sparrow/starling proofing suet feeder

11 years ago

I can finally put suet out now without the irritation of it being eaten in two days by house sparrows! All it took was a piece of string, the plastic shell the commercial suet comes in, and a regular inexpensive suet cage. You're basically making a regular old suet cage into an upside down feeder.

What you do is take a bit of string/coat hanger/twine/fishing line, ect., and tie each side to opposite ends of the suet cage on the opposite side from the hinge where the cage opens. Basically the idea is that when you hang it it will be laying horizontally. Then open up a pack of suet and loosen it from the plastic shell, but don't take it out. Slip the suet with shell and all into the cage so that the side where the suet is exposed is opposite the side where you tied your string. If you are having trouble fitting the suet in then you can take a pair of scissors and trim the lip of the shell. Then hang it up by the string loop and enjoy!

YRMV, but so far not a single HOSP has been able to cling to it. However, within five minutes of hanging it, a downy woodpecker had it figured out and was feeding comfortable. Maybe I'll post a pic tomorrow.

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Comments (8)

Lexarose
11 years ago
if you could post a pic that would be great, I'm having trouble visualizing. Anything that would keep starlings from raiding my suet would be great, those upside down "starling proof" feeders don't work here, they just hang and scarf...
GoldfinchGuy
Original Author
11 years ago
Unfortunately Learose, I don't think this would work for you as it is a standard suet cage modified into an upside-down feeder.

Have you tried using one of those suet feeders with the cage around it?

Five minutes after I took this pic, two more downies flew in. All three then proceeded to fight over the peanut and suet feeders.
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here has been a nasty winter with winds ans snow and below zero temps. mixed with some sunny cold days. When it's at it's worst the birds come in flocks and they eat almost everything, I have several cage suet trays and another tub of suet mix on a platform. Even the towhees and juncos and a few of the doves eat suet and suet mixes. I don't get many sparrows but they try the suet too. I rarely se a finch on the suet tray. the woodpeckers and the pesky starlings show up too. The sunny days most stay away but must be close by cause the next bad day they are back in numbers.
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I make my suet mixture using suet or lard. I melt the fat in a glass bowl in the microwave until liquid. Then I add crunchy peanut butter, which melts in the hot fat. Then I add the dried ingredients - corn meal, flour, oats (usually ground in blender), ground eggshells, crushed nuts, a little jam or jelly, etc. The mixture is about 1/2 fat, 1/2 dried ingredients - maybe a little more dried. I aim for a mixture that is the texture of Play-doh - it clumps together easily for the suet log, but also crumbles into pieces that I spread in a tray feeder. I made the suet log over 3 years ago out of an old red Pine log and glued lots of perches and branches. It did not have much bark on it - which is fine, except that over time the log has darkened quite a bit, perhaps because of the oils in the suet mixture. Also, most of the perches and branches have broken and fallen off. This birds don't seem to care. If you put perches on the log, this will enable many more birds to eat more easily. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing because with mine, it enables the Starlings and Blue Jays to hog the suet log, and it encourages House Sparrows. My suet log is pole-mounted with a squirrel/raccoon baffle, so nothing gets onto the log but the birds. Here's what the suet mixture looks like - Some Bluebirds on the suet log a couple years ago. They don't eat that much on the suet log any more, because I usually spread crumbles in a tray for them.
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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.
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The house sparrows love the suet/peanut butter mixture that I make, just as much as many native birds, including a pair of Eastern Bluebirds which are nesting in a dead pine snag in the backyard. There were 4 or 5 HOSPs coming around this spring to the suet log, and they were becoming pests and bothering the Bluebirds, so I cut back on feeding suet mixture to only 1x per day in the morning, and the Black oil sunflower seed about once every 2 days. The Bluebird pair seems okay with less food on the suet log and finds lot of bugs in the yard, gardens, and the sheep pasture across the street. The house sparrows have seemed to disperse, they don't hang around as much because the food's not here all day. Yeah!
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kendra2003
11 years ago
Interesting idea GoldfinchGuy. I make my own suet, but I wonder if I could find some kind of plastic container that fits into the suet cage. Thanks for a great idea!
GoldfinchGuy
Original Author
11 years ago
No problem! Kendra, suet cakes are pretty cheap in stores, so even if you buy just one you can save the plastic shell and use that for your cage. If you want you can even use it as a mold for homemade suet. In fact I'm thinking about making my own this winter. Gotta find a good recipe.
Lexarose
11 years ago
That is a great idea gfg, I do have a caged feeder but I would like to hang other feeders around without those starling pigs hoarding. On sialis.org there is a suet recipe called bluebird banquet that the woodpeckers love,but it may be too crumbly to put in your suet feeder,thanks for the info.
GoldfinchGuy
Original Author
11 years ago
I ended up removing the suet feeder today as the sparrows figured out how to get enough of a foothold to eat from it. I guess upside down feeders just don't work here either. Its rather frustrating to look out into your yard to see all your nice feeders completely covered in house sparrows. So much so that I've almost quit feeding birds altogether a few times. I really do wish the neighbors would just quit feeding and putting out nestboxes for them. Woodpecker-feeders.com has one that they swear is starling resistant. Ive emailed the site owner and inquired if it is sparrow resistant as well, and I'm curious to hear what he says.
brendainnj
11 years ago
Another idea that may be starling/sparrow RESISTANT is a log feeder. I made my own. I found a small log about 6" in diam. and about 12" long. My son drilled a dozen holes all around the sides (not going all the way through, maybe an inch deep & round). I fill the holes with homemade suet. I haven't seen HOSPs on it yet. The woodpeckers love it as it's more like a natural tree to them. Sometimes the starlings can get a grip for a short time, but not for long. Lots of flapping! But I do have to refill it about every 2 days so not sure I'll be doing that when there's snow on the ground!
kendra2003
11 years ago
I agree with brendainnj. I have a suet log for the winter and stuff the holes with my own homemade suet. While it may get "some" HOSP visitors, they certainly do not prefer it. Mostly the woodpeckers use it. The Bluejays try to use it, but have a very hard time, so they don't take much suet. The bluebirds manage to use it though, which is kind of cool. The biggest problem I have is when the squirrels find it. They are gluttons.

sparrow/starling proofing suet feeder

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Lexarose

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sparrow/starling proofing suet feeder

Comments (8)

Lexarose

GoldfinchGuyOriginal Author

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kendra2003

GoldfinchGuyOriginal Author

Lexarose

GoldfinchGuyOriginal Author

brendainnj

kendra2003

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GoldfinchGuy
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