Super Easy Suet Cakes

 

Super Easy Suet Cakes will make the birds in your neighborhood stick around during the coldest times of the year.

Birds are a wonderful part of the whole ecology. They offer us beauty in their presence and watching them is a sure way to have an enjoyable time outdoors. Bird watchers are some of the most interesting people you will meet.

The best part about becoming a bird watcher is that you really don’t need a whole bunch of equipment or talent. The birds are there for you to watch, just focus on them. Of course if you really find that you are enjoying this, a good pair of binoculars might be on the horizon or on your gift “wish list”. But for starters, you can just use your own eyes and watch.

 

The secret to getting to see many birds, is to entice them into your garden space. Then they will come to you rather than you having to go out to where they are hiding.

Suet Cakes and Suet Feeders Bring Birds Close to Home

Suet cakes made at home can be full of all kinds of seeds, nuts, dried fruits and berries. A little research into the birds of your area, will give you some ideas as to what kind of seeds and fruit to add to your own concoction.

The Easiest Way to Entice Birds is by feeding them. Like most animal pets we have, food becomes the number one item that they will look for. Well the same can be said for the wild animals too!

In my neighborhood, we have the raccoons that come out, especially on garbage day, to see what kind of leftovers are out there for them. It’s the food in the garbage that attracts them. The same goes for the birds. If you put food out for them, they will come.

It may take a few days or a week before a new feeder is spotted by the neighborhood birds, but rest assured that when the cold weather starts, those feeders will be visited by many birds that are looking for a meal.

Sometimes the problem for the birds is that, someone starts out with good intentions and then half way through the season, forgets to fill that feeder again. They come looking for dinner and there is none. So they are on their own looking for a feeder where there is a meal to be had.

I love suet cakes for that reason. The birds seem to take longer at these types of cakes than the loose seeds. I don’t know if that’s because they need to work for the goodies inside or whether they like the suet cakes better and eat slower. Or, maybe they spread the seeds that they don’t really like, down to the squirrels and only eat what they like from the seed feeders. My guess is that, it could be all of the above or a combination.

Are you a “Birder” or a “Wannabe Birder?”

Would you put up feeders to attract birds so that you could enjoy their presence year around?

1. Oh yes, I think this is a great idea. I love to see the cardinals and blue jays.
2. No, I can’t be bothered, let someone else take care of the birds.
3. I’m not sure that the birds would come, we have too many outdoor cats!
4. Maybe, you haven’t convinced me yet, though!

Leave your choice in the comments below….

Birders and Wannabe Birders

You can start your trek into this wonderful hobby by attracting the birds to your garden. Fall is a great time to begin. You can start by putting some seeds out to attract them while the winter winds have not yet started to blow. This way the birds will “map” out your garden and they will return over and over again. Make sure you keep those feeders filled. Once the winter really sets in, the birds will come looking for some treats from you, because they know that you have always put something out for them before.

Start making some home made suet cakes or if you don’t have the time for that, you can buy them already made.

In the winter months, the birds really like these cakes as they are nutritious and full of good calories and oils that help the birds survive the coldest days and nights.

Check out the recipe for a basic suet cake and all the possible additions to make them interesting and varied for your birds.

Beginning Birder!

Anyone can start being a bird watcher at any time. There are no particular traits or equipment needed, other than a willingness to watch and be still.

A good book with the types of birds found in your area, and a spot that allows the birds to:

a) rest (on a branch or bush)

b) eat something (from a feeder)

c) get a drink of water

are the most important things to have.

If you can provide even two of the three mentioned, I’m sure you will have the starting place for many good sightings of birds in your area.

Into the Winter Months With Suet

Once you have started your family on the quest to bird watch, then you will be looking for economical ways to keep them coming back to your yard.

Get everyone on board to making suet cakes for the birds. This is something that can be done on a lazy Sunday Afternoon or another week day evening. It doesn’t take long to make, and the birds will be super excited to see what you have prepared for them.

Suet cakes come in a variety of flavours and each of them can contain different seeds, nuts, corn meal, flour and a host of other goodies.

Or you can buy them premade and set them into a wire suet feeder. The birds will love them and show you their pleasure by coming back to your yard over and over again.

Making Suet Cakes at Home

Suet Cakes are Easy to Make

Basic Suet Recipe

1 cup of Shortening or Lard

1 cup Chunky Peanut Butter

2 cups of regular white flour

3 cups of cornmeal

That’s all you need to get started. Now this recipe can be modified to add some extras that the birds always love.

You can add:

peanuts or any kind of nut broken into smaller pieces

Dried Fruits, raisins, apple, orange

Popcorn

Oatmeal

Quionoa

Cheerios, Rice Krispies and other natural grain cereals.

The method used is to

1. Melt down the lard or shortening

2. Add peanut butter, flour and cornmeal, working them together with a wooden spoon.

3. Place into a preformed shape (small corning ware or sandwich containers are the right size)

4. Refrigerate well.

If you are going to add any of the other modifications, do so when the flour and cornmeal are added, you may have to cut back on the amounts just a little bit.

Generally you can work the extras in without any difficulty.

Look for things that are sweet by their own nature, dried fruits, do not add things that have added sugar or candy!

Same with the nuts, do not added salted nuts, just the plain variety of any type of nut in small chunks or slices. These can include peanuts, walnuts, pecans, filberts, almonds and any other kind of nuts you have.

You can also add, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, millet and other bird seeds, just to give the birds the right ideas.

To make things even more economical, purchase these items at your local Bulk Food supplier.

Just a couple of ideas for suet cakes and holders

A Great Way to Begin your New Hobby!

You don’t have to spend a King’s ransom on a good pair of Binoculars. One pair is all you need, share them with the family and get everyone excited about what they can see.

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