How to Make Inexpensive Treats for Wild Birds and Squirrels

The winter is a harsh time for our feathered and furry wildlife friends. Help them to survive this time by feeding them a high fat, nutritious treat.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• peanut butter
• peanuts in shell
• wild bird seed
• cake pan, any size
• ice cream scoop or spoon
• aluminum foil
• freezer

1. Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil. Use the ice cream scoop to scoop peanut butter out of the jar. Let the peanut butter drop into the cake pan. If it doesn't fall out of the scoop on its own, you can use your finger or a spoon to push it out. Continue until you've filled the pan with the amount of peanut butter treats you want to make. I like to make as many that can fit in the pan at one time.

2. Place the cake pan in your freezer to "harden" the peanut butter. Leave the pan in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
   Just before taking the pan out of the freezer, place your wild bird seed in one bowl and peanuts in another. Pick up one of the peanut butter balls and roll it in the bird seed, then push in a couple of the nuts. Continue until you've covered all of the peanut butter balls. If you aren't going to use all of them at once, drop the extras into a ziploc type bag and keep frozen.

3. The treats are done! To serve them, you can place a few on an existing bird feeding platform. If you don't have one, then just place them on the ground in low traffic areas. Or on top of a large stone or log in your yard.
   
   Watch the wildlife enjoy your treats!

Tips & Warnings

• Buy a large jar of generic peanut butter. It's less expensive than name brands and the money you save can be used to buy a larger jar of peanut butter.
• Using a cake pan isn't necessary but the high sides keep the peanut butter balls from rolling off.
• The aluminum foil allows for easier clean-up and protects your pans from the hard seed.
• You can use vegetable oil inside the ice cream scoop to make the peanut butter removal easier. You'll need to re-oil the scoop frequently.
• An easy way to make larger peanut butter balls is to use a knife to slice off one side of two balls that have hardened in the freezer. Each one will have a flat side and a domed side. Then use the knife to "glue" the two halves together using soft peanut butter from the jar as the "glue." Freeze until set.
• Don't let the peanut butter balls touch when hardening in the freezer.
• Freezing the peanut butter is a temporary measure. If left at room temperature it will soften again to the same consistency as when it's in the jar.
• The peanut butter will stay hard while outside as long as the temperature is at freezing or only slightly above. When the weather warms, the peanut butter will soften so place them in areas where people won't step on them. Chances are they'll be eaten before this happens!