Time to keep the suet handy

beegood_gw

15 years ago

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Comments (8)

donald lucius
15 years ago
great picture. here we have had only one snow shower that melted in a few hours.but lots of cold temps. nites in the teens and twentys and days in the 30's and 40' so a few juncos and some chickadees and nuthatches are showing up. but nothing like when the snow starts sticking. I have both suet blocks and sorghum blocks hanging but not a lot of the winter birds yet to enjoys them.
paulsiu
15 years ago
Great picture. The Downy in my area have already made short works of the suet blocks. Didn't even last the whole week (not sure why the Red Belly ignore the block though).

I had to move the suet block like 3 times. The other two location got rip down and eaten, probably by Raccoons.

Paul
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helenh is right, too expensive and the squares are too large. The critters will use their feet to manipulate the bulb closer to the squares in order to eat more. Something I've found that worked well for me over the years is pepper. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of ground pepper around the bulb and mix some in the soil. For longer lasting results, put some pepper corns around the bulb. Tabasco works when putting it on the bulb direct (if you like spicy foods, might taste ok but doesn't last long. There are some commercial squirrel repellents that have an extremely hot and spicy taste that also work very well, too.
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This is the first year I have tried suet. I recently moved from a home in MI to an apartment in CO and have hung a suet feeder on the balcony of my 2nd floor apartment. I am using a basic suet cake from the local hardware store and the birds eat about one cake every 5 days. I get a lot of downy woodpeckers , chickadees, titmouse (titmice?), and flickers. I love the chickadees (so cute), the titmouse (love the punk hairdo), and the overall antics of the flickers! The appetite of the downy woodpecker is voracious. It took about 4 days for the birds to find the suet. I overlook a golf course and mountains and there is a huge tree that comes up right to my balcony so that might be a factor. Anyway, the store bought suet cake is a hit for me. Since the birds eat so much, I am going to try some homemade treats to save a little money.
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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
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Comments (7)
It's really simple. Purchase white kidney or loin beef fat from a butcher. It's inexpensive. Now for the larger woodpeckers you can stop right here. They'll eat the raw chunked fat. To render suet, and make cakes to attract a wide variety of birds, ask the butcher to grind the fat. Put it in a big pot; you don't want to fill the pot any more than half full of the fat, less would be better. Heat it over medium-low heat until all the fat melts. It took a couple hours, or more, for me to do the six pounds of fat. Watch it closely; the fat can flash into flames if it gets too hot. As the fat melts, there will be bits of "cracklings" floating in it. Strain the fat to remove all the solid bits. Let the suet solidify, and then do the process over again. The rendered suet will keep for up to a year in the freezer. I mix the finished product half and half with peanut butter. Then add any combination of hulled sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour, oats, chopped corn or chicken scratch, peanuts, raisins, whatever you have on hand that birds like to eat. Pour it into molds or a baking dish until it hardens, cut into blocks that fit your feeder, and serve. You can search the web and find hundreds of "recipes" for ideas of things to mix into the suet.
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sally41
15 years ago
we get no snow at all here.we get a hard freeze a few days of the year so our birds dont have a hard time with food.
i still put out plenty of suet.the red bellied woodpeckers and warblers eat it but the pileateds refuse to come for a visit and they are my favorite bird!!
beegood_gw
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanx everyone. There are 2 of them. On the tree the female is on the left and the the male on the right lower down. You can see the red cheek on him. That is basically the only differance.
bandjzmom
15 years ago
Oh, you lucky thing you! We do have Pileateds in the woods across the street. I see and hear them from time to time, but I have not ever seen them in my yard. Not sure that I could draw them in with a feeder. Maybe I will buy a large one and try. I do get Downy Wp's, Red-bellied Wp's, and an occasional Yellow-bellied Sapsucker here.
anna_lisa
15 years ago
my suet is ready for them just did one this morning will do another one tomorrow will also buy some i think it will last longer i put mine along the closth line then just pull it in when I need to refill
glaswegian
15 years ago
Do you ever get squirrels bothering them?
rachel_frome_ky
15 years ago
That is so cool having Pileateds hanging around posing for photos. Ours were too jittery

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116

Time to keep the suet handy

Comments (8)

donald lucius

paulsiu

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sally41

beegood_gw
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bandjzmom

anna_lisa

glaswegian

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Time to keep the suet handy

Comments (8)

donald lucius

paulsiu

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sally41

beegood_gwOriginal Author

bandjzmom

anna_lisa

glaswegian

rachel_frome_ky

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beegood_gw
Original Author