I have seen and heard of people making there own suets and seed mix etc for their feeders. I am new to the US having come from New Zealand and I would for one be interested in others recipes that they have for attracting birds and I figure there must be a few others out there as well so if you have a recipe then why not share it with us Thanks

the kiwi

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My New Avatar is in memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

I'm so glad you brought this up kiwi.  Next to birding, collecting recipes is my next favorite thing to do.
I have a homemade suet recipe that my birds just love.

1 cup lard

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 cups quick-cooking oats

2 cups regular yellow cornmeal

1cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup of bird seed/raisins etc.(optional)

Melt the lard and peanut butter in a pan then add all the dry ingredients and stir until mixed well

 Now, what I do next is pour the mixture into a pan and freeze it or, if it's cold enough you can just set it outside on your deck and let it harden.  Then you can cut or break it into pieces that fit into your feeder and store any leftover in ziploc bags for later use

My birds much prefer this over store bought suet.  Oh, and don't worry if it crumbles, just put it in a pan and set it out, the birds will still eat it

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5

Thank you I am definitely going to try this out do a cooking session for the birds.

have you ever tried mixing your own seed to try and attract a greater number of different species

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My New Avatar is in memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

I love making homemade wild bird food.  Here is one of my favorite recipes:

You will need:

 

3 cups of rendered suet

1 cup of peanut butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of dried fruit (raisins or cherries)

1 cup of mixed nuts

½ cup of cornmeal

1 coconut, halved

 

Add the peanut butter, brown sugar, dried fruit and nuts to the melted suet.  Stir until combined. If the mixture is too loose, add cornmeal to thicken.  Pour the mixture into the coconut halves and let cool.  Drill a hole in the coconut shells and use twine to hang.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

John 

www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com/homemade-wild-bird-food.html

John,

 That's the first time I've heard of using brown sugar in a suet mix. But I'm not experienced at suet making and I am definitly not a cook! But your recipe sounds good enough for me to eat!

 What do you do with the coconut in the shell? Do the birds eat that, too?

 

Thanks for sharing.

Susan

Susan,

Birds love this recipe.  If you think the brown sugar is too sweet you can use crushed graham crackers.  Leave the coconut meat attached to the shell.  Nuthatches and woodpeckers seem to like it the most. 

 John

I keep thinking about this thread.... maybe because I love to feed birds and animals and this sound so "bird yummy". Yet for me it sounds kind of yucky to make....all that gooey, sticky, slippery ingredients (lard--yikes!!!) and a challenging clean-up.  I threw suet out recently and it did not seem to go well. I don't have feeders...just threw it out the window. It was all over my fingers and "skeeved" me a bit...that whole lard thingy I guess.

Really I am just commenting here 'cause I am always trying to find creative snacks for all of these beasts that I love. I make tiny sammiches (sandwiches) for them....peanut butter and jelly, sometimes it is maple syrup sammiches that I toss out.

What else is there to feed aside from the usual?......

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* laughs like crow, soars like eagle with vision of hawk, haunts like loon & lulls like nuthatch ....tickle tickle, feather has most powerful medicine of all...makes you laugh *

Sorry the suet hasn't worked out for you. It doesn't stay sticky, gooey, or slippery because I freeze mine, or at least chill it, before placing it in my suet basket.  The birds in my neck of the woods just love it.  And yes, lard is not only sticky but it doesn't smell very good either but the birds need the fat during the winter to help them stay warm.

You could try putting out some fruit or even peanuts (in shell or shelled)

I've even heard of some people using egg shells.  They rinse them out and bake them until dried and then crush them and put them out.  I think this is especially helpful to the females who are getting ready to lay eggs.  It supplements their calcium

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5

Hey valleygirl.....I am laughing 'cause I was just thinking of random ideas......and I wondered perhaps if they would like Egg Souffle. Then I come on here and read your response which mentions egg shells. I don't even know what egg souffle (just goofin' around)  is but I might toss out some scrambled eggs with only maybe butter added to them to see how that goes.

Sometimes it is entertaining to feed them something new. Once I made too much spaghetti and I gave some of it to the gulls. It was really funny how they handled that and how they ate it. Also when I had given jam sammiches to squirrels, it was funny when the sandwich got stuck to their little cute hands. Once I was laughing so hard 'cause a baby squirrel discovered a jam sammich and it was holding each side in each hand...it had opened up like an oreo cookie.

Yeah, I have done all of the standards...unsalted peanuts in shell or raw ones, all kinds of seed, chopped fruits and raisins etc. Sometimes I am just trying to make do with what is around the house.

I just melted some alpine chocolate, mixed in peanuts and raisins, formed a "cluster" and left it to set. I think that is going to be my special treat though, hehe!

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* laughs like crow, soars like eagle with vision of hawk, haunts like loon & lulls like nuthatch ....tickle tickle, feather has most powerful medicine of all...makes you laugh *

I love my birds but I would definitely keep the chocolate for myself!  HA!

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5

Well I am pleased to say I made up the recepie that was put up here by valleygirl and i guess the proof is in the eating

THE PROOF

Thanks valleygirl the recepie

thekiwi

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My New Avatar is in memory of Nancy my darling wife of 10 years who passed away on Monday November the 16th 2009 after an illness

My photo gallery http://thekiwi.org/photography/index.php

Aion- Nara, I don't think its a good idea to feed birds chocolate, since it will make them sick. 

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New Additions to Life List: black-bellied plover, whimbrel,solitary sandpiper, common nighthawk, American redstart

Are you kidding me!!!!!

My self-sacrificing only goes so far...no one gets my chocolate!!!! *wink*

Actually the chocolate bit was a joke that I was sort of sharing with valleygirl. And mostly it is about what I feed out in my front yard ( I have an apartment so no set up with bird feeders everywhere). ... I feed squirrels, then crows come 'round to steal peanuts from the squirrels (or any sammiches I throw out) and then the starlings come out and eat bread and other things too!

Some birds will eat anything though. If you ask them about their diet , they will tell you they eat anything....such as gulls which I feed down at the marina sometimes.

One day in a parking area I went to get in my car when I saw a squirrel run under the car next to mine. I squatted down and peeked under and what I saw was too much to bear! The squirrel was eating m&m's that were on the ground. Worse yet, it was eating artificial red and blue ones....ones I will not even eat myself. Fortunately I had peauts in my car and I tossed a couple under the car. It accepted my offering and off it ran with juicy yummy peanut in its mouth.

 

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* laughs like crow, soars like eagle with vision of hawk, haunts like loon & lulls like nuthatch ....tickle tickle, feather has most powerful medicine of all...makes you laugh *

(Quote by Aion-Nara)"I just melted some alpine chocolate, mixed in peanuts and raisins, formed a "cluster" and left it to set. I think that is going to be my special treat though, hehe"

See, spotted owl, Aion-Nara was going to eat the chocolate mixture herself, not feed it to the birds

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5

So glad it worked out.  I wish I could get a woodpecker to eat mine though.  The cardinals, sparrows, goldfinches, titmice, blue jays, and even the juncos eat the suet but I have never had a woodpecker eat it.  Do you think it would help if I hung it on a tree?  Currently, they hang on an old swingset along with my seed feeders but it is very close to several pine and oak trees.

Is that a Downey?

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Matthew 6:26
James 1:2-5