Ha... a certain symptom of the madness I think ;) Our fledges sure do eat suet, (got 8 of them buzzin' around here now! what a joy they are!) They eat suet nuggets and the shavings that pile up beneath the suet cages where the woodies and many other birds eat. Missy and Mr.B also feed the fledges nuggets and seemingly teach them to help themselves too: I believe I've seen the parents carry some to the nestlings also. They are soft and moist... easily broken into smaller bites. But every bluebird that's out of the nest usually gulps them down whole. Doesn't seem to have harmed anyone here yet. Kenn :)

i have googled use of bacon grease and also bing search and asked about it with a bunch of different audubon societys in different states. the majority of them recomend useing bacon grease as long as the birds have sufficient water supplys. I have used bacon grease for many years and have lots of birds but i do keep fresh water or heated water trays in winter. I usually mix equal parts of suet or lard or bacon grease or tallow or shortning with peanut butter and add some chopped nuts and then thicken it with cornmeal and rolled oats or grits or flour to make a paste. we don't eat a lot of bacon or fatty meats anymore but do save the fats and freeze them. and mix whatever i have on hand into the mix and the bacon grease is usually pretty well diluted down. Most say it attracts the woodpeckers and chickadees and nuthatches but i get almost every kind of bird i get eating mine. including the jays and juncos and finches ect.

I know that this is 3 years later but I figured it was worth knowing. Also sorry in advance for the long post. I like to be exact. At room temp butter can be mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with oil in a mixer(on high) to help it stretch. A 1/2 lb of butter to 1/2 lb of Olive Oil/Canola Oil works well for my stand mixer. I imagine that whisking vigorously would do the same thing. If you don't mix it very thoroughly then your butter will be lumpy straight out of the fridge. This makes it just like the spreadable canola butters only it's cheaper. Roasted garlic is preferred if you don't like the spicy-ness of raw garlic. I tried rachelellen's suggestion and it is super yummy! I like to add whatever italian type seasoning that I have alot of to the butter. My hubbie loves them all. This is the best recipe I've used for making roasted garlic: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_garlic/ "Roasted Garlic Recipe Prep time: 5 minutesCook time: 30 minutes METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 400�F. 2 Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. 3 Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400�F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed." I like to simply squeeze out the wonderful mushy garlic and mix with my butter/oil recipe using 1 head of garlic per stick. A lb of butter doesn't last that long in the fridge. For clarification: 1lb of butter is 4 sticks or 2 cups.

I keep it simple, and use just one sort of butter for almost everything. Unsalted American butter. Land O Lakes, usually, because someone showed me, 30 years ago, that if you take two Land O Lakes packages, cut the maiden's knees from one package, and glue that piece onto the chest of the maiden on the other package, her knees look just like breasts. It was a silly little gag that got me thinking about subliminal advertising and still makes me giggle today. So I guess the advertising worked. Sometimes I buy a European butter, for spreading. But practically all of my butter use is for cooking. I don't eat buttered toast or croissants but once in a blue moon.