Val Lyon

· 24 Dec 2021

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What Exactly Is Suet?

Suet is a slightly flavored beef fat from the kidney area. Traditionally these oils are also known as tallow, which was a key ingredient in candles and soaps. It has a low melting point and can be easily blended with other ingredients suitable for birds, such as chopped oats, ground corn, sunflower seeds and peanut butter, etc. To get the best of high-quality food that birds can easily absorb, the suet can't be beaten.

The best suet in my opinion:

Birdwatchers Best Nutty Butter Suet made at Pine Tree Farms, Interlaken, NY, USA
Heath Berry Blast All-Season Suet made by Heath Outdoor Products, Coopersville, MI, USA

They are both fixed, durable and full of good things and not fillers. My birds love both of them very much.

They are both fixed, durable and full of good things and not fillers. My birds love both of them very much.

Backyard birds enjoying the suet: woodpeckers, including pleated, downy, hairy, red bellied and northern flickers; nuthatches, chickadee, blue jays, finches, juncoes, crows, crows, starlings and grackles.

Ravens, ravens, stars and grackles create a problem in your suet feed - they can clear it faster than you can turn! If so, use the 'woodpecker suet feeder'. This allows clingers such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadee and birds to eat while not including suet hogs.

A few years ago I added a new suet cake to the handle attached to my wooden bird feeder. I looked back later that day and made a doubletake. The suet cake was gone! I put on my coat and hat to investigate. There was no sign that even a piece of it could be found. But, the front of the handle was open. Now that thing is very hard for me to untie with a rope because it is so tight and sturdy. And that's a good thing. Birds cannot open it by mistake.

Well, I didn't want my little friends to go without their clothes in that cold weather, so I appropriately added another cake suet to the handle making sure it was sealed as tightly as possible.

The next morning when I was filling up the seed servers I noticed that the handle of the suet was again open and empty! I decided to start a suet holder team to find out who or what was stealing all the suet. I did not have to wait long. Next came the great raven, which was sitting upon the roof of the wooden house. That crow must have been trained by Houdini, because as soon as the light of a suet holder opened a combination of beak and foot. Fly with the whole cake in its bag! After all! So that one is guilty, and very capable of that.

My solution was to use an outhouse holder, and I had no more incidents of abuse. Birds never cease to amaze me with their skills and abilities.

As a special meal from time to time I put bread cubes smeared with bacon drippings. I melt bacon drippings over low heat and mix small pieces of old day bread. I add this to my tray server during the winter, to fully enjoy my backyard birds. This diet will soon be over, but I know I have helped my younger friends stay warm and produce much-needed heat and energy to help them cope with the freezing cold.

Suet provides that high-strength birds need to stay healthy and active all winter. Be kind to your birds and add them to their food supply. You will not be forgiven!

Connie Smith is the proud owner and manager of Backporch for Grandma Pearl, LLC, and an expert author of many online articles on simple and unique ways you can create the best bird sanctuary to help wild birds survive and thrive. Find a way to create fun and safe living spaces for the birds using preference plants and food, while adding color, aroma and beauty to your space. Find simple projects to make your own bird feed; and learn how easy it is to attract a variety of birds to your yard and garden.

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