Homemade Bird Feed Suet

Homemade suet can help keep birds healthy.

According to the National Audubon Society, suet is one key source of nutrition for over 100 species of North American birds, and these birds often depend on backyard feeders when food is scarce in winter. By utilizing ingredients you may already have in your kitchen, you can keep birds well fed and healthy by offering them suet you make yourself. Once the birds get a taste of this homemade suet, you can bet they'll be back for more.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring cups
• Lard
• Plain or crunchy peanut butter
• Large saucepan
• Mixing bowls
• Cornmeal
• Flour
• Rolled oats
• Finely chopped cranberries or raisins
• Bird seed
• 8-inch-by-8-inch cake pan
• Wax paper
• Plastic-coated wire suet cage (available at most stores in the bird seed section)

Instructions

1. Melt 1 cup of lard and 1 cup of peanut butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir until melted.

2. Mix 3 cups of plain dry cornmeal and 1 cup of flour.

3. Add 1 cup total of any combination of rolled oats, finely chopped cranberries or raisins, and bird seed to the cornmeal and flour mixture. Mix well.

4. Mix dry ingredients into the peanut butter and lard mixture. It will be thick and sticky.

5. Pat mixture into an 8-inch-by-8-inch cake pan. If the mixture feels too sticky, you can use a sheet of wax paper to help pat the mixture into the cake pan. Allow to cool and slice into four pieces creating four 4-inch-by-4-inch cakes. Wrap the 4-inch cakes in separate pieces of wax paper and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

6. Place a suet cake in the suet cage. Find a secure place outside on the branch of a tree, on the railing of your deck or on a specially designed hook to hang your newly filled suet cage.

Tips & Warnings

• Suet must be kept at temperatures of less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit and may become rancid in warmer temperatures.

• Making homemade bird suet is a great way to help kids learn about backyard birds as well as teaching simple cooking techniques.

• Birds aren't the only wild critters that like suet. Keep squirrels out of your suet by adding a teaspoon or two of cayenne pepper to your recipe. Squirrels won't think it's tasty, though birds will still love it.

• Always be sure to keep your fingers away from your eyes if you choose to work with cayenne pepper, and make sure to slowly stir the powered pepper into the suet mixture so the pepper dust doesn't fly up and burn your eyes. Even a small amount of cayenne pepper can burn your eyes. See a doctor immediately if you get cayenne pepper in your eyes.

References

• Audubon: Bird Feeding Basics
• Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management: Strategies or Making Bird Feeders Feed Only Birds, Part I