6 ways to offer suet to your birds
There are a number of specialty suet feeders on the market which make feeding your birds suet very convenient, especially if you purchase it. There are rectangular cages to drop in suet cakes and wooden tubes to insert suet plugs into. Some are quite decorative and others are very plain.
This is not a necessary purchase, however, if you want to offer suet to your birds. These also work for homemade suet substitutes like the recipe I shared last week.
1. Smear it right on a tree. Many of the birds which are attracted by suet are woodpeckers and they naturally spend a great deal of time searching under pieces of bark looking for hiding insects.
2. Drill a hole in a large branch or small log. Fill this with suet. If you drill the whole one inch in diameter, you will also be able to use commercially prepared suet plugs.
3. Put some in a used mesh bag. After eating all your oranges, onions, etc., wash the mesh bag in warm soapy water, rinse and fill with suet. This is great for smaller birds such as chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. When the squirrels get to it, they will chew right through, but that is not nearly as frustrating as when they chew through a nice hopper feeder.
4. Fill pine cones. Spread suet in the open leaves of a pine cone and hang them. This, too, is fr the smaller birds. I love watching the agile nuthatches as they hang upside down, swaying and spinning in the wind while they eat.
5. Freeze in muffin tins. Place a length of cord in each cup of a muffin tin, pack with suet and freeze. Hang them outside when it is freezing.
6. Fill used tuna cans. This I thought interesting. Wash out your old tuna cans and fill them with bacon drippings, beef drippings, etc. When it cools, it will solidify. (You can do this with rendered suet as well.) Drill a hole in the side if the can and hang it.
suet, birding, birdwatching, backyard birding
November 14th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
[...] the outdoors? here’s another [...]
November 24th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Great website. First visit and have found it very informative! I’m going to try to the suet recipe.
April 26th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
This is good information on making your own suet holder, but you must be careful in hot weather. Suet goes bad very quickly. And you must clean the areas where you place the suet so that bacteria will not grow that is harmful to birds. Here is link that will give you some important information, plus take you to other great links.
http://back-yardbirding.com/bird-food
October 21st, 2008 at 12:26 am
I am looking for some idea and stumble upon your posting
decide to wish you Thanks. Eugene
November 12th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
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December 7th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I remember my mother using onion bags as a child…I like the idea of pinecones, I have plenty here in the woods. I think I’ll try it!
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 am
I made a similar feeder from pine.
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:44 am
No it was cedar. Sorry! But they loved it. I just put one entry hole in it.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Se torna dificil colocar muebles en un piso con dimensiones pequeńas. Muchas veces cuando nos mudamos y ya tenemos muebles nos debemos esforzar mucho para acomodar todas nuestras cosas y siempre algo tendremos que regalar.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Your website looks really good. Being a blog writer myself, I really appreciate the time you took in writing this article.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:30 am
Suet is great until the squirrels get to it. They love it! Too bad it’s a pain for the birds. That’s why I mostly stick to hummingbird feeders. I need a new one and will probably get one of these hummingbird feeders, but would appreciate any feedback.