Bird feeding is an easy and rewardable hobby to get into. If you want to attract the most birds to your backyard, you will want to feed them suet during the winter. Learn the best practices for feeding birds in the Winter and instructions for a simple homemade suet cake to use this year.
Why Feed Birds in the Winter?
Watching colorful birds fly up to your feeders during the Spring and Summer is great, but you’ll want to feed those wild birds during the winter to. Birds will return to places where they’ve found food before.
But, be consistent with your feeding. Make sure your feeders have food in them as often as possible. Consistency is sure to bring a bevy of new feathered friends.
Why Feed Suet?
Suet is a high-quality animal fat that is taken near the kidneys and loins in beef and mutton. This is safe to feed to birds. In fact, for many birds, animal fat is high-energy food and especially valuable in cold weather.
Suet cakes are mixtures of animal fat that have been turned into a block. It usually contains other ingredients, like cornmeal, dried fruit, peanuts, and even dried insects. This provides wild birds with protein and fats to keep them nice and warm during the Winter.
These cakes need to be kept in special suet feeders. This Heath Woodpecker Feeder is perfect, as it has a small overhang to keep the birdseed from getting wet and moldy.
What Birds Like Suet?
You can attract all kinds of birds with your new homemade birdseed cake. Here are just a few species that might visit your backyard:
Woodpeckers- Chickadees
- Nuthatches
- Wrens
- Titmouses
- Thrushes
- Orioles
- Blackbirds
- Jays
Homemade Suet Cakes
You Will Need:
- 1/2 lb Suet or Lard
- 1 Cup Crunchy Peanut Butter
- 2-1/2 Cups Sunflower Seeds
- 1-1/2 Cups Millet
- 1 Cup Dried Fruit (dry your own fruit with this 10-Tray Dehydrator)
Instructions:
- Melt your animal fat and peanut butter.
- Pour the liquid mixture over sunflower seeds, millet, and dried fruit in a mixing bowl. Mix to combine.
- Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish and put in your freezer for 2-4 hours or until set.
- Once frozen, cut the mix into individual cakes with a sharp knife.
- Place in a suet cake feeder and hang outside for the birds to enjoy!
More for the Bird Lovers
If you’ve ever made your own suet cakes, please let me know in the comment section at the end of this article.
Learn more about bird feeding and how to turn your backyard into a wild-bird paradise in our blog! We cover best bird feeding practices and popper bird feeder locations.
We are always posting new content on our blog. Be sure to check back with us each Friday for more rural living tips and tricks!