these are the ingredients I use for my homemade suet:

crisco or lard
peanut butter
chopped nuts (sunflower seeds and pine nut or whatever I have on hand)
rolled oats
cream of wheat
corn meal
wheat germ
flour
honey or molasses or sugar
chopped raisins
dried apples
I have also added shredded coconut in the past and sometimes add crushed fritos as someone mentioned Juncos love it.
Sometimes add bread crumbs, though this is only a filler I've been told.

The sparrows hang out in a nearby evergreen tree. There are no nests or bird houses in my yard. I haven't seen any aggressive behavior (when the Downy woodpecker visited but he's much larger). Are they warding off other birds?

I use a hanging suet feeder, a log feeder and I also have a pie tin I use on a platform with a crumbly mixture.

Should I stop adding corn meal or any other ingredient?

So are the house sparrows deterring other birds from my feeders or what?

I'm not a troll. Would appreciate response.

I make a suet mix specifically for the Bluebirds (never any millet) but the House Sparrows are not particular. They will eat just about anything. I've even had them at my nyjer feeder. So I don't think it is your mixture that is causing the problem. The problem is too many hungry HOSP. I have never seen them warding off other birds from a feeder, though they are certainly a problem during nesting season. While I do have some regulars so far this winter, they are in far fewer numbers. I don't know if WI had the same early storm that we had here in the northeast. But I wonder if because it knocked down so many trees, if the birds have flown further south to obtain better food sources? I'm still hoping the regulars come back once the weather gets really cold.

I am getting finches,juncos,cardinals,chichadees, jays.different woodpeckers, a couple years ago I asked a game warden about the birds not coming and he said the main problem is cats

I'm not sure what is going on with your birds Domino? I've made a mixture for about 5 years and used several different fats - unrendered suet, rendered suet, and Snow cap lard. I've also thrown in some bacon fat when there was some leftover from my son's bacon. The other ingredients are similar to yours, although I've never used millet. The birds liked all of them and didn't seem to have any preference.

I also put out a suet cage with unrendered suet from the meat department at the grocery store. The woodpeckers like it best, but many other birds pick at it too. So I doubt it is because they don't like beef suet.

I hope the other birds come back soon! If I only had House Sparrows around, I'd stop feeding them.

I have no ambition to feed them these days once the suet ran out. The only thing visiting are the HOSP, so I give up.

I did see cardinals one day, but that's it.

I honestly think they are hoarding my feeder. They hang out in an evergreen nearby and chase all the other birds away.

Thanks for the suggestions Terrene.

Unfortunately, I'm hesitant to use Black Oil Sunflower as the hulls contain a toxin that can kill plants. I've invested too much time and money into my landscaping to take that risk, not to mention my nearby neighbors properties where the birds may carry the hulls as well.

I may just skip feeding for a couple of weeks and try my luck again. They aren't hanging around as much obviously since the food ran out, but I'm sure they'll be back.

I really miss the chickadees and juncos.

I live in NE Fl and the birds are simply not showing up as in previous years. When a cold front pushes through, I have seen on two occasions flock of birds hit the feeder, but it only lasts for about two feedings and then they are gone. Also, the usual residents (cardinals, jays, titmice, chickadees) are scarce. I believe something environmental is effecting the bird population and it just hasn't been documented yet.

I live in NE PA and I too have seen a marked decline in the number of birds at my feeders. I've even put out a suet feeder in hopes that it would help - it has not. I have a pair of resident cardinals and some regular chickadees, juncos and purple finch. They are only here sparsely..I used to have LOTS of birds! There is definitely something strange going on.

I stopped feeding them, made a new batch of suet with all newly purchased ingredients - thinking that maybe a batch of lard I had was bad - and after non feeding for a week or so I got rid of a lot of house sparrows.

Then I put out my new batch. I have seen a few chickadees - but only a few, and that was after the really cold weather hit I figured they'd need it. I also have a downy woodpecker visiting a few times. House sparrows are back, but in smaller numbers than before.

No juncos. The numbers of birds at my feeder are much smaller in numbers in comparison to last year. I started feeding around the same time. Nothing else has really changed.

So, yeah, it makes me wonder what's going on.

Squirrels - that's another story.

Hi. It's not just you. With the warmer winter the birds just aren't coming to feeders like in other years. I asked around and the popular opinion is that they have other food sources. That's why I joined here, to see how widespread this "trend" was.
I can understand my wrens and chickadees eating the midges that are hatching. But not to have cardinals and titmice eating peanuts is weird. Even the bluejays are ignoring bread. A few mourning doves come in early in the day. But the lack of birds is crossing food preference lines from bug eaters to ground seed eaters. And no, it doesn't seem to bother the squirrels at all. No competition for the sunflower seeds.