How To Make Suet Cakes For Birds

Feed your fine feathered friends with an easy to make Bootleg Wild Bird Suet. Easy to make, you may never purchase from the shop again.

Homemade Wild Bird Suet

Good, hearty recipes aren't just for the states; our feathered friends appreciate good food besides. This is peculiarly important during the wintertime when it's harder for them to notice natural sources of nourishment and energy.

At my firm, we love catering to the birds that visit our backyard feeders. With literal flocks coming to visit, information technology doesn't take long before it'south time to refill the feeders.

And when on a tight budget, information technology can sometimes be hard to refill as often every bit one might like. For this and other reasons, I came up with my ain version of a bootleg suet recipe.

Suet cakes aren't the nicest of things to handle, let's just exist honest. They sure are convenient for popping into any of the wire feeders readily available at most hardware and outdoor living stores.

And then when I decided to cook for the birds, tin can yous believe I'chiliad even saying this? I wanted to maintain the convenience of the store-bought cakes.

What ended up being the perfect mold for my batter was an empty orange juice carton. Once the suet mixture had cooled and hardened in the carton, information technology was merely a affair of tearing open the carton and voilà! I was left with a perfect suet brick!

Prep Fourth dimension 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• i/two c. rendered fatty or lard
• two c. old-fashioned oats (not instant)
• 2 c. chunky peanut butter
• 2 c. beef goop
• 1/two c. sugar
• 1/ii c. raisins/stale cranberries or chopped nuts (optional)
• 1-1/two c. wild bird seed
• Squares of wax paper (to put between sliced cakes for storage)

Instructions

1. In a large pot, combine lard, oatmeal, peanut butter, broth and sugar, stirring frequently.
2. Estrus to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
3. Simmer for 20 mins. or so, or until mixture is the consistency of thick oatmeal.
4. Stir in raisins and/or nuts.
5. Remove from estrus and stir in bird seed.
6. Pour into mold and put in freezer, cooling until hardened.
7. In one case hardened, remove suet "brick" from freezer and allow it to soften slightly to ease in cut.
8. Store thawed cakes in fridge for up to one week or refreeze with a sheet of wax newspaper in between.

Notes

Note: This recipe is not practical for the hot summer months, when your cake will turn rancid quickly, but is great during the winter months when it volition maintain its freshness and shape.

Suet mixture set to go into the freezer.

Carton peels abroad hands from frozen brick.

All the ingredients worked together actually well. I knew the real examination would be seeing if the birds would really eat their homemade repast.

I sliced the bigger brick into smaller, manageable cakes. NOTE: you'll have to thaw the brick slightly before slicing. Next, I loaded up the first feeder, broken-hearted for its showtime visitor.

See? A perfect fit!

We've been feeding the birds out back for so long that they usually greet me with various forms of their tweets and chirps every bit soon equally they discover I accept food in paw. It was no surprise that I had something … they just didn't know exactly what it was.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to check out this new treat and within a few hours, they practically had a line forming for their hazard to peck away at the new buffet item.

The first taste-tester came in the form of a black-cap Chickadee and information technology passed muster, judging by the many chunks missing.

A Chickadee was the first to investigate the new improver. From what I've read, birds don't take a skillful sense of scent, then fifty-fifty though I idea the cake smelled expert, I knew they wouldn't really notice.

Subsequently a few pecks at the cake, the Chickadee flew off to a college perch to eat her fresh breakfast. I'm assuming she canonical, given that she repeated this process for the better role of an hour.

A Bluebird was the next to scope it out and then a House Finch swooped in for a nibble likewise. SUCCESS!!!

This is a project I've wanted to attempt for a very long fourth dimension. I am so happy that my piffling feathered friends corroborate and my budget is intact.

My girls were fascinated also since they weren't convinced that the birds would like mommy's cooking. Sorry girls, but this meal really is for the birds … and they honey it!

How To Make Suet Cakes For Birds,

Source: https://whoneedsacape.com/2013/02/homemade-wild-bird-suet/

Posted by: mansfieldthoself.blogspot.com

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