Making your own suet is cheap and easy, and you can add different ingredients to add a bit of variety and find your bird’s favorite.
Many birds eat suet, including woodpeckers, chickadees, jays, starlings, crows, titmouses, nuthatches, and some wrens and warblers. This energy-rich food is especially good in the winter.
What is Suet or Lard?
Suet is the hard fat that comes from beef or lamb, but lard is pig fat. Suet is harder than lard and has a higher melting temperature, so it is better if you plan to give homemade suet to birds in summer.
You can get suet or lard cheaply from your local butcher, or many grocery stores will sell it. You can also trim the fat from the meat that you cook and use that.
How To Store Homemade Bird Suet?
Once you have made your suet for birds, then you can store the suet in the fridge if you intend to use it in the next few weeks, or you can store it in the freezer for around six months.
You can tell if suet has gone bad as when fresh, it will not have much of a small, except for the added ingredients. However, once it is rancid, then a stronger meaty smell develops, and you should throw it away.
Recipes For Homemade Bird Suet
The simple 2-step recipe:
2 step method:
- Place 2 parts suet or lard in the microwave in a glass bowl for 1 minute
- Stir in 1 part cornmeal or grit and add nuts, seeds, or oats, then leave to set in small containers.
Winter Recipe
In winter, birds need more energy to survive the cold nights, so this high-energy suet recipe is perfect for helping them through the cold weather. Also, in winter, there is less food available, especially if it is covered under a blanket of snow, so helping birds out at this time of year helps ensure their survival.
Suet remains firm in the colder months and lasts longer, so the mix does not have to be as thick and crumbly as the summer suet recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 parts suet or lard
- 1 part cornmeal, flour, or grits to thicken
Plus any combination of the following:
- Oats
- Nonsalted nuts
- Dried fruit
- Seeds
- Mealworms
Method:
- Place chopped suet or lard in a glass bowl
- Microwave on full heat for 30 seconds
- Check if melted and heat in the microwave again for another 15 or 30 seconds
- Remove from microwave
- Stir in cornmeal, grit, or flour
- Stir in additional ingredients such as seeds, nuts, or dried fruit
- Pour into small containers with low sides, such as empty tins or plastic tubs
- Sprinkle toppings on, such as oats or sunflower seeds
- Place in fridge to set
- Keep in fridge or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze
Summer Recipe:
Suet can melt in the heat and go rancid, so you need a thicker and more crumbly mixture to help prevent this. Peanut butter is the perfect added ingredient to help prevent it from melting so quickly, and adding more cornmeal or grits, as this thickens it up and also helps to prevent melting.
Ingredients:
- 1 part Suet
- 3 part Cornmeal, flour, or Grits to thicken
- 1 part peanut butter
Plus any combination of the following:
- Oats
- Non-salted nuts
- Dried Fruit
- Seeds
- Mealworms
Method:
- Place suet or lard in a glass bowl
- Microwave on full heat for 30 seconds
- Check if melted and heat in the microwave again for another 15 or 30 seconds
- Remove from microwave
- Stir in Cornmeal, grit, or flour
- Stir in additional ingredients such as seeds, nuts, or dried fruit
- Pour into small containers with low sides, such as empty tins or plastic tubs
- Sprinkle toppings on, such as oats or seeds
- Place in fridge to set
- Keep in fridge or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze
Final Thoughts
Making homemade suet is cheap and easier than you may have thought.
However, if you find that birds are not eating your suet, there are plenty of ways you can encourage them, so don’t despair.
It may be they have not discovered it yet as you have not been feeding them regularly, so they don’t know where the party is at! Try adding more different feeders and seeds and spreading peanut butter nearby to create a beacon to the buffet.
