I love the way you say "serve". Oh, dear... I serve the birds their special treats, serve the squirrels their special trays of selected nuts and I just served my raccoon buddies their special trays. Everybody's welcome, even the occasional opossum and chipmunk is welcome at this place. They're all of a joy to see visiting.
I want to make this for all my outside birds. It seems strange that you would use meat fat. I didn't know they could have it. Is what you used gathered over time ? Can I use grease from hamburger?
I made this about an hour ago, and already I've had a lot of birds coming. I love watching them! The cardinal was being a bully though, chasing the smaller birds away, but not before they got a beak full! LOL
Oh my gosh!!! I made this suet, and I just cooled it in a bucket and scoop it out with an ice cream scoop. Now, our wild birds are spoiled, they eat the suet first, then the seed log/seed cylinder. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
I made this recipe a little over a week ago (and doubled it) and the birds love it so much, it’s already gone! Making another double batch tonight- May have to head to the store after this though- supplies are low and snow is coming! But the birds are happy 😊
Here in February 2022. I made this yesterday and by today the birds have swarmed my feeders and grounds to devour this stuff. I stuffed some in crevices on the tree too. My husband is going to make one of those logs too. I want to thank you so much. I was about to go to wild birds unlimited and try that bark butter but it is SOOOOO expensive. I can't imagine it being any better than this.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I just bought an upside down suet feeder because I have noticed the wood peckers will not feed with all the big birds flocking the feeders. I put this good stuff in the upside down feeder and hopefully the woodpeckers find it and use it. I have another area for the big birds with their own suet,, lol.
@Backyard Birds Feb 2023 now and her I am going to use this recipe. Looks like a good one between bark butter and if you added seeds small seed logs ? I am going to try both ways with my kids.
Bart, You really put a smile on my face. Thanks. This stuff does smell good enough to eat, and friend's have had their kids eat it thinking its a peanut butter bar. ;)
@Backyard Birds Actually as you see my name I live in Detroit and we always have winters. One morning in 2013 I wanted to have breakfast in the backyard of my house. So I shoveled the snow and prepared myself a place to sit and I brought my food to eat!! I saw the tea was not sweet enough, then I had to go back to the kitchen to bring some sugar. When I came back I saw my bread was stolen!! It was gone.. and I got shocked as I live alone. In a minute, I saw that was the birds!! They were starving. They stole my bread within less than 20 seconds. Since that day, I started feeding them and care for them, their waters to drink or to shower, their food, their preferable plants.. etc. After long these years, now the backyard of my house are just a small piece of Paradise! It is full with at least 12 kinds of Michgan birds, butterflies and honey bees. Your video now is the best thing for me as recently I had the wood pecker eating with my birds and I like to surprise them with something new they will like so much!!
Thank you for the recipe!! I am in a warm climate. Trinidad to be exact. I will try this and see how it goes with our bird population. 28 varieties around the garden. This may increase that number. Thanks again!
They probably like yours better because you put more natural peanut butter in yours . I'm glad you said that about ground feeders because I was wondering why they didn't seem to like the bird feeders .Thanks
Exciting. A new bird species seen eating this suet recipe. Lincoln's Sparrow here in Kansas. Check out the description for a list of all the birds documented eating this scrumptious nutritious suet mix.
I recently started making suet. I grind my own organic hard white wheat berries and corn. Prior I put fat into my crockpot and render all day. Then I keep it in a glass jar in the frig until I need it. Today I didnt melt down the prepared fat. It was soft so I just mixed it in. Yes it seems like I too keep adding and adding dry ingredients! After done mixing I line a cookie sheet with stick-free foil and put a large mound of suet on it and cover it. In the morning I crumble some onto a plate. By the end of the day every last morsel is completely gone! They love it. So I go through a dinner plate full a day. 😆 Its fun and easy to make. I dont mix seeds in cuz they have seeds separate.
Great video. Thanks for the recipe. I love feeding birds in winter. It helps the birds, and I love watching their interactions when feeding. My dogs love watching them too.
Hi I watched your video today and enjoyed it. I have been making suet for a couple weeks now. What I do that I haven't seen anyone else do is that I freeze it and cut it into half inch to1 inch pieces and line it along my outside six foot window ledge and they come and take a nice piece and go. Figured it's better cause they don't fight as much. I also have water out there and seed and make birdie bread. Lol. Yes I am very bored due to the quarantine and my neighbors must think Im crazy but it makes me happy!
Good for you. Great idea to offer small pieces. I'm definitely going to try that this winter. I've offered crumbles before but it's been a while. The birds must love you.
They should love me!!! LOL. Everything's usually gone in 20 minutes so I put it out 2-3 times a day but I got a kitten yesterday and I slacked a little today so they're probably mad!! I get alot of grackles and they hawk, I think, to remind me though so they will be fine.
I watched the Townsends video about rendering beef kidney suet, so I did that, then went to the local Mennonite store to get their fresh ground, all natural peanut butter. I food process a small container of peanuts, then mix all with corn meal and wheat flour. You are correct, the birds will eat it as fast as you put it out. I also made a few suet logs also.
You are the greatest! I wish I had an access to all natural peanut butter. Sometimes they have it at the local grocery store. interesting I just made some of the suet yesterday and the birds are just gobbling it up. And you can tell they love it. I'm glad you made your feeder and you're making the suet. Good for you
@@BackyardBirdsUS I did not make this recipe. Thanks for the reminder tho! Instead, they smeared p nut butter on pine cones and rolled them in bird seed. We froze them and put them out on the deck. Lots of birds came by but the squirrels got to them and drug them off! Weve done that a few times now when they visit. They have cell phones now and are kinda too cool for me now 😨. They are 13 now... they grow up so fast!
I use the cage feeders and I’ve noticed that as the larger birds peck at it, there’s always pieces that fall to the ground that attracts ground feeders.
Thanks for the video! I recently decided to start making my own suet as I & the birds prefer the consistency of the suet balls, but they cost twice as much as the same amount in a flat container. I found a container of pure white suet fat at the store, so I'm going to start with that until I can visit the butcher & see if I can get some cheap beef fat to render.
I agree it can cost more but the birds love it more too. I think the stuff you buy is often old and the birds don't want it. Home made is fresh and the birds know it.
Thank You Sarah Davis! Once you start making your own suet you will probably not go back to buying it. Remember to serve it in different ways for the different birds that like it.
Jeff I've been feeding birds my hole life a family thing. But the homemade suet works best cuts price in half. THANK-YOU SIR So hard to feed birds so any cats it's a shame perfect environment for them. One neighbor has 27 cats.
Why would anyone want 27 cats. That is disturbing. I had one cat causing problems here. I scared it away every chance I got. Haven't seen it for a while!
Perhaps you could offer to give your neighbor small bells like you find on xmas wreaths to put on their collars to warn birds of their presence. We asked our neighbor whose cats are in our yard all the time and they said sure. Worked. Also a spray bottle filled with water and aimed at cat(s) will discourage them from coming around.
I have really enjoyed your video's. I have seen how to render and this video so far and am going to try your way with rendering the fat and making the suet for the feeders. Thank you for sharing these. :) I sometimes get turkeys around my feeders early in the morning or early evenings, they might like it too.
Harris's sparrows were seen eating crumbles I put on the ground under the bush where they hang out. This is in Topeka KS. See a full list of species in the description.
My husband makes hanging Birch Tree logs w 2," round by 1" deep filled w similar we, hang outside our windows...i have several videos on my YT ch of Woodpeckers enjoying this mixture of nommies stuffed inside the holes...but it's more like OUR ENJOYING watching them up CLOSE..they seem fearless when a window is between us.
Pork fat is perfectly fine. I highly recommend you don't have bird seed to the suet mixture. This is for birds that don't eat bird seed. If you add bird seed you're just going to attract the wrong birds. And you may attract nuisance birds. The only reason they put bird seed into suit that you buy at the store is it's a cheap filler.
As you know there is a video on making the cornmeal and I use a blender to do it. I've been using the blender now for a number of years and it works so well and I think the cornmeal is so much better than the stuff you buy and it's so much cheaper. Just another reason to make your own bird food instead of buying it because you get fresh ingredients.
I've been making your recipe, not knowing that I was doing so, but I use lard. Any problems that you know of? I'll throw in some raisons on occasion for the jays. Thanks for the video. Jim
Do you mean whole wheat? I use white flour because it's pure energy. I'm not sure about whole wheat. Most birds aren't wheat eaters. I'd stick with white flour. Remember this is for birds not people.
*i made suet this year. i attracted magpies! and i have a flicker coming. didn't get any woodpeckers this year. i saw a brown creeper for the first time in the fall! great video!*
People who are in the business of trimming excess fat off their meat should get into videos like this. Why waste any portion of beef or pork when there is such a fantastic way of using up all the food and helping out native songbirds??
Love this recipe, peanuts seem to be a key in suet and peanut butter is probably even better. The only ingredient I question is the flour due to the synthetic folate(folic acid) added to US flour. Since folic acid is problematic for some humans, I have to wonder about feeding it to my lovely birds. ❤️
Store bought cornmeal is also enriched (all I could find have niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, and folic acid). Are you aware of issues with any of these for birds?
Thank you Jeff for your inspirational videos! I was wondering..I grind my own wheat, could I use that instead of white flour??? Thanks in advance for your answer!
I think you could use whole wheat instead of white flour. I think the white flour is mostly added as a carb rich food source. Report back if you try it and let us know how the birds liked it.
Me too! I mill my own organic wheatberries. And I have organic corn as well that I grind. I am going to make this! Where do I get the fat? By cooking meat?
I get fat trimmings from a butcher. Watch my video on rendering fat. But yes you can save all your fat from cooking meat. I've used fat from hamburger, pork chops, chicken.
Thanks. Good recipe and looking forward to trying it. Do you put red pepper in your suet when putting it in the log (I put suet in crevices on the trunk of my big red oak tree) or on the ground to deter squirrels?
Thanks REALLY ENJOYED your video..... a GOOD project to try , for the birds that come to my yard to be fed ... Only information missing was ( were did you get the Bee Fat from ? ) I heard everything else came from Aldi which in my area ( southeast Michigan ) seems as this would be CHEAPER than buying bags of bird food that I regularly purchase
Someone said to keep cooking the leftover fat until crispy-ish and then serve the little fat crumbles to the birds. Perhaps a little bit at a time? Of course it would help to really cut up your fat before rendering. Kitchen scissors work great! Or sprinkle a few bits over your dog food as a treat every once in awhile? What I do is render the fat in a crockpot then remove the liquid and keep cooking the fat. Until desired consistency.
Very good advice. I cut the fat up into quarter inch or half inch cubes and cook it in a crock pot until the fat is cooked out of it. the leftover crumbles are great to put outside for birds but you're right they're all so good for pets. I find the Blue Jays and the woodpeckers devour them.
I think the flower provides energy. Remember this is something you feed in the winter time when it's cold out. You don't cook it you just mix it but you do have to melt the fat and the peanut butter.
@@BackyardBirdsUS It's healthy because it's composed of only ground up almonds. White flour is not good for people, either but to explain better, I found this: "Why is flour bad for you? White flour has very little nutritional value. It's high in carbohydrates and calories, and low in everything else like fiber, protein and vitamins. White flour is stripped of its nutrients during processing, when the bran and germ part of the grain are removed leaving only the endosperm. Feb 8, 2022 " Hope that helps! Since it's so important for suet to be healthy, that's my two cents. lol There's a woman here on RUclips who puts sugar in her suet and another who used vegetable shortening! Ugh I was horrified. But don't get me wrong--I do love your videos and yesterday, I went out and got all kinds of ingredients because I was so inspired by you! :) So truly, thank you!!
Glad to hear this. I'm sure almond flour is healthy for people. But the white flour is for energy. I'm very cold climates in the winter time it's a good ingredient. I use unbleached flour. Almond flour probably tastes good to birds. Please report back on how they like it. Also, what's your general location?
@@BackyardBirdsUS I'm pretty sure white flour won't actually hurt them, it just doesn't probably add anything beneficial. Good that you're using unbleached, though. What happened was, I put together a baseball sized suet ball with your recipe, plus some blueberries and walnuts, and put it in a paper bowl out there. The squirrels loved it but I don't think the birds knew it was food, so I was curious to see if they would give it a try the next day. BUT overnight, raccoons came by and ran off with the whole ball! lol I didn't know racoons were out yet so I thought it was safe but nope! I'm in an extremely cold climate like you--northern Maine, in the boonies. We're getting a lot of snow tomorrow but on Sunday, I'm going to make a new ball and see if at least the blue jays try it. I'll let you know!
I really love hearing from you. Instead of a big ball Try crumbling it. I do that on a table and birds love it. I will share a video soon. My sister ribs it on tree bark. Birds really like that. If be mad at that raccoon. Your suet balls sound delicious. Lol. Some friends made a batch and someone tasted it thinking it was peanut butter bars. Lol.
Great video Jeff! I'm on my way to get the supplies today. One question - I've read that leaving suet out in the summer heat can make it go rancid, and then it's bad for the birds. I live in Idaho where it gets pretty darn hot once June hits. Is this something I should be worried about? Definitely don't want to be getting any birds sick. Perhaps I'll put a pause on the suet from June-Sept. Thoughts? Thanks for your help!
In my opinion, feeding suet is basically for winter. Once the insects return, it is unnecessary. It is far more helpful to install native plants which encourage insects. You will see an amazing difference.
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I love the way you say "serve". Oh, dear... I serve the birds their special treats, serve the squirrels their special trays of selected nuts and I just served my raccoon buddies their special trays. Everybody's welcome, even the occasional opossum and chipmunk is welcome at this place. They're all of a joy to see visiting.
I want to make this for all my outside birds. It seems strange that you would use meat fat. I didn't know they could have it. Is what you used gathered over time ? Can I use grease from hamburger?
Yes. Use grease from hamburger. That's perfect use for it.
I love that you are serving all of our friends as well. You know they love you for it.
I made this about an hour ago, and already I've had a lot of birds coming. I love watching them! The cardinal was being a bully though, chasing the smaller birds away, but not before they got a beak full! LOL
It's so fun. My birds will come to the feeders as I'm filling it because they can't wait to get some delicious homemade suet.
Oh my gosh!!!
I made this suet, and I just cooled it in a bucket and scoop it out with an ice cream scoop.
Now, our wild birds are spoiled, they eat the suet first, then the seed log/seed cylinder.
Thank you for sharing the recipe!!
I hear you. The birds are spoiled. They land a few feet away.
I made this recipe a little over a week ago (and doubled it) and the birds love it so much, it’s already gone! Making another double batch tonight- May have to head to the store after this though- supplies are low and snow is coming! But the birds are happy 😊
This is great news to hear. This stuff is the most popular food I give the birds. I'm making some today!
Crunchy peanut butter and meal worms are delicious too!
Actually, those freeze dried mealWorms are tasty AND crunchy.
Yes they are!
Here in February 2022. I made this yesterday and by today the birds have swarmed my feeders and grounds to devour this stuff. I stuffed some in crevices on the tree too. My husband is going to make one of those logs too. I want to thank you so much. I was about to go to wild birds unlimited and try that bark butter but it is SOOOOO expensive. I can't imagine it being any better than this.
I think this is similar to bark butter. I can't keep up with the birds. They love the stuff.
@@BackyardBirdsUS I just bought an upside down suet feeder because I have noticed the wood peckers will not feed with all the big birds flocking the feeders. I put this good stuff in the upside down feeder and hopefully the woodpeckers find it and use it. I have another area for the big birds with their own suet,, lol.
When you say big birds. Do you mean starlings. They are awful. Are they black?
@Backyard Birds Feb 2023 now and her I am going to use this recipe. Looks like a good one between bark butter and if you added seeds small seed logs ? I am going to try both ways with my kids.
Very informative. This will be a great project to do with the children. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. Fun to make and more fun to feed and watch the birds gobble it up.
I always use your recipe, my birds love it, I have never bought store stuff since this
Thank you. I swear it works wonders. I think the birds like it too much!
That was actually pretty interesting Jeff! If you ever get tired of The Backyard Birds Channel, you could easily become a gourmet chef!!! Nice job!!!
Bart, You really put a smile on my face. Thanks. This stuff does smell good enough to eat, and friend's have had their kids eat it thinking its a peanut butter bar. ;)
Brownnose
Thank you for sharing. I’m just starting to look into making my own bird food.
I think you'll really enjoy it. It's much easier than you think.
Best recipe I’ve seen so far! Thank you very much.
Thank you. I've been using this recipe for many years. It is the best i think. The birds like it too much!
I don’t know how to cook anything,but you made it look so simple,I can even do it.Thank you for this excellent presentation.
You made my day. Glad it's helped.
♥️✌️
Ingenious money saving way of making suet! Many thanks for the recipe. Can't wait to try it. I just got my first suet log.
It really works. Maybe too well. I can't keep up with the birds desire for this suet mixture.
What a great lecture!!! God bless you sir. I was looking for this. Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you times 10. I remember when I made the video how many awful suet videos were on RUclips. I'm glad this is what you needed.
@Backyard Birds Actually as you see my name I live in Detroit and we always have winters. One morning in 2013 I wanted to have breakfast in the backyard of my house. So I shoveled the snow and prepared myself a place to sit and I brought my food to eat!! I saw the tea was not sweet enough, then I had to go back to the kitchen to bring some sugar. When I came back I saw my bread was stolen!! It was gone.. and I got shocked as I live alone. In a minute, I saw that was the birds!! They were starving. They stole my bread within less than 20 seconds. Since that day, I started feeding them and care for them, their waters to drink or to shower, their food, their preferable plants.. etc. After long these years, now the backyard of my house are just a small piece of Paradise! It is full with at least 12 kinds of Michgan birds, butterflies and honey bees. Your video now is the best thing for me as recently I had the wood pecker eating with my birds and I like to surprise them with something new they will like so much!!
Reading this comment made me so happy. Kindred spirits! Isn't it wonderful to create a sanctuary for wildlife and for ourselves!
Thank you for the recipe!! I am in a warm climate. Trinidad to be exact.
I will try this and see how it goes with our bird population. 28 varieties around the garden. This may increase that number.
Thanks again!
I wouldn't recommend adding oats in a hot climate, oats really should only be offered in moderation and only when it is cold.
Might not be something you want to feed where it's tropical
They probably like yours better because you put more natural peanut butter in yours .
I'm glad you said that about ground feeders because I was wondering why they didn't seem to like the bird feeders .Thanks
I think this suet mix is addicting. I agree they love the natural peanut butter. And ground feeding works so well
Exciting. A new bird species seen eating this suet recipe. Lincoln's Sparrow here in Kansas. Check out the description for a list of all the birds documented eating this scrumptious nutritious suet mix.
I had another new species eating this suet. It was a Harris's Sparrow.
Made it a month ago. Birds really like it. Gonna make another batch today. Thanks for sharing. Gretl from the Netherlands
That's awesome that you are making it. I never thought of it being used in other countries. Very cool.
I recently started making suet. I grind my own organic hard white wheat berries and corn. Prior I put fat into my crockpot and render all day. Then I keep it in a glass jar in the frig until I need it. Today I didnt melt down the prepared fat. It was soft so I just mixed it in. Yes it seems like I too keep adding and adding dry ingredients! After done mixing I line a cookie sheet with stick-free foil and put a large mound of suet on it and cover it. In the morning I crumble some onto a plate. By the end of the day every last morsel is completely gone! They love it. So I go through a dinner plate full a day. 😆 Its fun and easy to make. I dont mix seeds in cuz they have seeds separate.
Very good advice. It's amazing how much the birds love it. I think it's the favorite food i feed them.
I just made mine I added some dried fruit and some seeds and so far so good it’s holding up in the humidity
I find it best to feed in the winter. Are birds eating it in the summer?
Love it. I'm gonna try dry fruit and raisins.
I tried dried currants one year. They are smaller than raisins. I wish i could remember more about them. I think raisins are too big for most birds.
We in TN USA, have huge weeds and huge birds
Let me know how they like it
More great news, a friend here in Topeka had a northern parula and palm warbler eating the suet. More reasons to serve this stuff.
Can I use crunchy peanut butter?
Yes you can. I prefer smooth so it mixes in well. But I've used crunchy in the past.
@@BackyardBirdsUS yes
Great video. Thanks for the recipe. I love feeding birds in winter. It helps the birds, and I love watching their interactions when feeding. My dogs love watching them too.
I love to hear this! I just filled feeders with this suet mix. The birds just love it.
Made a batch with coconut oil last year & they really liked it.. Don't think they are fussy eaters.
Important that it is a solid fat at room temperature. I still prefer animal fat.
Hi I watched your video today and enjoyed it. I have been making suet for a couple weeks now. What I do that I haven't seen anyone else do is that I freeze it and cut it into half inch to1 inch pieces and line it along my outside six foot window ledge and they come and take a nice piece and go. Figured it's better cause they don't fight as much. I also have water out there and seed and make birdie bread. Lol. Yes I am very bored due to the quarantine and my neighbors must think Im crazy but it makes me happy!
Good for you. Great idea to offer small pieces. I'm definitely going to try that this winter. I've offered crumbles before but it's been a while. The birds must love you.
They should love me!!! LOL. Everything's usually gone in 20 minutes so I put it out 2-3 times a day but I got a kitten yesterday and I slacked a little today so they're probably mad!! I get alot of grackles and they hawk, I think, to remind me though so they will be fine.
Great idea Jeff!! Thanks!! Gonna try this recipe for my backyard bird buffet here in S.E Tennessee!! Our Woodpeckers will LOVE it!!
They really will love it. Enjoy and report back.
I watched the Townsends video about rendering beef kidney suet, so I did that, then went to the local Mennonite store to get their fresh ground, all natural peanut butter. I food process a small container of peanuts, then mix all with corn meal and wheat flour. You are correct, the birds will eat it as fast as you put it out. I also made a few suet logs also.
You are the greatest! I wish I had an access to all natural peanut butter. Sometimes they have it at the local grocery store. interesting I just made some of the suet yesterday and the birds are just gobbling it up. And you can tell they love it. I'm glad you made your feeder and you're making the suet. Good for you
Just made my first batch of suet. Can’t wait to get it out tomorrow. Thank you for sharing!
So happy to hear. My birds ate all the suet I put out a couple days ago. They love it.
Great recipe! I make my own but never added peanut butter, so I guess I will try that! Thanks for a very educational video!
I'm glad I could help. To save on peanut butter, watch for it on sale and then stock up.
I go to the Bulk Barn and but shelled sunflower seeds, flax seed.my birds love it .
Interesting. So they eat the flax seed? Never heard of that.
I live in Florida and I’m going to make this with my nieces, they will be so excited.
I’ll put it in a shallow dish in case it melts!! 🌈🌈
Did it work for you
@@BackyardBirdsUS
I did not make this recipe. Thanks for the reminder tho!
Instead, they smeared p nut butter on pine cones and rolled them in bird seed. We froze them and put them out on the deck. Lots of birds came by but the squirrels got to them and drug them off!
Weve done that a few times now when they visit.
They have cell phones now and are kinda too cool for me now 😨. They are 13 now... they grow up so fast!
I use the cage feeders and I’ve noticed that as the larger birds peck at it, there’s always pieces that fall to the ground that attracts ground feeders.
I've seen the same thing. I think all the ground feeders like the suet. Thanks for sharing your observations.
Those birds love the squirrels!!! Those messy eaters give them a feast!!!!
So squirrels aren't all bad, huh. Lol.
@@BackyardBirdsUS Squirrels make me laugh, I think they are funny as hell to watch!!
They really are. Some are smarter than others!
Thanks for the video! I recently decided to start making my own suet as I & the birds prefer the consistency of the suet balls, but they cost twice as much as the same amount in a flat container. I found a container of pure white suet fat at the store, so I'm going to start with that until I can visit the butcher & see if I can get some cheap beef fat to render.
I agree it can cost more but the birds love it more too. I think the stuff you buy is often old and the birds don't want it. Home made is fresh and the birds know it.
Great demo..
Thanks. One of my favorite videos.
I’m going to try the homemade suet and I love the video plus I love woodpeckers and flickers
Thank You Sarah Davis! Once you start making your own suet you will probably not go back to buying it. Remember to serve it in different ways for the different birds that like it.
I use lard fm Amazon as the animal fat. Also meal worms & wild bird seed. I microwave the lard&peanut butter for 1 minute. I use 4x4 non stick pans.
Thanks for sharing. Smart to microwave. Thanks for sharing.
Can you share the Amazon link for the lard you buy?
Very good recip,thanks for shoring.
It's still my favorite recipe. It works so well.
Suet fits nicely in the angles of tree and bush branches.
That's a good idea. I've put it on bark before.
Loved the recipe and the log feeder. Thanks so much for the share. 🌞
You made my day is thanks.
Great recipe. Got to try this. And that suet log is a great idea too... Have to try and find one. 👍
The suet is so good. Birds love it. I need to make some today now that temps are falling and birds are hungry.
This stuff is Great. The birds absolutely love it. Thanks
Glad you enjoy it! It really is amazing!
Great video and no music. Music usually ruins a video.
I couldn't agree more. I never use music in any video I make now.
Thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks. The birds thank you!
Great video! Very cool! THANK YOU!
I'm glad you like it.
Very well done, thank you and we will try it.
Glad to hear. You want be disappointed.
Thanks Jeff
Thanks for watching
Cooking for the birds. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Some would probably think its strange to make food for the birds. But why buy it when you can make it and homemade is so much better. ;)
Jeff I've been feeding birds my hole life a family thing. But the homemade suet works best cuts price in half. THANK-YOU SIR
So hard to feed birds so any cats it's a shame perfect environment for them. One neighbor has 27 cats.
Why would anyone want 27 cats. That is disturbing. I had one cat causing problems here. I scared it away every chance I got. Haven't seen it for a while!
I think this suet recipe works TOO well. I can barely keep up with the birds. It's kind of fun to make isn't it?
read elsewhere that all cats should wear bell
Perhaps you could offer to give your neighbor small bells like you find on xmas wreaths to put on their collars to warn birds of their presence. We asked our neighbor whose cats are in our yard all the time and they said sure. Worked. Also a spray bottle filled with water and aimed at cat(s) will discourage them from coming around.
cats
birds are my special interest,, thank you for posting these! i have quail showing up even
Quail. Wow. Where are you.
I have really enjoyed your video's. I have seen how to render and this video so far and am going to try your way with rendering the fat and making the suet for the feeders. Thank you for sharing these. :) I sometimes get turkeys around my feeders early in the morning or early evenings, they might like it too.
I bet the turkeys will like it. Let me know if they do. You are going to love this suet. It even smells good!
Im about to get started with bird feeding. I bought feeders and seeds. Cant wait to make the suet and log. Great channel. Very informative
Thanks so much, good luck to you.
Harris's sparrows were seen eating crumbles I put on the ground under the bush where they hang out. This is in Topeka KS. See a full list of species in the description.
Thank you for using natural fat and peanut butter. I may be over cautious but I just can’t use Cristoferson and gmo peanuts to feed or birds.
Are peanuts GMO?
Great idea. I do not use any beef to get the beef fat. Any suggestion on a substitute or? Great video. Thanks Mary
Any animal fat will work. Try your butcher for fat trimmings. Sometimes they will give them to you. If you know a hunter you can get deer fat.
Thumbs up from us! Thanks, Jeff. 🐦
So nice of you
Wicked good video really well done so informative thank you I’m now a subscriber 🦆👍🏻
Thank you times 10. So glad to hear that. I grow tired of all of the useless videos on RUclips.
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Im going to try it. Looks goid
It is good. Birds love it. I just made some yesterday!
Micro the peanut butter for a SHORT time for easy removal, and my birds like the chunky style.
Excellent idea. I swear we are spoiling the birds by giving them this.
That's a few great ideas there. Thanks so much for sharing this!!
I'm glad you like it. I need to make more today. The birds our devouring it!
Great recipe and instructions, thank you!
I'm so glad you liked it. The birds like it too!
My husband makes hanging Birch Tree logs w 2," round by 1" deep filled w similar we, hang outside our windows...i have several videos on my YT ch of Woodpeckers enjoying this mixture of nommies stuffed inside the holes...but it's more like OUR ENJOYING watching them up CLOSE..they seem fearless when a window is between us.
I do the same. Perfect way to serve this stuff.
I want to do this to my backyard birds .....very nice let me check .....thank you
Good luck. Report back.
Wonder if I could implement mixing my suet cakes with peanut butter to get rid of the cakes
You mean the store bought ones that nothing likes.
thank you I will try
You will love it
A really great tutorial. Thank you so much!
Thank you. Much appreciated.
Will pork fat be just as good? If so I will add in some birdseed & sunflower seeds at the end of stirring. Judi
Pork fat is perfectly fine. I highly recommend you don't have bird seed to the suet mixture. This is for birds that don't eat bird seed. If you add bird seed you're just going to attract the wrong birds. And you may attract nuisance birds. The only reason they put bird seed into suit that you buy at the store is it's a cheap filler.
Nice ❤Thank you
Glad to help. I need to make more.
Can you add hulled sunflower seeds to this?
You could but i wouldn't. I would serve that on a different feeder. The suet mix is for non seed eaters.
I'm excited to try this recipe! Do you have a video on how you made the cornmeal by chance?
Actually I just found the video!
As you know there is a video on making the cornmeal and I use a blender to do it. I've been using the blender now for a number of years and it works so well and I think the cornmeal is so much better than the stuff you buy and it's so much cheaper. Just another reason to make your own bird food instead of buying it because you get fresh ingredients.
Thank you 😊 I will try it out!
Hope you like it!
I've been making your recipe, not knowing that I was doing so, but I use lard. Any problems that you know of? I'll throw in some raisons on occasion for the jays. Thanks for the video. Jim
Lard is fine. Sometimes i use it as well.
Where do u get beef fat
@@barbaradaniel1983 Hi, I don't get beef fat per se, just lard from the grocery store. I'd bet that the butcher could sell you some beef fat.
Trimmings from the butcher. Sometimes you can ask them to save it for you.
Lard is fine too!
im making this .. so helpful love the log idea !
It's fun to make but once the birds get it they will love you for providing it!
Can bird seed be put into the Recipe perhaps to substitute for some of the cornier parts of the corn meal and oats? Going to Try it.
I really don't recommend bird seed. Bird seed should be served separately. The suet mixture is for birds that aren't seed eaters.
Super!
You will love it.
Thank You Sir. I made a big bucket of this. I love to feed animals and birds. Can we put wheat flour instead of all-purpose?
Do you mean whole wheat? I use white flour because it's pure energy. I'm not sure about whole wheat. Most birds aren't wheat eaters. I'd stick with white flour. Remember this is for birds not people.
*i made suet this year. i attracted magpies! and i have a flicker coming. didn't get any woodpeckers this year. i saw a brown creeper for the first time in the fall! great video!*
+kellyr's life superb. A magpie would be awesome
What all do you put in your suet?
People who are in the business of trimming excess fat off their meat should get into videos like this. Why waste any portion of beef or pork when there is such a fantastic way of using up all the food and helping out native songbirds??
You said it. And it's very satisfying to render fat in my opinion.
Love this recipe, peanuts seem to be a key in suet and peanut butter is probably even better. The only ingredient I question is the flour due to the synthetic folate(folic acid) added to US flour. Since folic acid is problematic for some humans, I have to wonder about feeding it to my lovely birds. ❤️
I try to use unbleached flour.. with no additives. It may cost a little more but probably better for birds and us.
Store bought cornmeal is also enriched (all I could find have niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, and folic acid). Are you aware of issues with any of these for birds?
Thank you Jeff for your inspirational videos! I was wondering..I grind my own wheat, could I use that instead of white flour??? Thanks in advance for your answer!
I think you could use whole wheat instead of white flour. I think the white flour is mostly added as a carb rich food source. Report back if you try it and let us know how the birds liked it.
Me too! I mill my own organic wheatberries. And I have organic corn as well that I grind. I am going to make this! Where do I get the fat? By cooking meat?
I get fat trimmings from a butcher. Watch my video on rendering fat. But yes you can save all your fat from cooking meat. I've used fat from hamburger, pork chops, chicken.
Very helpful, thank you.
I'm glad to help. I love this stuff but the birds love it more.
Great job!
Thank you so much
Thanks. Good recipe and looking forward to trying it. Do you put red pepper in your suet when putting it in the log (I put suet in crevices on the trunk of my big red oak tree) or on the ground to deter squirrels?
I haven't. Squirrels here don't want it. This surprises me. Maybe they don't like the day in it?
Where do you get the beef fat from ? Thx 👍
From the local butcher but you can try a grocery store as well. You have to ask around.
Love the video thanks for the tips I love woodpeckers and flickers and I’m going to try it
Thanks Benjamin Davis. The woodpeckers will thank you. Trust me on that.
Thanks REALLY ENJOYED your video..... a GOOD project to try , for the birds that come to my yard to be fed ... Only information missing was ( were did you get the Bee Fat from ? ) I heard everything else came from Aldi which in my area ( southeast Michigan ) seems as this would be CHEAPER than buying bags of bird food that I regularly purchase
I get beef fat from local butcher. So that's what I would try. Grocery stores might save trimmings too.
BTW this is one of my favorite videos. Good you found it useful.
New subscriber here! Just for reference what size jars are the peanut butter and the beef suet? I wanna write this down
I try to buy peanut butter in a 16 oz jar but sometimes they sell it in 14 oz and 15 oz so I use that. And then I use about 16 oz of fat.
Thanks. As someone striving for a zero-waste life and composting most food, I wanted to find an alternate to the beef fat I have leftover sometimes.
Someone said to keep cooking the leftover fat until crispy-ish and then serve the little fat crumbles to the birds. Perhaps a little bit at a time? Of course it would help to really cut up your fat before rendering. Kitchen scissors work great! Or sprinkle a few bits over your dog food as a treat every once in awhile? What I do is render the fat in a crockpot then remove the liquid and keep cooking the fat. Until desired consistency.
Very good advice. I cut the fat up into quarter inch or half inch cubes and cook it in a crock pot until the fat is cooked out of it. the leftover crumbles are great to put outside for birds but you're right they're all so good for pets. I find the Blue Jays and the woodpeckers devour them.
Wow, made with lOVE….YES
Yes yes yes and the birds love it
What about putting in seeds?
I don't recommend seeds. The birds that like suet aren't interested in seeds. I say keep seeds out. Offer then separately.
@@BackyardBirdsUS What about freeze dried mealworms?
That might be smart. Added protien! Try it.
What kind of beef fat is that ....can you us store bought lard ???🤔👍
Yes you can use store bought lard. I get the beef fat from butcher for free and like it better than lard. But lard works too.
great video!! I recently made my own recipe and the birds loved it! have a great day!
Thank you. Birds really do love it.
What purpose and food value does the flour have? Did you cook it or just mix in the pan? Thanks Kenny's wife Anna 🤗
I think the flower provides energy. Remember this is something you feed in the winter time when it's cold out. You don't cook it you just mix it but you do have to melt the fat and the peanut butter.
Love it! ;->. Thank you 😊
Thank you. Much appreciated
Soooo.... does bacon Grease work instead of beef fat 😢
I've used bacon fat as well. And pork fat.
Thank you! Going to make a suet log
Excellent!
Can you use duck fat?
Most definitely. I think any animal fat will work
Do you think it would be ok to use the crunchy peanut butter?
Yes I do. I've used both. I just think smooth is better because it mixes better with other ingredients.
DO NOT use regular peanut butter that is made for people - it has added sugar and salt which is dangerous for the birds.
It's diluted with other ingredients so not a real problem.
Going to make this with almond flour--which is 10 times healthier for them and I'll throw some blueberries in there. Thank you!!
What is in almond flour that makes it healthy. I believe the white flour is added just for pure energy.
@@BackyardBirdsUS It's healthy because it's composed of only ground up almonds. White flour is not good for people, either but to explain better, I found this: "Why is flour bad for you? White flour has very little nutritional value. It's high in carbohydrates and calories, and low in everything else like fiber, protein and vitamins. White flour is stripped of its nutrients during processing, when the bran and germ part of the grain are removed leaving only the endosperm. Feb 8, 2022 " Hope that helps! Since it's so important for suet to be healthy, that's my two cents. lol There's a woman here on RUclips who puts sugar in her suet and another who used vegetable shortening! Ugh I was horrified. But don't get me wrong--I do love your videos and yesterday, I went out and got all kinds of ingredients because I was so inspired by you! :) So truly, thank you!!
Glad to hear this. I'm sure almond flour is healthy for people. But the white flour is for energy. I'm very cold climates in the winter time it's a good ingredient. I use unbleached flour. Almond flour probably tastes good to birds. Please report back on how they like it. Also, what's your general location?
@@BackyardBirdsUS I'm pretty sure white flour won't actually hurt them, it just doesn't probably add anything beneficial. Good that you're using unbleached, though. What happened was, I put together a baseball sized suet ball with your recipe, plus some blueberries and walnuts, and put it in a paper bowl out there. The squirrels loved it but I don't think the birds knew it was food, so I was curious to see if they would give it a try the next day. BUT overnight, raccoons came by and ran off with the whole ball! lol I didn't know racoons were out yet so I thought it was safe but nope! I'm in an extremely cold climate like you--northern Maine, in the boonies. We're getting a lot of snow tomorrow but on Sunday, I'm going to make a new ball and see if at least the blue jays try it. I'll let you know!
I really love hearing from you.
Instead of a big ball
Try crumbling it. I do that on a table and birds love it. I will share a video soon. My sister ribs it on tree bark. Birds really like that. If be mad at that raccoon. Your suet balls sound delicious. Lol. Some friends made a batch and someone tasted it thinking it was peanut butter bars. Lol.
Great video Jeff! I'm on my way to get the supplies today. One question - I've read that leaving suet out in the summer heat can make it go rancid, and then it's bad for the birds. I live in Idaho where it gets pretty darn hot once June hits. Is this something I should be worried about? Definitely don't want to be getting any birds sick. Perhaps I'll put a pause on the suet from June-Sept. Thoughts? Thanks for your help!
In my opinion, feeding suet is basically for winter. Once the insects return, it is unnecessary. It is far more helpful to install native plants which encourage insects. You will see an amazing difference.
This is very good advice. I only feed suet in winter. Insects should be their food in the growing season. Much more healthy and natural.