Suet question

We feed birds a little but we don't know much about those that like suet. We are seeing some woodpeckers, especially the red-bellied and I think they like suet. I recall that suet is made from beef fat. Do you render the fat out? What do you put it in? Right now all we have is sunflower seeds.

Betty, I mix mine like this:
1 cup veg. shortening
1 cup peanut butter (chunky)
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup (or maybe less) raisins
1 cup (or maybe less) seeds (black oil sunflower or whatever I have available)

Then I add bits of grains if the mix will hold it like amaranth, quinoa, oatmeal or whatever.

Meant to add the woodpeckers love it, and so do many of the other perching birds.

I thought you had to use beef fat, not vegetable shortning.

You can buy canned lard in the grocery store, but the birds eat the veg. shortening just fine.

I've been using peanut butter too, but recently heard that PB is bad for birds--clogs up their gullet or mouth, or some such. Does anyone know about this?

Here is the recipe I use. Got it from the 'Enjoying Woodpeckers More' booklet. This is a No-Melt suet & I use it year round. Chickadees love this too as well as Nuthatches. Of course so do the starlings. In the summer the adult woodies bring their babies here & teach them how to get the suet. It is great fun to watch.

No-Melt Peanut Butter Suet

2 cups crunchy peanut butter
2 cups lard (no substitutes)
4 cups 'quick cook' oats
4 cups corn meal
2 cups white flour
2/3 cup white sugar
a few raisins or a handful of unsalted sunflower seeds

Melt the lard & peanut butter in pot over low heat. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Spoon this mixture into square freezer containers, packing firmly to about 1-1/2 inches thick. Cover with container lid. Store in the freezer. It will not melt in summer or warm weather.

Note: if mixture is not fairly stiff in consistency, add a small amount of cornmeal or oats. This recipe will make six or seven suet cakes.

Chilko, just peanut butter is bad for them, as you heard. When it's cut by many other substances, it does not clog their gullets.

Good recipe, Broots!

thanks for the explanation Darius, makes sense.

Broots, what's the reason for using the sugar, is it for energy? And why "white" flour as opposed to whole wheat, do you know?

I was just wondering if there are any "no no" grains that should be left out of suet mixes. For instance, rice can expand in their tummies and cause big trouble. Darius, do you know why amaranth and quinoa are safe even though they expand a bit? Maybe because they don't expand as much as rice? I know birds nab crops all of the time, sorghum, corn, etc. Just wondering what the more "dangerous" grain components to a homemade suet concoction might be.

Thanks!!!
Jacci

Jacci, No I don't know why small grains like amaranth are safe, or even IF they are safe accordinng to bird specialists. I just chose them because I have grown amaranth and the birds eat it off the bush.

Chilko, I would say the sugar is for energy but I could be wrong. As far as the white flour goes-I use whole wheat, but because I indicated that I was taking it from the woodpecker booklet, I thought I should copy it down exactly. I know my sister uses the white flour & the birds still like it, but I prefer the whole wheat.

Broots, I actually use whole wheat flour too.

The whole thing about rice being thrown at weddings and then birds eat it and it expands and kills them is an urban myth.

Are you serious WS? LOL -- oh well... it sounded logical at least... expanding in the tummy and all. Huh.

Serious as a heart attack!

Yes, I was thinking the 'no rice' admonition was an 'urban myth' too. I suppose if we could hear something from a rice farmer about whether the birds 'eat and die' at their farms, we would know the answer for sure.

Earlier this year I did a lot of research on different suet recipes from the different birding authorities and it sounds like if you don't want to mess with suet rendering (which I don't, I use peanut oil) you can easily substitute melted crisco or lard cakes. One recipe recommended using Crisco 'Green Label', which, I suppose, is a healthier (for humans) product (and therefore, they supposed, healthier for birds.)

If birds eat all kinds of seeds for fatty oil, it seems like a more modern substitute for the fat would be in order for those of us looking for an easy recipe for homemade suet....;-)

I didn't find anything about the sugar question, but I did see lots of mention of salt, and the birds' need for salt in their diets, especially in summer...not too much, I suppose, nobody said what that was, though....Somewhere it did say that at least 15 kinds of backyard birds like nectar (not just the hummingbird and oriole). Mmmmm...for desert, I guess.

There were all kinds of flours used for binding and corn meals, too. And peanut butter (especially chunky) stirred in is always a big hit. I use safflower seeds just because I think the squirrels aren't as interested in it.

Some suet recipes are more popular than others according to some tests somebody did--for instance if you add peanuts the Woodpeckers love it. If you have bluebirds, they like currants (instead of raisins--if you add raisins, cut them in half), and woodpeckers love wild grapes (who has those in their fridge? and blueberries in their suet--but don't use blueberries that have been sprayed with fungicides and pesticides)

Anyway, this is what I recall from my research--I wish I had saved it! t.

p.s. well here is one link I did save and posted on the 'Oriole' thread some time ago, but, it may be of interest to those of you getting ready for their northern migration starting late next month-- just click on the attachments to get the pictures to come up-- http://forums.about.com/ab-birding/messages/?msg=3210.1 and page 2 http://forums.about.com/ab-birding/messages/?msg=3211.1.

p.s. Sorry if this is TMI! ;-) t.

This message was edited Feb 26, 2005 9:29 AM

Tabasco, that's great information! :-) I'm going to contact the Israel Birding Association and see if they can give me some tips on attracting more birds. I'm having a really hard time attracting anything but Sunbirds ... with the exception of a dove or pigeon now and then and the Yellow Vented Bulbuls (and house sparrows of course ;-). I'd love to get the Green Finch and Gold Finch into my garden as well as other pretty local birds. But they just dont' seem to be finding me LOL. I did have my feeder go empty in one morning after sitting completely full for many months. That was about 2 weeks ago. I immediately filled it again and....it's sitting full again. Ho hum....

-Julie

Julie, goldfinches are attracted to yellow. At least the American goldfinches are. I have read that if you don't have a nyjer feeder with a yellow top, (I have two of them & they are very inexpensive) try tying yellow ribbons from the bottom of your feeder & the goldfinches should show up, then you can take the ribbons off. They also like the nyjer sock feeders. Do you have nyjer seed in your feeders or just black-oil sunflower seed?........Linda

Well, salv, I can't believe you're not getting a wide range of birds at your feeders...your pictures and reports are always so interesting, but I guess those are from your walk-abouts!

If you like finches take a look at the 'Finches Theme Garden' plan http://www.grownative.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=landscaping.finchfeast , our goldfinches LOVE liatris...an american plains native plant that supposedly is more popular in Europe than in the states, so maybe it's available in Israel...(I don't know if that made any sense at all, but I always think of Israel having many of the same consumer products available as in the European markets...I think my explanation is making things worse lol...) You can start liatris spicata from bulbs in pots if you like. http://www.tulipworld.com/tulip.asp?contentloc=/product/productcard.asp%3Fproductid%3D305

Yes, I read about the yellow ribbon on the feeders and used it on one of mine and it seemed to work quickly--apparently the birds can see those bright irridescent, glow in the dark colors--someone recommended putting out the yellow or orange 'police line' tape on your feeders, too.

I also read about the need for water--so of course I ran out and bought a bird bath, but haven't had much action in it...so don't know about that. One poster mentioned that since they put in a running water brook/stream/rill the noise seemed to attract birds...

Well, maybe all you have to do is buy some of those fake sunflowers and set them around your courtyard! They worked for the lady with the Orioles (and I plan to put some out next month when the Northern migration starts here! no matter what the neighbors say!)

When you hear from the Israeli Bird people please let us know what they say...it's sure to be interesting.. t.

Tabasco, try putting a couple of baseball size rocks in your birdbath. Broots gave me the tip in another thread and I put rocks in the bath today. More visits to the birdbath in 6 hours today than I've seen in a week previously! Worth a shot! I scrubbed the rocks really well and rinsed them first. Try putting them near the edge. I was so excited! How funny these birdie things are :)

Also, I had to laugh when I saw the idea with the fake sunflowers! LOL:) I swear I thought I had come up with something original ;) I think I'm going to put out fake red flowers next to my hummingbird feeder when I put it out at the end of March :) Neighbors will know for certain that I really am a crazy lady :) Take care all!!!

Hugs:)

I guess I'm just incredibly lazy, but I make my birds sandwiches. I use the heels of whole grain bread loaves (or stale bread that no one wants to eat). I smear one piece thickly with Crisco and another piece thickly with peanut butter then smoosh them together into a sandwich. Sometimes I'll sprinkle birdseed onto the Crisco and peanut butter before putting the slices together, then it goes into the suet feeder. The suet sandwich takes all of two minutes to make, and the woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees all love it.

Laurie

Tabasco, I thought about putting yellow tape on the sides of the blackoil sunflower feeder to make it look like a few sunflowers. I didn't think about putting yellow on the other feeder. No it's not nyjer seed. It's some type of small round whitish seed that was the only other option for wild birds that the stores sell here. I've planted some different types of thistle plants that I'm hoping will bring the goldfinches in once the flowers bloom and start to dry up. I've got several buds on them so I'm on pins and needles waiting to see if the birds find them later on in the season :-).

I do have Sunbirds visiting my garden regularly, as well as house sparrows and Yellow Vented Bulbuls. The Mourning Doves and Palm Doves come around now and then and the Collared Dove showed up recently just once. And I've got more Rock Doves than I care to have that roost on the roof high above. About once a week I'll get a white wagtail. And now and then I'll get some little brown bird that hides in the climbing vines and makes it impossible to ID. Once a week or so I'll have a Kestrel pass overhead (I'm sure it's more often than that but I only SEE it about once a week LOL). But on a daily basis it's just the Sunbirds and House Sparrows. But none of them actually go to the feeders! It's really frustrating. I wish I'd get the Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Serin, Chaffinch, Golden Oriole, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Wren, Spotted Flycatcher, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Woodpecker, Spanish Sparrow, and all the various Starts, Shrikes, Robins and Warblers that are all common to my region. Or even one or two of these to come regularly would be wonderful :-)

I've also got a garden full of flowers all year round, but really have very very few butterflies or moths. Drives me mad! LOL

-Julie

Julie, try a few sunflowers this summer. I had finches sitting on an overhead wire waiting for them to ripen. I was going to save seed for this winter but they ate it. Also observed them sitting on the Rudebeka seed cones. They love any kind of coneflowers. (So do butterflies). Common flowers of course, but attractive to birds and butterflies.

Se_eds and Tabasco, I've got some black oil sunflower seeds that have germinated after they fell on the ground during a rain. Actually I had dozens germinate LOL, but I've left about 10 of them in various parts of the garden. They're still quite small of course, but soon enough they'll be big and attractive to birds. I didn't know about Liatris, so I'll try that too. I've got a spot I can put some of that in....or your idea of putting it in a pot is nice too :-). I like doing anything that adds more color to my patio :-). I've got Gaillardia that I'm hoping will attract some flying thing this summer too. The butterflies weren't attracted to the Osteospermum like I thought they'd be, but I love those flowers enough that I added more anyway LOL. I've got so many Salvia's that the Sunbirds think I've planted an Oasis in their honor LOL. I love love love Rudbeckia but haven't been successful growing it so far (I'm too water happy with the hose and they don't like getting wet ;-). I'll try to grow those again when the GC gets them in a few more weeks. I put out a ton of Echinacea seeds last year but none of them germinated. Dunno if it was me or the seeds....I'm really really not good at growing anything from seeds ;-)

Thanks for all of your feedback and I'll let you know how it goes. I'll also let you know what the Israeli Bird Assoc says. :-)

-Julie

I like to put out natural peanutbutter feeders...a piece of wood with nooks and crannies,screw in an eye hook and hang from a branch. I mix pb,birdseed and quick oats together and put it on the feeder. I probably have about 12...the birds LOVE them.

That sounds like a neat idea. I'll try it! :-)

-Julie

Tabasco mentioned that certain birds like salt. This is very true. Every spring I put out a salt block(get it at the feedstore)they are pretty cheap, think I paid $1. You have to make sure you put it in a large saucer or garbage can lid, etc. because when it rains, the salt melts & you will then have dead soil & dead plants or grass. Right now the little redpolls are eating the salt from the streets. I checked my bird book & here are some of the birds that like salt: redpolls, house finches, buntings, doves, purple finches, goldfinches, jays, pigeons, pine siskens, house sparrows, & evening grosbeaks. There are probably more but that is what was on the list.

Julie, your small white roundish seed is probably millet & if it falls in your garden, every single one of those little suckers will germinate. I usually put out a small clay saucer of them mixed with nyjer seed & every year I say I will never do it again because you just can't get rid of them. They pop up everywhere.

Broots, thanks for the warning. They can't be worse that the chamomile seedlings I've been ripping out by the dozens every single day for 2 years now ROTFL. Those things make me crazy! I guess I'll use up this seed and move on to something else if I can find it. Obviously the birds aren't going for this stuff anyway so if I ever do get them to eat it, I won't waste time or money buying it again. That said, they don't eat the black oil sunflower seeds I have for them either LOL

By the way, what do the millet seedlings look like? (so I can keep an eye out specifically for them)
-Julie

Julie they look just like grass. If the birds aren't eating it you won't have to look for it, but if they do eat it you will see every little seed that they kick out of the dish has germinated.

Gee if the birds don't eat the black oil & they don't eat the millet, have you tried nyjer? Or did I read somewhere that you aren't able to buy that? It is very pricey. I just bought a 50 lb bag on Fri & I paid $63 & it will probably last me 5 weeks. Good luck with finding some seed the birds like.

Well, Salvia, it looks like you have plenty of bird attracting strategies to implement! We will want to see pictures of your garden with all the fake sunflowers, yellow emergency tape, garbage can lids of salt and waving salvias and coneflowers and liatris around the assorted feeders.

I just have to put some rocks in my birdbath!

Have a good evening. t.

Here's a little picture of our butterfly/sun garden--couldn't find one with liatris blooming, but it's in there, somewhere!

Tabasco, I'll get pics of all my "stuff" as soon as I have a camera operational.

DH ended up not getting the camera to the shop before it closed yesterday. grrrrrrrrr So today I hijacked the car, left him here at home with my sick son and instructions to pick up our daughter from school and I headed out with the little one and took the camera to the shop myself. bwahahahahahaahahahahaha Got several other errands done while I was in Tel Aviv too, so it was a good day :-). Prognosis on the camera due in 48 hours. Initial estimate was "broken, not worth repairing". This shop doesn't sell cameras....just repairs them. So I'm hoping that the tech people will come to work tomorrow and find out that the situation isn't so grim afterall.

sitting on pins and needles.....

-Julie

What an evil cackle, lol. It amazes me how hard it is to get men to do errands and when they don't, how hard it is to get them to take care of the kids while you do THEIR errands. How did the women's liberation movement for fair and equal treatment and pay turn into guys thinking we want to do everything while they sit in front of t.v.s, watching sports and drinking beer?

I agree with you woodspirit1, 100%.

Woodspirit, well, I finally got the report from the camera repair shop. Both fixing the lens and replacing it are rather pricy options. Since DH does the finances around here, I had him talk to the shop and decide what to do. Guess what his decision was (after I've already waited nearly a month to get this thing fixed!)...."he'll think about it"!!!!! ACK!

Broots, guess what I found in my flower bed where the bird feeder is? Yup, about a dozen little grass like weeds. But now I know what they look like and can just keep up with them as the germinate. And I'll move that feeder to a spot where it can't get into the grass or beds. Maybe move it to hang over my neighbor's garden below who has lived in his home for 2 1/2 years and still hasn't put a single solitary green thing in his garden. Not one! Well, except for the weeds which have sprouted and started to take over the dirt plot. I could help him with some pseudo-grass ;-) hehehehehe (I'm wicked aren't I? ;-).

-Julie

Salvia_lover, I knew it wouldn't take long. It starts out with just a few & then when you get a whole lot of birds & they start kicking seed everywhere, you end up pulling out the germinated seed in clumps. I had to keep turning over the soil as they really got ahead of me. But I'll probably do it again this year. I never learn.

Wicked......maybe, but it feels good sometimes doesn't it?

Sorry to hear that repairing your camera is too pricey. Darn. Maybe your husband will surprise you one day & buy you a new one.

I'm very frank with teenagers and I tell the girls that they'd better stand up for themselves as soon as they get a boyfriend and certainly when they get married. If they let a guy boss them around until they get sick of it (by about 30 years old), they will tell you that you are crazy.
I worked in a woman's shelter and it was very common for young women to be brain-washed into believing they were stupid and helpless and couldn't make it on their own. Then when they began to mature, they were told constantly that they were nuts. Some of them even questioned themselves, wondering if they were delusional. I even saw some who knew they saw their husbands do something, but it was so flatly denied and treated as insanity, that the wives did indeed wonder if it ever happened.

Well, DH came home last night and told me that the camera wil be repaired within a week! He can't stand for me to be heartbroken even if he is a procrastinator about most everything ;-). I sure hope the repair shop doesn't get behind scedule with this as I'm already jumping up and down at the prospect of having my camera within the next 7-10 days :-) Yeah!!!!!!!

-Julie

Do you all think I could use up my bacon grease as part of the suet? I know it's a little salty, but it will be diluted with the corn meal, oat meal and peanut butter.........