How to Make Bird Seed Eggs

Birdseed can be molded into hanging eggs.

Mixing bird seed with suet, or raw beef fat, not only attracts pretty birds to your backyard and provides them with nutrition all year round, it is a fun and educational activity. You can mix bird seed and suet yourself or help your children with this project any time of the year, rain or shine. Suet and seed are especially appreciated by birds in the winter, when food is scarce. Just make sure you replace the feed as necessary; birds will get into the habit of coming to your home if you feed them even once. You can paste this mixture of birdseed and animal fat to cardboard and let the birds pick it off, hang it in trees or mold it into shapes. Egg shapes are easy to make and especially appropriate in early spring, when birds begin to build their nests. Make these eggs on a rainy spring day and hang them on a sunny afternoon.

Things You'll Need

• Thick twine
• Wild bird seed mix
• Animal fat
• Cheesecloth
• Double boiler
• Metal bowl
• Knife
• Bowl
• Egg-shaped gelatin or candy molds

Instructions

1. Render the animal fat, available at butcher shops, before involving your children, if you intend to. Chop it up very finely with a sharp knife, and melt it in a double boiler. Pour it through cheesecloth into a metal bowl, and place it in the freezer to harden. Repeat to get the right consistency.

2. Melt the fat once more over low heat, and stir in the wild bird seed. Choose a bird seed without dried fruit in it; large, aggressive birds like these feeds best and may scare away smaller birds. For extra flavor, add cornmeal, a spoonful of peanut butter, sunflower seeds or pecans to the mix. Wild birds love fat, especially in cold weather.

3. Stir the mixture until everything is evenly mixed and coated with fat. Pour it by spoonfuls into egg-shaped gelatin or candy molds, available year-round at craft stores in several sizes.

4. Cut 18-inch lengths of twine, and press one end of each length into the still-warm suet eggs. As the suet hardens, the twine will fuse into the eggs. Once the eggs harden, turn them out of the molds and let them dry for 24 hours.

References

• ABC: Creature Features: Bird Seed Bell
• Bird Nature: Suet: Facts, Feeders and Recipes
• About My Planet: How to Make Green Christmas Ornaments