Today we want to share a recipe with you for your birds, Healthy DIY Winter Bird Suet. Now this recipe can be used for both domestic birds if you have them, chickens, ducks, and the like, as well as for wild birds.

This recipe is similar to one we did this past summer, Easy, Healthy Pasture Pet Treat Recipe. This was a baked recipe for goats, donkeys, horses, and sheep. But the idea is the same, making a DIY healthy treat for your pets or local wildlife.

If you are on a family farm,  as we are, you may have chickens and other domestic birds. This recipe is an easy, healthy treat for them also. It can help your birds hold weight through the winter. This is also an excellent supplement to support your birds through their molting stage.

If you are a bird watcher, we are sure you have put out food to help your wild friends in the winter and regular seeds in the summer. This recipe is healthy for wild birds to help them sustain themselves in the winter.

No matter what kind of birds you have and are wanting to feed, this is a great recipe for Healthy DIY Winter Bird Suet. It is fairly easy to make, the ingredients are fairly cheap and the birds love it. Actually, most of our animals like this suet recipe.

We have seen many different bird suet recipes over the years. You can find a recipe to use just about anything you can think of from grains to seeds, to fruits, nuts, and bugs.

There are also several ways you can find to make your DIY bird suet, so do not think there is only one way. Some recipes call for cooking the ingredients together on the stovetop, then pour them into a dish to cool and set. Other bird suet recipes mix then bake it, some do not cook it at all. Choose the one you like and go with it.

But for today’s talk, we will share with you how we make our Healthy DIY Winter Bird Suet.

We mix all the ingredients in an electric mixer, then spread it into a baking pan and put it in the oven for a few minutes. This is a quick and easy way to make your birds suet. You can even get the kids involved with the measuring and mixing.

But of course, have adult supervision when using machines and the stove.

To make your Healthy Winter Bird Suet you will need:

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup Crisco, lard, tallow, or Manteca

1 cup Peanut Butter, smooth or crunchy, your choice

½ cup sugar

2 cups Corn Meal

1 cup Flour, plain, NOT self-rising

2 cups Quick Oats

2 cups Bird Seed

1 cup Meal

Worms

Supplies:

Baking sheets

parchment paper

mixer

oven

freeze

1. Cream the Crisco til smooth.

What kind of “fat” you use is up to you. We like Manteca but we used Crisco as that was what we had on hand at the time. But any kind of “fat” will do. Use what you have.

2. Add Peanut Butter and mix til smooth. You can go with either smooth Peanut Butter or Crunchy. Some recipes will say crunchy is better for the birds as it adds peanuts to the mix. But we normally have smooth at our house so that is what we used.

3. Add the sugar and blend well. Here is another “question” in the suet recipe world. Do you use processed white sugar or unrefined? There is a small amount of sugar in this recipe so really we do not think it would matter that much. But we have the raw sugar from Florida cane so that is what we used.

4. Add the Corn Meal and mix. Again, processed, unprocessed, organic. We have corn meal from a local mill so we use unprocessed. But use what you have on hand.

Be sure you are using plain corn meal not a corn meal mix. There are ingredients in the pre-made mix that the birds do not need to eat.

5. Add the Flour and mix well. Be sure you have PLAIN flour, not self-rising. The birds do not need the baking powder, soda, salt, and whatever else they put in self-rising flour.

6. Add the oats and mix. Make sure you are using quick oats as they are easier for the birds to digest. This way the birds get as much nutrition as possible from their suet.

7. Add the seed and mix. We had wild bird seed mix on hand when we made out suet but you can use any kind of bird seed that you have.

The only thing to consider is the size of the seeds vs. the size of the birds you are feeding. If you have tiny birds, like finches you may want to go with the small bird seed so that they can eat it. Otherwise, some of the seeds may be wasted, if the birds are too small to eat them.

8. Add the mealworms and mix well. Yes, we keep mealworms on hand and we raise our own mealworms. If you do not raise your own, you can buy a bag at Tractor Supply, and many pet stores carry them as well.

As you can imagine, a good, total, cleaning with soap and very hot water is required after using the kitchen mixer for mealworms.

About this time, the mix will be stiff and lumpy, which is normal as the oatmeal, seeds, and mealworms will not blend out smoothly.

9. Spread your suet mix onto the baking pans lined with parchment paper. The mix will be somewhat sticky, the parchment paper will keep it from sticking to your baking pans. Parchment paper also makes for easy cleanup.

10. Put the baking pans in the oven on a low setting for about 10 minutes. We used 350 as that is our stove’s default setting.

The heating will not really “cook” the suet but it will melt it all together and help it to set up.

11. Once the suet is out of the oven and cooled enough to handle, pop it into the freezer for about 1 hour. This will cool it all the way and set it firm.

12. Cut your Healthy Winter Bird Suet into pieces to feed your birds.

If you have a suet cage for wild birds, that will work fine.

You can put it in small dishes for any small pet birds that you have, like our finches and button quail.

We hand out our suet as treats for our farm animals. All of our birds love this recipe.

You can see even the cats like the Healthy Winter Bird Suet. Then again, that cat “Freddy Lloyd” will eat most anything.

And it does have the approval of Micro-Pet the mini chi. She is old and frail but she likes to help clean up when we make this recipe.

If you have made a large batch of suet or only have a couple of birds, you may want to keep the leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge. As there are no preservatives in your DIY bird suet, it will not keep long sitting out. We pretty much feed ours out in one sitting so there are no leftovers.

As we said, there are many different ways and recipes to make a good, healthy bird suet. You can always experiment and try out different seeds, nuts, fruits, and veg to see what works best for you and your bird friends.

Just be sure you check the safety rules for birds and that specific food before you use it. There are some fruits, nuts, and veg that birds can not eat. Different kinds of birds also have things that they can not have specific to the breed of bird. As far as we know, this Healthy Winter Bird Suet Recipe is safe for all birds. At least we have never had any issues with any of our birds or the local wild birds. But do check for your bird type.

We hope you have enjoyed this talk on how to make your own Healthy DIY Winter Bird Suet. Try it out and feed some birds this winter. The birds will thank you and you will get to birdwatch for your trouble. Plus you get the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping the local wildlife get through the winter.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.