No-Melt Suet (For Birds)

Submitted by SrtaMaestra

"Don't put suet out in high summer temperatures, it can spoil and melt, coating feathers.  This is a tried and true suet recipe that I found in Birds and Blooms Extra, contributed by Virginia Barnard. She explains that it works very well in Oklahoma's high summer temperatures. We live in Wisconsin, where it obviously isn't quite as hot, but it has held up here, even in direct sun. The squirrels like it too, but now that we're offering other food for them, a little ways away, they aren't bothering it as much as they were at first. The recipe is written for lard, but I used saved bacon grease and it has worked fine. The next time I make it, I'm going to experiment with less or none of the sugar, as it doesn't seem necessary. But, I guess maybe the birds could have a little sweet tooth, too! Note: yield is approximate. I doubled the batch last time I made it, and filled 2 quart ziplock containers after putting some in a feeder, so I'm not exactly sure how much I started out with."

 

• Ready In: 10mins
• Ingredients: 5
• Yields: 5 cups

ingredients

• 473.18 ml quick-cooking oats
• 473.18 ml cornmeal
• 236.59 ml lard do not use bacon grease
• 236.59 ml crunchy peanut butter
• some bird seed, preferably without shells

directions

1. Melt the lard and peanut butter together, either on the stove or in the microwave.
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the melted fats.
4. The original recipe suggests pouring into a square pan about 2 inches deep, or spreading onto tree limbs. I just put it into ziplock containers and scoop it out as needed to fill a screen type of feeder (See photos). I use my cookie scoop to take it out, but then mash and break up the scoops, because otherwise the squirrels can come and take a whole scoop at once, way too easily! I don't know if it would hold up well in cake form, as I haven't tried that, but it defintely doesn't melt or make a gloppy mess.

Reviews

[Elise W.]

This is one of the worst recipes I have seen. Sugar is super bad for birds, just like it is for us. Along with yeast and fungal gut infections, it raises their blood sugar levels, not natural. (And lots of animals, like humans will eat foods bad for them, that is not a test as to whether its good for them). Also bacon grease is a horrible idea. Fats can get on birds' feathers and harm their ability to stay dry and warm. This is deadly in the winter. And its why feeding soft or liquid fats, or fats that melt easily at low temperatures is very unsafe. This rule leaves out all but true suet, as veg fats and animal fats (veg oils, subcutaneous fats, bacon drippings) are soft and can get on birds feet. Making soft fats hard with ingredients (that is not really bird food like wheat or oats) is not a solution. True suet is the fat around the loin of a cow. It is used in commercial suet because it is nearly dry, thus it crumbles when you handle it. Peanut butter melts at 104 degrees, so adding it to the suet gives you a solid, low melt, hard fat that is safer to feed birds (whom are landing close to these fats). Note, even in winter fats can melt from the heat of the sun on them. Birds use their feet to preen (groom) their head feathers, the fats WILL get on them. And then it will spread to other feathers. Birrrr...that means a cold, and likely wet head on a bird. And cold spells doom to birds as it leads to hypothermia and eventual starvation. True suet (or maybe true lard, though pork subcutaneous fat is often erroneously called "lard" - true lard also comes from the groin) is the only safe fat for birds. Make suets with true suet, millet and hulled sunflower seed, some oats, and peanut butter. Hang only in a cage feeder of some kind, never open for them to land on and get fat on them. Never hang in temps above about 70 degrees or in sun. Caring for birds means really being concerned about their welfare, not just getting them to come into our yards.

 

[Stella_in_Toronto]

This recipe, and some of the comments, make me shudder. Please ask yourselves why you are feeding birds, and if the answer is that you'd like to help them, please know that sugar and flour are abysmally UNHEALTHY things to put in a suet cake, not just for the direct and immediate impact on birds' bodies, but more importantly, for the long term effect and for the unintended toxic compounds (including mould) you may be brewing when you add these ingredients. (Also please be careful with bacon drippings--these may not harden sufficiently and may get all over the birds' feathers, potentially leading to suffering for complex reasons.) Also for the people saying they're crumbling all kinds of crackers and cookies into the suet -- good grief. Birds eat insects, nuts, seeds, fruits/berries. That's what their bodies have evolved to digest. Unlike us, they can't call a doctor or take some antacid or insulin or find other remedies to undo the bad reactions we are having to our diets. Please research the negative effects of adding sugar to a bird's diet. If you have to make suet, please consider using beef/pork fat, some nuts or seeds, a bit of peanut butter, and maybe some dried mealworms -- not everything you find in your cupboard or local Bake Sale. Thanks for being super conscious of our delicate avian friend's natural digestive systems, their vulnerability, and our role in avoiding bringing even more harm to them than we've already done by destroying their habitats.

 

[Jennifer W.]

Bacon grease should never be used. The curing agents for the bacon are harmful to the birds. Please research and do NOT use bacon grease. Use lard or melted beef fat trimmings prior to cooking.

 

[Anna M.]

Cracked corn works better than corn meal. I add sunflower seeds and they love it.

 

[Faye D.]

When not wanting to feed the squirrels, I put in some red pepper flakes. They don't like the pepper but the birds are fine with it. Our birds will no longer eat the store bought suet. I have to remove it uneaten! Love spoiling them.