If you’re one of those people who usually feed the bird in their yard, then you’ll definitely have all those ingredients that we can use in making bird suet.
In this article, you’ll learn How to make bird suet with Crisco in a 101% vegan way, so you can easily attract dozens of beautiful birds without using any animal-based product. But before you check the recipe, you must know what type of bird species love to eat suet.
Suet loved by dozens of birds like woodpeckers, nuthatches, wrens, titmice, chickadees, jays, starlings, and more, these birds enjoy chowing down on suet for fatty food, as well as each bird species prefers a different diet.
So, make sure you also include their favorite treats into the suet like Raisins, Dried fruit, Dried apples (note: remove the apple seeds before adding them), Old fashioned oatmeal, Sunflower seeds, Peanuts, Cranberries. Adding these treats will definitely attract more different species of beautiful songbirds to your yard.
Bird suet is an easy DIY craft to make at home! Let’s check how to make bird suet with Crisco in a vegan way.
How to make bird suet with Crisco? The simple 6-ingredients recipe!
Ingredients
1-cup Crisco vegetable shortening: Alternatively, you can also easily use palm oil, butter, or margarine.
1-cup peanut butter: (make sure the peanut butter you used must be crunchy peanut butter), and you can also use any nut butter like almond, cashew, etc.
1-cup white or whole wheat flour: As a binding agent for suet.
3-cups cornmeal: Yellow cornmeal stone or water ground.
1-cup oats: Whatever you have, like rolled oats, quick oats, instant oats, steel-cut oats, Scottish oats, oat groats, oat bran, etc.
And don’t forget to add their favorite treats, as I mentioned above, like raisins, dried fruit, cranberries, etc.
Things you need for the suet making process
Medium saucepan for mixing everything.
Big/small cake pan or plastic food container as a mold.
Waxed paper so that the suet mixture wouldn’t stick on the mold.
Let’s check how to make bird suet with Crisco, step by step process
First, in a medium saucepan, melt Crisco vegetable shortening over low or medium-low heat until it melted, and make sure you occasionally stir Crisco to protect it from getting burnt.
Now it’s time to add peanut butter! And stir it well until Crisco and peanut butter are entirely combined.
When Crisco and peanut butter all melted, keep on low heat add flour and cornmeal, and mix it well.
Now add quick oats and birdseed (any birdseed like no waste birdseed, Deluxe Blend Wild Bird Food, etc.)
Add bird’s favorite treats (optional but most beneficial if added).
Now combined & stir all ingredients with a bit of arm strength & patience unless you have a desirable suet consistency.
If you haven’t prepared mold yet, let’s make one!
First, take a small, medium, or sandwich size sturdy cardboard box, plastic food container, cake pan, pet food bowls, plastic Tupperware, or ice cube tray, and make sure you spray the container with nonstick spray.
These sizes of containers are perfect for making bird suet, as they fit well into the suet holder on most bird feeders.
And if you’re using a cardboard box as a mold! So, make sure you wrap the cardboard box from the inside with any w/cling wraps to make it nonsticky.
Now add the mixture into the mold and place it in the fridge or freezer for one to two hours until hardened.
Now it is ready to use! Just place it in your suet feeder! And let the suet lover come to your yard.
And make sure you keep unused portions frozen! Wrap up in cling wrap & put in ziplock, then store it in the freezer or fridge until you place it in your suet feeder.
How to keep squirrels away from the bird feeder or suet feeder?
My wife usually tricks them away from the bird feeder with another suet cake. Here is how she did that?
She makes suet using rope and then hangs it away from the suet feeder. It is a simple trick but very useful. To make a bird suet using the string, you’ll need only two things first is rope and the second is a deep container. Let’s make one today!
First, use a deep container and spray its inner side with nonstick spray and add a piece of rope inside all the way to the bottom.
Leave a long enough piece of rope hanging out so you can tie it later.
Now it’s time to add already prepared suet into the container and make sure the rope stays in the center. And freeze it for one to two hours until hardened.
When it is hardened enough, don’t impatient to remove the suet. Let thaw a bit before trying to remove it.
Now it’s time to tie the bird suet onto a tree branch away from the bird feeder. So the squirrels will eat their own suits instead of jumping around the bird feeders.
How to make bird seed balls without lard?
Birdseed balls recipe without lard is quite different from the bird suet, as it is one of the few recipes that required specific measurement! That means an extra pound of anything will make it into the messy recipe. So make sure you follow all the steps and ingredients as mentioned below. This recipe is free from lard, which means we’ll make it in our own vegan way. Let’s see what type of ingredients are required for this recipe!
Optional: Half-cup dried fruits, and if you’re using apples, pears, cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums, make sure you remove their seeds before adding them.
Let’s make the bird seed balls
First, add Crisco and peanut butter into the pan and melt over high heat until both the ingredients are combined.
Once melted completely, put the cornmeal and stir it well until free from lumps.
Now turn the flame on low and add quick-cook porridge oats and mix it well.
Once the mixture consistency is soft enough, turn the flame-off and add the best quality wild bird seed and mix it.
As the mixture cools enough to touch by hands, add black oil sunflower seed, raisins, dried fruits (optional), and make sure this time you use your hands for mixing all the ingredients together.
The Birdseed balls mixture is ready! It’s time to prepare balls out of the blend.
There are two methods of making a round shape.
First, if the mixture has a dough type consistency, you can easily divide it into half a dozen portions and connect the rope between each dough ball before you roll them into the appropriate ball shape with your hands.
Second, if the mixture has liquid type consistency, you’ll definitely need a ball shape mold! To use a mold first, spray its inner section with nonstick spray and then pour the mixture into it.
Now freeze both the hand made or mold made balls into the freezer for an hour until hardened up completely.
It’s time to hang these balls onto a tree branch or near the bird feeder so it can be easily visible to any birds.
Try to hang as many bird seed balls as you can to attract a wide variety of bird species to your yard.
Advice
No doubt, bird suet and birdseed ball are a high-energy food source for birds, especially in cold weather. But it will melt in the heat (hot weather) if made by any fat products like Crisco vegetable shortening, palm oil, butter, or margarine. It better if you don’t try to provide suet and birdseed ball during hot weather. It should only be winter food, as dripping fat/oil can damage natural waterproofing on bird feathers.
And make sure you place both bird suet and birdseed ball in suitable feeders or net onion bags at least five feet from the ground to keep them out of the reach of dogs and cats.
On the other hand, if you want to make suet for the summer season, try to make it only with peanut butter and more added birdseed, as peanut butter is a good substitute for suet during summer. Peanut butter holds the birdseed very well without dripping too much of it.
Thanks for reading so far! I hope this article of How to make bird suet with Crisco recipe will help you to make your own bird suet at home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are birds not eating suet from my suet feeder?
There could be two reasons why are birds not eating suet from your suet feeder? First, if you hung the suet feeder in an area with too much human activity, then birds never come to these places, as they don’t feel safe there. Second, maybe birds are not able to find suet feeders, so wait for a week at least to let the bird discover your suet feeder, and in the meantime, try to relocate your suet feeder at different locations.
How to feed birds peanut butter?
There are plenty of bird species out there who love to eat peanut butter, like blue jays, starlings, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and others. To feed them, try to put peanut butter at different places on the bark-of-the-tree, and another way is to make bird suits with peanut butter.
How to make bird food with oatmeal?
It is a quick recipe: first take an adequate bowl to hold all the ingredients, and keep it on low heat and then add peanut butter to the bowl and melt, now-add 1 cup of oatmeal and 1/4 cup of birdseed, such as dry fruits, black oil sunflower seeds, or raisins. Mix it well until all the ingredients are combined. Now pour the mixture into the mold and place it in the fridge or freezer for one to two hours until hardened. It is ready to put into the suet feeder.
Is suet good for birds?
Yes,” bird suet is best for birds like blue jays, starlings, woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches during winter’s time as it has high protein and fat, which these birds need in their daily diet. It is the only high-energy food source for them in cold weather. So, try to provide suet cake at your bird feeder as much as you can during winters.
How to hang a bird feeder without a tree?
There are two ways to hang a bird feeder without a tree! First, create your own DIY suet feeder pole with wood or metal pipes and place it at least five feet from the ground in the shade. Second, try to tie the bird suet with rope on top of the bird feeder or sidewalls, or you can also place it at platform feeders for ground-feeding birds.
