Suet question
9 years ago
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9 years agoRelated Discussions
mystery..suet down during the night
Comments (16)A little skunk anecdote, which I will call "Summer of the Skunk." Last June a skunk started to visit us regularly (there is a reservation not too far away). This began a summer of almost weekly encounters between our Wheaten Terrier, Nevie, and the striped intruder. Terriers are bred to get rid of small varmints, so the first time the skunk squeezed himself through our fence and into our yard, Nevie headed for the skunk. In no time flat she was back at the door howling, covered with skunk smell. Clueless, we opened the door and brought her in (the number one rule of what NOT to do when your dog gets skunked). We knew right away, and at 11:00 p.m. my husband fled to Walgreens to get the ingredients for all-time-best skunk deoderizer, not to mention several cans of Febreze. Meanwhile the skunk smell had wafted through the entire house in no time, the kids were gagging and whining and when hubbie got home we plunked Neve into the bath. She was grateful. We stank. This happened five times in all during the summer. We attributed the last four times to either stubbornness on Nevie's part in protecting her family, or maybe that she is not the brightest dog in the neighborhood. We tried every natural repellant we could think of, kept the dog in after dark, said prayers and lit candles. We were afraid that maybe the skunk didn't leave at night but hung out under our deck (but we didn't see him and were too afraid to go under there.) The last time the skunk visited was in September, when we had a Danish exchange student staying with us. Her room windows were open when the skunk attacked. It was bad. No matter what we did the smell hung on. Our daughter, who brought our guest to high school with her each day, came home to say that all day teachers were asking if anyone else smelled skunk (?!) A wonderful memory for senior year. I'm sure our guest's report when she got back to Denmark included some mention of skunks. Just when we were about to bring in professional help (for us and to remove the skunk) the skunk stopped visiting. I guess his work here was done. Here's hoping we have no skunk visits this summer, but if we do, at least we've learned some lessons!:)...See Moresuet feeder height.
Comments (16)You are probably correct about the corn and millet but my intended purpose is to photo document as many species of birds as I can. To that end I put out a large variety of foods that will attract all birds, whether they are consodered desirable or not. In fact,as long as I keep the feeders full I see very little actual competion between any of the species. Now I will freely admit that sometimes I have to refill the feeders 2 or 3 times a day and I scatter a considerable amount of seed as well as Bread, orange peels and apples on the ground but I get the apples free and 10 loaves of bread for a dollar, and there is an upside to this method. 1. The Squirrels actually prefer the bread.: . 2. generally the starlings and sparrows prefer to feed on the ground, here again, often preferring the bread to the seed, not to mention that there is a flock of 31 wild turkeys that come in shortly after daylight to get the bread and corn that is left on the ground. Even the Bluejays and Cardinals prefer to feed on the ground and often I see a half a dozen species of birds feeding right alongside a squirrel or chipmonk and on two oc occasions I have seen a groundhog feeding with the birds. Now I am sure that I could get a more selective clientele if I changed the menu but at my house Nobody goes away hungry....See MoreCan I substitute bacon grease for suet in making suet cakes?
Comments (5)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....See MoreSuet Escapade II
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....See More- 9 years ago
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