i make my own suet all the time. and i save all the fats from pork beef chicken and mix with peanut butter and oatmeal or cornmeal or mixed bird seed and add some lard or shortning. i mix till i get a thick dough that i can mold into the cage or crumble in a pan. i sometimes also use the plastic containers that berrys come in and freeze the extra containers to use later. the bottom half of a raspberry or blueberrys container will fit in most cages

I have a up red headed one that visits my feeder, but he swoops in quick grabs nuts and the larger pieces of dried fruit and then whoosh he's gone. The dowdy woodpeckers are the ones that love my suet feeders. I wish the red head would stay longer. I hadn't seen him for a couple of months, as the housing plan I live in cut down thousands of trees even ones very close to me and many of the birds moved on. I was so excited that he came back. He use to visit more when there was a thicket of trees for him to go to that was closer to my feeders.

the fats or oils keep a lot longer if frozen and don't get stale in the freezer. I even freeze my homemade suet until i'm ready to use it. I make 3 or 4 ahead of time and put them out straight from the freezer to the yard as I need them.

I've found some brands of pre-made suet blocks to be significantly more popular than others; Morning Song year round suet is liked far more than Blain's Farm & Fleet. They seem to be popular with woodpeckers of various types, Downy, Red-Headed, and Hairy I've seen. BOSS is very popular in my tube feeders, but do want to try the shelled variety to eliminate the shell waste. Corn seemed to be liked by Cardinals and Blue Jays, but also attracted lots and lots of Grackles, ugh. Thistle is liked by the smaller birds, especially finches, but I think they go for the bigger seeds more if they are available. Lots of various sparrows and similar smaller birds, Mourning Doves (counted 27 at one time, all at once), no Eurasian doves here but I have seen them in the fields a few mles away. Some Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, just saw a male Dark Eyed Junco this morning. 55 miles west of Chicago is the location. vince