeds in a later post, but for now here is a great reference page from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Today's post is all about suet, another form of food to feed birds.
Suet has been used as a cooking ingredient for humans for hundreds of years, and more recently for birds. It comes from beef and mutton, and it is a hard white or yellow fat that is found around the kidneys and loins of the animals. Bird suet is "rendered" or cooked down (and the impurities removed) until it reaches a melting point, it is then poured and mixed into a shape, or form, where it hardens. Suet has a fairy low melting point so it's most often used in winter and fall when the temperatures are below zero. Suet can spoil or go rancid quickly, and if it melts it can coat the bird's feathers and "oil" the eggs that the birds sit on, which creates a situation that may kill (or cook) developing eggs. This effect is similar to egg "oiling" used to eradicate invasive species of birds, and we don't want to do that to our beneficial feeder birds! You can read more about egg oiling (addling) here. The nice thing about suet is that children and adults with peanut allergies can make suet blocks (sans peanuts) without worry about allergic reactions. At the hardware store you'll see suet blocks in small square plastic trays. They come in a variety of flavors and with a variety of seeds, corn meal, meal worms, nuts, pepper, and fruit in them.
Suet is attractive to a variety of birds because the fat is a high energy food. The food items that are mixed in with the suet also offer a high energy food source and they are a tempting treat. Suet is a favorite of woodpeckers, chickadees, jay, crows, nuthatches, orioles, cardinals, creepers, wrens, and I've even seen some yellow rump warblers feed on it. A suet block may bring some beautiful birds to your feeder. However, be aware that it can be a draw for some species of bird that you might not want to draw, like starlings and house sparrows or even pesky squirrels. We'll discuss an idea for deterring squirrel below.
If you want to be an adventurous bird lover, and create your own suet, you'll need some ingredients. Suet fat is easy and cheap to buy. You can pick up a can (8-10 oz) of white Crisco fat/lard at the grocery store or purchase the blocks. You should realize that home-made suet is a bit softer than the suet you buy from the hardware store, because you're using soft fat, however you can add some ingredients to firm it up. It's best not to use bacon or fat drippings because they are not good for birds, and will draw other animals.
Other ingredients to consider mixing in depend on the birds you want to feed.
Now that you have your ingredients you should get your kitchen supplies ready. You'll need the following:
A Note On Containers: You can use almost any type of container for creating suet molds. I've seen heart shapes, cupcake wrappers (aluminum and paper), cat food cans, mini-bread pans,cake bunt pans, and more. The shape is up to you. Kids love fun shapes, and you can leave a hole in the center for hanging your creations with a string. Check out this fun idea for cookie-cutter suet feeders.
There are a wide variety of ways to feed suet. Hanging mesh baskets are popular, but you can also place them on platforms or other flat surfaces, just be aware of deterring unwanted creatures such as squirrels or raccoons.
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