Suet is an ideal food for birds year-round, but it can quickly become a melted, sticky mess in summer. Switching to a no-melt suet recipe can allow you to keep offering this nutritious food to summer birds without an oily mess to clean up.
Summer is a stressful season for all birds. Breeding birds struggle to protect and nurture their hatchlings, and there are more predators out and about. Birds must constantly compete for the best territories and feeding resources. Summer thunderstorms and excessive heat put additional pressure on birds and other wildlife.
Good, high-fat food rich in calories gives birds plentiful energy to meet all of summer's demands. They will also help feed hungry hatchlings so baby birds can grow properly. Different suet blends also meet a wide range of nutritional needs if seeds, fruit, nuts, and insects are part of the recipe.
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If birds can rely on nutritious backyard food sources, they will need to spend less time foraging. They can take advantage of opportunities to rest or tend to other survival tasks.
On the hottest summer days, suet can soften and melt. Because this is a high fat food, it can quickly go rancid or grow mold in high heat or humid conditions. Spoiled suet has a strong odor and can attract unwanted visitors, such as rats, raccoons, and even bears to the feeders.
If suet drips onto the grass or plants, it can damage the greenery, and pets may nibble at spilled, spoiled suet and become ill. Soft suet can also cause stains as it drips onto decks, furniture, or patios. If birds get dripped on, the oils in suet can damage their feathers similar to oil spills.
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Fortunately, not all suet will melt, dribble, or drip. Summer-friendly suet blends have lower fat content and will melt much less readily, allowing this top food to be offered to hungry birds even on the hottest days.
There are many different no-melt suet recipes available, and you can even tweak your own personal recipe to keep it from softening in the heat. In general, no-melt suets contain less fat and greater quantities of flour, oats, cornmeal, or other absorbent components that will help bind the fat together without melting. A top no-melt suet recipe is:
To make the suet, slowly melt the lard or suet and the peanut butter together until they are completely smooth and combined. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, mixing well so the entire batch is thoroughly coated. Press the mixture very firmly into molds – suet cake shapes, a cake pan, muffin tin, or just hand-pressed balls or patties – removing as much air as possible to keep the cakes firm.
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In addition to this basic recipe, you can also add in extra treats to attract even more birds. Top add-ins for homemade no-melt suet include:
Adjust the ingredient proportions to suit your backyard birds while keeping the suet firm. Birds will come flocking to your summer suet feeders. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, wrens, jays, and bluebirds are all fond of suet year-round. Even different warbler species, thrushes, thrashers, and blackbirds will nibble on suet.
To make the most of every batch of no-melt suet you mix up, freeze each cake before putting it out for the birds. Not only will this keep the cake fresher for a longer period, but a frozen cake will resist melting even on the hottest days. Use smaller cakes or put out less suet at once. This will ensure it is all eaten before it can go rancid.
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Position suet feeders in the shade to keep them as cool as possible. If birds don't eat all the suet in one day, you can bring in the feeder and refreeze the cakes before putting them back out for birds in the morning.
Suet is a great year-round food for birds. You don't have to let the prospect of soft, spoiled, melted suet be a problem at your summer feeders. Making no-melt suet is easy and you can adapt it to suit any birds' tastes, giving all your summer birds a nutritious, healthy meal at your feeders.
By continuing to use our website you are agreeing to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. By using our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our CookiesPolicy. Learn MoreWe have been doing lots of activities to help us observe winter wildlife in our garden. This has included getting ready for the Big Garden Bird Watch. In this post we will look at a way to make a homemade bird feeder of Suet Cakes (without using peanut butter). This is a great alternative to homemade pinecone birdfeeders, especially for people with peanut butter or nut allergies. Typically, fat cakes are made with suet (beef/mutton fat) or lard, but if you would like to make a vegetarian version you can use vegetable shortening (solid vegetable fat) such as Crisco or Trex.
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Towards the end of winter and the start of spring, there tends to little food left for birds. This is particularly true in built up areas such as cities and the suburbs. A birdfeeder is a great way to help birds to get through the winter and to attract birds so that children can see them up close. In this way, children can begin to observe and discuss the behaviour of birds, what they need to live, as well as the changes in the seasons. It can also open up all sorts of discussions about migration, where birds live, loss of habitat and more, depending on the children’s ages.
First, melt the fat a little bit to soften it if it is cold and hard. You will need to mix approximately 1 part fat with 2 parts of the dry mixture. That means for every cup of fat you will need approximately two cups of everything else. You can include things like oats, bread and cake crumbs, grated cheese and raisins, and of course, birdseed. You don’t need to include all the items listed above– they are just options. Combine the ingredients together in a bowl and mix them together with your hands. Mixing and combining this can be a lovely sensory experience for children. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones so that you can stop adding the dry ingredients if it starts to become crumbly.
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Make holes in the bottom of each yogurt pot and then thread string through and tie some knots. Then fill the pots, packing them with the mixture. If you use silicone food pots, you can place one end of the string in the pot then pack the mixture into the container. Put the pots in the fridge to cool until they become hard or until you are ready to place them outside. You can freeze some until they are ready to use. When you are ready to use them, they can be squeezed out and then hung up on tree branches.
Another way to make them is to have children sculpt them with their hands. They can roll or sculpt them into balls or cakes. These can either be left out like this or use string to tie them up and hang them from a tree.
Making a bird feeder without peanut butter is another great way for children to experience nature firsthand. This is an easy way to involve children in outdoor learning.
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It is also an opportunity for children to the following: read (bird books, information sheets); write (record observations and data); collect and record data (tally charts, pictographs or bar charts).
In the winter, the weather can make it more challenging to get children outside. Making bird feeders without peanut butter is a great way to get young children learning outside the classroom in colder weather. It provides an opportunity to get children thinking about animals– what they need to live and where they live (habitat). They can also observe the world around them and see how the environment changes during the winter months.
According to Dr. Malone (2014), a review of worldwide research shows that outdoor learning leads to many benefits to children’s learning and wellbeing. Children who have learning experiences outside the classroom achieve better on tests, achieve higher results in knowledge and skills acquisition and show improved confidence and self-esteem. They also have better motor skills and physical fitness, show increased leadership qualities and environmental responsibility. Further, they have improved social competence, attention, self-esteem and mental health. Outdoor learning has also been found to support learning in maths and science and the use of creative and critical thinking skills (Waliczek, T.M., Logan, P. & Zajicek, J.M., 2003).
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See my other post on making pinecone birdfeeders with children. You may want to take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch or other organised bird watching activities. Get children to record their observations, including make tally charts or other
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