Along with your birdfeeders, Suet is an important winter food for birds. It provides the fat and energy they need to survive the cold weather. Suet can be purchased raw from a butcher.
To render suet, finely chop it and heat in a large pan over medium heat until it liquefies. Strain through fine cheesecloth into a bowl and let cool until it hardens. Heat and strain suet one more time to ensure that it will cake properly when mixed with birdseed.
Mix together 5 pounds mixed wild birdseed, 2 pounds rendered suet, 1 pound dried cranberries and 1 pound raw peanuts (shelled). Firmly pack mixture into plastic containers, placing a loop of twine down the center of each container, for hanging. Freeze until hard (minimum of 2 hours to overnight). Unmold and hang each using twine loops.
Maintenance on your bird feeders include cleaning the feeders, the area around the feeders and keeping the food supply full. Cleaning the feeders and surrounding area keeps your feathered friends healthy and keeps them from spreading diseases. Most feeders should be cleaned at least once per season with the exception of Hummingbird feeders that need to be cleaned weekly.
To clean your feeders, make up a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. Discard any remaining feed and wash the feeder with hot, soapy water. Dipping it into the bleach solution sterilizes it. Be sure to rinse the feeder really good and allow it to dry completely before refilling it. It is a good idea to clean up the ground area around your bird feeder at the same time. Using a rake, clean the ground of seed hulls. When the seed hulls sit for awhile, they decompose and can spread disease among the birds.
Lastly, refill the feeders on a regular basis to ensure that the birds have a regular supply of food. If you don’t refill the feeders on a regular basis, the birds will move on to other food sources.
Fall is well under way in many parts of America, and bird lovers of the Midwest and Northeast are probably longing for those boon days of summer. When the sun is shining, the birds are out in full force. Although some of your feathered friends will fly south in winter no matter what you do, others simply require some coaxing. Your ability to attract certain birds to the feeder depends on the foods you offer.
Seeds will only carry you so far. There’s certainly nothing wrong with luring those familiar chickadees, cardinals and jays, but if you want to bring in the exotic fliers, you’ll need to go the extra mile. Suet, or rendered animal fat, is considered a delicacy by woodpeckers and sapsuckers. You can place a block of fat in a specialized cage right near your existing wild bird feeders. Be sure to stay close by with a trusty pair of binoculars as you’ll want to see the action up close.