Attracting birds  to your feeders during the winter months is very easy, just offer them suet!

A good choice is Nutty Treat Suet Cake. Nutty Treat is loaded with peanuts, millet, corn, oats, and beef suet that attracts a wider variety of birds for your year round wild bird feeding. It’s a great winter weather suet. The peanuts make it especially appealing to flickers, stellar jay’s, flickers, downy woodpeckers, plaited woodpeckers, and many smaller birds.

There are a lot of different suet feeders, including small suet cages that hold a single suet cake and log feeders with large holes that can be packed with suet. We have two Songbird Essentials suet feeders behind our office. One is the Small Upside Down Suet Feeder which is made of recycled plastic. The Downy

woodpeckers seem to really like this feeder. They hang onto the screening on the bottom of the feeder with their toes and then just peck away at the suet inside. The design of this feeder also has helped us to keep the squirrels out of the suet. We enjoy watching the many squirrels we have in the wooded area behind our yard. The problem is they also like suet! If you have squirrels in your yard and put out suet they will also come to eat it and they do not to share it with the birds! They want to eat it all! The Upside Down Feeder is made of hard recycled plastic which does not allow the squirrel to put its claws into the feeders body to hang on. They have to try to sit on the Upside Down Feeder and then lean under it to eat the suet. The squirels tip the feeder and fall off! If they do not fall off and are able to hang on they still have a difficult time reaching the suet and mostly just give up and jump off. Once in a while one of them will manage to get its claw into the steel mesh bottom and then hang on with both feet with its body in the air and try to eat. They do not last long in this position and then drop off.

The other suet feeder we have is Songbird Essentials Squirrel Resistant Suet Palace. This is the best suet feeder that we have ever tried to keep the squirrels out of the suet. The suet is inside

of a cage that allows the smaller birds to go inside and feed. Our feeder is visited throughout the day by Chickadees, Nuthatches and Titmice. We really enjoy watching the whole flock of Titmice land on the feeder all at once and just swarm the suet then fly off again to the protection of the tree cover behind our yard.  The Suet Palace keeps larger birds such as Starlings from feeding on the suet. They land and try to get their heads through the wire cage and just can’t do it. They will even try to hover under the feeder with their wings flapping and try to peck the suet to no avail. They try and try then fly off frustrated!

The woodpeckers with their long beaks and tongue can hang on the sides of  the Suet Palace

and reach the suet inside. The Suet Palace also has a removable metal plate. When this plate is in place under the suet cake the squirrels can’t get to the suet from the bottom of the feeder. If you do not have a squirrel problem then remove this plate and make life easier for the woodpeckers. They will cling to the bottom of the feeder upside down and eat the suet. It is fun to watch them hanging upside down feeding.

Another feeder we highly recommend is Songbird Essentials Suet Feeder with Tail Prop. When woodpeckers land to feed on these feeders the tail prop on the bottom of the feeder helps the woodpecker to sit upright and feed just like they were on the trunk of a tree. This feeder is made from recycled plastic. They will not rot, crack, fade or wrap, are very easy to clean and even comes with a manufactures workmanship guarantee.  The Suet Feeder with Tail Prop comes in two sizes, one holds one suet cake and the other holds two suet cakes. If you have squirrels you will need a squirrel baffle to help keep them out of your suet.

As fall progresses the sources for food become less and less. Birds need to consume lots of

calories and protein which they can get from suet. Suet is raw beef fat. It is used to make everything from candles to Christmas puddings. Bird suet is a high energy formulation of animal fat and other ingredients to attract insect eating birds. It is a quick source of heat and energy for birds, whose metabolisms are set on fast forward. Traditionally it has been used as a good substitute for the insects that birds usually feed upon, but are not plentiful in cold weather. Suet can be presented all year long.

BIRDS THAT ARE ATTRACTED TO SUET
A wire cage suet bird feeder is a low-maintenance bird feeder. You refill only once every week or so, you never need to scrub the feeder, and you can leave it in your yard year round. Presenting suet in your backyard will also attract a greater variety of birds for your enjoyment. Some of the backyard birds that enjoy suet include Woodpeckers, Flickers, Chickadees,  Bluebirds,  Mockingbirds,  Warblers,  Kinglets,  Titmice,
Nuthatches, Bluejays,  Robins,  Starlings and  Wrens.

You can purchase suet from our website or you can make your own. Here are some suet

recipes using fresh ground suet for you to try.

Soft Suet Cakes

4 1/2 cups ground fresh suet

3/4 cup dried and fine ground bakery goods

(whole-wheat or cracked-wheat bread or crackers are best)

1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds

1/4 cup millet

1/4 cup dried and chopped fruit (currants, raisins, or berries)

3/4 cup dried and fine ground meat (optional)

1. Melt suet in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. Allow the suet to cool until slightly thickened, then stir it into the mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Pour or pack into forms or suet feeders; smear onto tree trunks or overhanging limbs and branches; or pack into pine cones.

Hard Suet Cakes

1/2 lb. fresh ground suet

1/3 cup sunflower seed

2/3 cup wild bird seed (mix)

1/8 cup chopped peanuts

1/4 cup raisins

1. Melt suet in a saucepan over low heat. Allow it to cool thoroughly, then reheat it.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. Allow the suet to cool until slightly thickened, then stir it into the mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Pour into pie pan or form, or pack into suet feeders.

Optional or substitute ingredients: millet (or other birdseed), cornmeal, cooked noodles, chopped berries, dried fruit.