If you would like to attract a variety of birds in your yard, place a bird feeder. You can make your own bird feeder using suet, or beef fat, to attract an even more attractive and diverse variety of birds, such as blue jays, cardinals and juncos.
This simple homemade suet bird feeder is relatively easy to make. You can even have your children help you out. Read below to get ideas to learn how to make a suet bird feeder.
- Get your materials together. You will need to go to the butcher or meat section of the grocery store to buy some suet. Get about a pound worth. Chop up a strip of bacon. You should also have a handful of nuts, bird seed and a variety of seeds. Some you may want to consider are pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. You may also want to add half a cup of oatmeal. If you want, you can also have about three tablespoons of peanut butter. Finally, you will need an old mesh bag used for onions and garlic. This is where you will place the feeder.
- Melt the fat. When you get home, place a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Place the suet or meat fat and melt it until it becomes liquid form. Next, add the bacon and allow the fat to cook as well.
- Mix the other ingredients. With a wooden spoon, add in half the amount of bird seed, nuts and other seeds you want to use. The mixture will get pretty thick but mix it well.
- Form into balls. Remove the pot from the heat and scoop out some balls using a large ice cream scooper. You may also choose to form it into one or two big balls using your hands. wash your hands thoroughly after to get the lard off of your hands.
- Roll on the nuts and seeds. On a shallow dish, combine the remaining nuts and seeds. Add some oatmeal if you are using some as well. Next, get the suet ball you made and roll it on a dish until it is completely covered. If you are using peanut butter, roll the suet ball on the peanut butter first, then roll it on the nuts and seeds. The peanut butter will help the seeds stick to the ball.
- Put the feeder in the freezer. The suet feeder is now ready to be placed in the freezer. Put the suet ball in the onion mesh bag and place inside your freezer. Leave it inside overnight to make sure that everything sticks together.
- Hang on the tree branch. The next morning, remove the suet feeder from the freezer. Hang the mesh bag on a low lying branch.
Once you hang the suet bird feeder, if you wait a while, you’ll notice birds will start flocking to the tree where you hung it. Enjoy watching the birds as it feasts on the feeder. Both large and small birds can benefit from the bird feeder. Be sure to replace it when you notice the seeds and nuts are gone.