Donna,

You can get rendered pig fat (lard) in the butter section of some grocery stores. You can also buy beef fat and melt it down yourself. But to make your life easier, you can also use vegetable shortening, which a lot of recipes on Sialis do. I used to melt my own beef fat, but I was always worried about it going rancid if the weather suddenly warmed up, so now I use the shortening. There are lots of recipes on the Sialis web site. The main thing is to make it so you can crumble it up into pea sized pieces so they can swallow it. I have been using a basic recipe (shortening, chunky peanut butter, cornmeal, flour) and adding things like ground up sunflower kernels. The bluebirds have been eating this all winter here, and they love it. The Carolina Wrens and the Juncos love it too.

Hi Donna, here is the basic recipe I've come up with, which is a variation of many similar recipes on Sialis.org -

2 cups rendered suet (I use "Simply Suet" from Wild Birds Unltd)
2 cups crunchy peanut butter (I use an all natural brand)
4-5 cups of dried ingreds, combo of Oat flour, corn meal, ww or white flour
Tidbits like chopped nuts, hulled sunflower seeds, currants, etc.
Dried, sterilized, ground eggshells (optional, don't use these every time)

Melt suet in microwave until liquid (it gets hot!). Add PB which melts in the hot suet. Add dried ingredients and tidbits, mixing well. This makes approx. 5 pint sized containers.

As it cools, it becomes stiffer and more difficult to stir. At room temp, you can test the final consistency. If it's too sticky, soften in micro and stir in a bit more flour. If it's too "dry", drizzle a spoonful or 2 of vegetable oil and mix, which will make it stickier. The ideal texture is similar to Play-doh - I can squeeze it into balls and stuff the holes on the suet log, and also break it apart into pea-sized nuggets which can be spread in a tray.

The Bluebirds prefer the nuggets in the tray, but they will also perch and cling to the log to eat the suet mixture. They are spoiled because if they're hanging out there I will make a special trip out to spread some nuggets. They are the only birds that get special feedings. :)

There are now 7 (possibly more) Bluebirds that visit daily as I've seen 5 females at one time and at least 2 males, one of which is banded and one is not. Once in awhile there is a day they are AWOL, such as an unusually warm and balmy and I think they go off to find insects.

Many other birds LOVE this stuff too, including Titmice, Chickadees, all the Woodpeckers, Red & White Breast Nuthatches, Sparrows, Juncos, Carolina Wrens, Blue Jays, Cat Birds, Cardinals, HOSPs and EUSTs. The only ones that don't eat it are the Finches - Gold finches, House Finches, and Pine Siskins - they eat the BOSS.

Sorry this is so lengthy. Here's a pic of the final mixture -

{{!gwi}}

Just as an additional idea / comment. We use the Glad plastic sandwich containers to put our homemade suet in. They are roughly the right size for the suet cages and are reusable. They should be available at most grocery stores, Walmart, etc.

Bob

Bob, that is just what I use to store it - 5 of those re-usable pint-sized plastic containers (Ziploc I think). They are just about the right size for a small suet cage, although I stuff my cage with raw suet in the winter.

Some people make a recipe that is much "fattier" and while it's still hot pour it into a container. One lady posted that she poured her mixture into cat food cans and constructed a special slot on her platform feeder that held the can. That sounds quite a bit easier than stuffing a suet log or spreading crumbles.

All I know, is the Bluebirds love this stuff. But then, I have never fed meal worms, and have a feeling they would probably prefer those. No worry, at least they're not starving through the winter. With a winter like we're having this year (snowy, icy, and very cold), they would have had to fly elsewhere to survive.

Thanks all...I'm off to the store to purchase the suet ingredients. Gotta tell ya, my DH thinks I'm nuts! While he loves birds and supports my addiction, when I told him I was going to make homemade suet, he commented that I had "gone off the edge" just a little!!! LOL! I suppose he's right...at least when it comes to the birds!

Donna