i make my own suet mix but in hot weather i use more peanut butter and either molasses or sorgum and cut back on the lard or shortning. and thicken it with nuts or raisen or mixed bird seed. but also my chickadees like shopped nuts in a tray. they also eat lots of boss from a tube feeder

It is definately not to hot for suet yet. I feed suet year round (only Kaytee brand woodpecker suet) even in the 90 humid weather we have in the summer months and I don't have any problems. My Dees normally eat sunflower hearts/BOSS/shelled peanuts and the suet. Last summer they also were happy with rehydrated dried mealworms. But like BN said Dees normally eat bugs if they are available, will still make a few trips to the feeder during the summer days but bugs are their primary diet and that is what they will feed their young also, not seeds.

Also what do you mean by regular birdseed, if you mean a birdseed mix containing millet and you don't want House Sparrows I would suggest switching to just BOSS or mixing your own seed preference without millet. HOSP love millet and it will draw them to your feeders all the time.

Donna

Chickadee love black oil sunflower seeds. They grab one, take it to a tree and break it open or they carry it away to a cache. In fact, Chickadee love seeds more because they can cache it.

Paul

Chickadees also like safflower seed.

You can buy all weather suet blocks. We have a snow storm just about here so I shall go put some up now. The chicka dees like the safflower but not as much as the sunflower seeds as there are a whole lot on the ground no one eats except maybe the chipmunk and squirrels

Ok, I'm breaking down the acronyms here. So BOSS is Black Oil Sunflower Seeds.

I don't know what my regular bird seed contains...I threw away the bag and put it in an airtight storage container. It was the cheapest most economical bag I could find.

I had purchased the suet blocks that you see in stores, different flavors, and the birds didn't touch them. As soon as I replace it with a homemade mixture, they're all over it.

I wish I had known about Millet - ever since I started adding this to my suet, I noticed the sparrows on my suet feeder. I also read an article that said for 'good' bird food, look for ingredients that include sunflower, millet and cracked corn -- and avoid wheat, milo, barley.

So I'm confused. I usually add Cream of Wheat, Wheat Germ, Bread Crumbs, honey or syrup, and corn meal to my homemade suet, among other things I have laying around, to a mix of lard, peanut butter and usually dried apples.

When it says avoid "wheat", is this all-encompassing? Also, sounds like bread crumbs are just a filler, and not really providing beneficial nutrients.

So aside from Millet, what else should I NOT add, to avoid unwanted birds? And, really, what are "unwanted" birds? LOL. Why are sparrows bad? They don't seem to be aggressive with the chickadees at the feeder.

I remember reading that House Wrens are bad...aggressive.

This is my first year feeding suet, so I don't know if it just took the sparrows longer to get acclimated to my suet feeder, but the chickadees were here long before them. Or, perhaps it's that I changed up the recipe. I think they showed up when I added Millet to the suet. Juncos were here at my suet feeder for awhile, but then disappeared. Over the winter months I have sparrows, today I saw a downy woodpecker, and I have cardinals, juncos, and chickadees visiting.

So which of these or other ingredients do I avoid altogether besides Millet?

BTW - Sparrows are back. After reading these posts, I made more suet last night.

Saw my first downy woodpecker at the suet feeder today. I added a lot of honey to the mix this time, and I just read they like a sweeter mixture. I also added oats to the ingredients I listed in my last post.

millet or cracked corn or wheat or milo or barley are not bad energy foods it's just that some birds people refer to as trash birds love almost anything and those attract more of the doves and sparrows and blackbirds and starlings and jays the reason that people don't want house wrens or house sparrows or starlings ect. is that they will attack the song birds or raid their nests or destroy eggs. that is a reason some people only feed from certain types of feeders or use certain seeds or seed mixes. chickadees are almost always the first birds to find and use new feeders and will eat many things but do prefer boss or suet or nuts
and even safflower seeds. some of the trash birds do not like safflower seeds I notice that my little birds such as finches and tits and chickadees like millet or thistle or sunflowers best. but so do some of the trash birds

Too warm for suet, Kim? Who are you kidding? LOL With both suet and black oil sunflower seed available the chickadees here seem to prefer the sunflower seed.

tj

kimcoco...ALL Sparrows are not "bad." It's specifically the House Sparrow that people have issues with and for very very good reasons. Most avid birders do not want a yard full of Grackles, Starlings, and Cowbirds either. They tend to show up in DROVES and empty every feeder in sight while the other songbirds hang back and let them have it. I do not put out any seed mix or suet containing millet, cracked corn, or milo here because it does tend to bring in the unwanted birds. If you have some wonderful native Sparrows feeding at your house, they would enjoy some BOSS and especially some Sunflower hearts/chips.

LOL Tsuga. I think with the warmer weather we were having I was getting overzealous. I even started painting my garage, yet to be finished.

I've been feeding suet all winter. In the past month, I've seen my first downy woodpecker as mentioned earlier, and another unidentified bird...same size as a sparrow, almost looks like a sparrow at a distance, but a closer look shows a muted red on its head and neck region, and when they spread their wings you can see a red spot on their back. Not bright red like a cardinal, a soft muted red. I've never seen them before.

In one glance, I have robins, cardinals, juncos, the unidentified bird, chickadees, and usual sparrows in my yard. Tons of activity. They seem to be enjoying the new evergreen thuja green giant I planted last year too.

I just purchased some black oil sunflower last night, have to figure out where I'm going to put it. I read the seeds inhibit plant growth.

I usually finely chop some peanuts and the chickadees love them. Although they don't love them enough to eat from our hands:( - 9 yo is trying to train the local ones.

Don't give up trying cookie. Patience and stillness is really key I think. I haven't succeeded yet either, but I am still going to try. :o)

I feed suet year round. However chickadees also like peanuts, and LOVE mealworms.

i live in the foothills mostly pinyon and juniper and oakbrush and the chickades and juncos and some of the woodpeckers and nuthatches and titmice stay around during the winter and as it warms up in the spring they start working thier way up into the forests and alpine meadows where the nest and raise their young. And as it starts to frost and snow they start back down here. so i usually stop the suet with lots of fats or lard Ect. and mix peanut butter and molasses and thicken it with nuts and fruit and mixed bird seed instead that some of the summer birds like.

dklucius, what is the consistency like? Does it form to a mold? I have a hanging suet feeder, not a tray feeder.
So the trick is switch to molasses in the summertime as a binding agent.

Downy woodpecker was back, too. I'm seeing a lot of common house finch (reddish head and belly) recently. Chickadees are so gosh darn cute.

the peanut butter is the main binder but the molases or syrup or sorghum helps bind but also sweetens which a lot of my birds like. I start with the peanut butter and molasses or other sweets and then mix in chopped nuts and raisen and diced fruit and thicken with mixed bird seed or oats or cornmeal a little at a time till it forms a stiff ball in the bowl. I use the green metal either woodpecker cages or suet cages and press the mix into the cages. I usually end up with enough for two or three cages and freeze the extra ones to use as needed.