Whenever I have put out a new feeder, it has taken a week or two for the birds to find it, and likewise it is usually the Chickadees that figure it out first. Such curious and intelligent little birds. The exception was the small suet cage with raw suet that I hung on the trunk of a big Oak tree last year. Then it was a Downy that found the cage almost immediately.

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 -

"I'm assuming this is from a build up of oil in the pan and never washing the pan with soap." Not really - what happens is that oil penetrates the microscopic pores in the cast iron during the seasoning process and gets baked in (chemically it makes a polymer of the oil on the surface of the pan). This keeps the food particles out of the pores, hence the non-stick tendencies. All you have to do to maintain that layer of polymerized stuff is wipe the pan with oil after use. Cleaning with soapy water doesn't affect my pans, because I wipe them with oil and dry them on a warm burner before storing them. That rebuilds the polymer layer a bit. "I bought a cornstick pan this week and don't anticipate using it more than once a month at most. I would like to coat it with hot bacon grease before each batch but seems like I've read somewhere that it would taste old/rancid if I did that." Season it with a vegetable oilbefore you use it, use the bacon grease, scrub it with soapy water after the muffins, wipe it dry and oil it lightly with any vegetable oil (except soybean oil, which oxidizes into a fishy taste). Same with the skillets and dutch oven: soapy water to remove the food residue, then a wiping with fresh oil and dry it on a warm burner.

Rosegarden3, yes, I am talking about dry kibble. I wouldn't worry too much about how you're storing the food unless your pups start acting like they no longer like it or get sick from it. I store mine in a 30 lb plastic kitty litter container with a snap top lid that works just fine. In this particular case, I think the food went bad because it had been opened before it even got to the pet store, and likely it had been that way for a long time, sitting in a warehouse or trailer getting cooked in the hot weather and ultimately the food was spoiled. If anything, this has taught me a lesson to inspect the bags carefully before bringing them home.