What Is a Suet Cake?
A suet cake is a fat-based treat for birds that provides much-needed calories and fat year-round. Adding a suet cake to an outdoor garden will provide wild birds with the energy to breed, migrate, nest, molt, and feed their young. Bird watchers will also enjoy the wide variety of birds that will flock to feed on the suet cake.
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What a Suet Cake Is Made Of
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Suet is typically beef fat, although fat from other animals is sometimes used. Combining the animal fat with seeds, nuts, berries, or other ingredients makes a suet cake. Suet cakes can be homemade by purchasing suet from a butcher and rendering the fat. They can also be purchased at a store. Store versions are typically highly processed, so they are convenient, less messy, and able to withstand higher temperatures without melting.
When to Feed Suet Cake
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Birds enjoy suet cakes all year long. However, winter is the ideal time for wild birds to feed on suet. The extra energy that the suet cake provides is especially helpful in the cold months, and there is no need to worry about melting suet. To feed a suet cake to birds, simply insert the cake into a wire-caged feeder (available at superstores, pet stores and wild bird specialty stores) and hang the feeder from a branch. Another alternative is a mesh bag, also hung from a branch.
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Birds That Are Attracted To Suet Cake
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Cardinals, woodpeckers, robins, bluebirds, chickadees, starlings, creepers, warblers, jays, mockingbirds and wrens are among the wild birds that are attracted to suet cakes.
Make Your Own Suet Cakes
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Suet cakes can be very easy to make, and they require minimal ingredients. For a quick and nutritious suet cake without having to render the fat, combine one cup peanut butter, four cups cornmeal, one cup shortening (Crisco), and one cup white flour. Knead all ingredients and form into balls. Insert suet cakes into mesh bags and hang them from a tree.
Possible Suet Cake Problems
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Although suet cakes can be an easy and fun way to feed wild birds, they can be extremely messy and greasy to handle. Homemade varieties are especially greasy, so if the mess becomes bothersome, stick to store-bought suet cakes. Squirrels are also known to be attracted to suet. If squirrels seem to be dominating the suet, switch to a feeder with a squirrel baffle.
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References
- Photo Credit chickadee image by Gail Ranney from Fotolia.com
