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how to make a seed cake?

16 years ago

Does anyone know what holds together those Deluxe Seed Fare Cylinders that Wild Birds Unlimited sells? I would like to make them myself but have no idea what would "glue" the seeds into a solid form that would be also be good for the birds as well as hold up in weather.

WBU is too far to drive to, and shipping for one cylinder costs as much as the seed itself. ($9 for one cylinder, almost $9 to ship it!)

Thanks for any help on this. See link to see what it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: seed cylinder

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Comments (6)

donald lucius
16 years ago
i make my own suet in winter and put it in the plastic boxes that raspberrys or blackberrys come in at the grocery store. cut off the lids and put the tray in the green suet cages and hang them. but in spring i quit making suet
I put a couple tablespoons of sorghum molasses in a glass bowl and start mixing in sunflower seeds and chopped nuts and raisens and some mixed bird seed in till it makes a moldable thick paste and put the mix in the plastic boxes
into the suet cages and then hang them. It works well for me and the birds seem to love it. but i do see the birds rubbing their beaks on the branch to rub off the sticky.
User
16 years ago
I used to work at a WBU. The seed cylinders made by Mr.Bird are held together with gelatin. That's why they fall apart in the rain or in hugh humidity. I found a website that tells how to make them but I can't for the life of me remember where it was. I think it was one of those DIY sites but....
If I stumble across the site again I'll post it here.
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Hi! I'm not sure what Karo is... but maybe they were whitish & a little moldy looking from having a bit too much of one of your ingredients in it? Did you make sure that you used the same measurements & same freshness of ingredients? I'd love to know the actual reason! I recently received 2KG of bird seed free w/ my purchase at the local garden shop, and I would love to make seed cakes for the birds in our backyard! The wind has been so high as of late that I feel like if I fill up my feeders the seed will just blow away and I won't get to watch them enjoy it! Let me know if you figure out why this has happened! :)
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Cookie8: Are you making a statement or asking a question? Not trying to be picky here, just curious. Personally, I wouldn't use the grease/oil I'd get from frying meat of any kind to make bird food but that's just me. The spices you mentioned probably wouldn't do any harm but on the other hand, probably won't do the birds any good either. If the argument is that purchased lard is just a refined/rendered fat from (in this case) pork and isn't any different than oil/fat rendered from home frying/cooking of some meat product, I'll have to disagree.
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User
16 years ago
As soon as I posted I remembered one place I had noticed a recipe. This recipe calls for a BOSS/safflower blend but I'm sure you could use almost any seed you'd like. Perhaps you can mold it in a loaf pan?

"This recipe uses gelatin instead of fat to hold together seeds. These
cakes work great in warm weather too because they do not melt or turn
rancid. Combine one ounce of unflavored gelatin and Â¼ cup of water in
a sauce pan over low heat. Stir until the gelatin is completely
dissolved. Then add 1 Â¼ cups of any combination of seeds the birds in
your yard enjoy. Try half and half black oil sunflower and safflower
seeds. Mix well, until all seeds are coated with gelatin. Pack the
mixture firmly into a plastic container and chill until solid. Use
molds in the shapes of stars, wreaths, trees, or other holiday shapes
to make festive ornaments or tree toppers. Once the cake is removed
from the mold, it's ready for the birds."
champagne
Original Author
16 years ago
Wow! Thank you very much! I really appreciate both these suggestions. I'll try it!
rphudes
13 years ago
Did anyone follow the above recipe? I'm wondering if will work using only safflower seeds? I want to try and make one of the larger cylinders that WBU sells for $20.00
erutinruf
11 years ago
What kind of cylinder would you use to make it in?

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