Why not make your own fat balls for the birds?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Discoveries, General care, Wildlife | 74 comments
Watching the birds feeding just outside the kitchen windows gives me enormous pleasure. Since the bird eating cat that used to lurk in our front garden has moved away there are many more ground feeding birds and quite often I spot mice collecting seeds. Mice in the shrubs are fine. When they come into the house they are a problem.We give the birds mixed seed and fat balls all year. We only put out peanuts in the colder non nesting months as baby birds can choke on peanuts. Finally my large tub of fat balls for the birds has run out. So I decided to make my own. My friend Bunty, pours off all her warm leftover fat into flat plastic containers and she strings these up for the birds. This works well in the depths of winter when it is freezing outside. I tried it once in the summer and the fat melted in the sunshine.
I had a bit of a sniff about on the Internet and discovered that lard or suet seems to be a good fat base for home made fat feeders. There is an interesting thread in the Wild About Britain forum with several recipes and useful suggestions such as adding raisins to the mixture.
I found an old coconut feeder knocking about in the barn. We buy wild bird seed in 25 kilo sacks. So I filled the half coconut shell with mixed seeds and poured the melted lard over the seed. I put it in the fridge to harden. It hangs in a sunny spot and has not melted. Lard is cheap, and the massive sacks of bird seed are under ?10. So this homemade mixture is so much cheaper than the commercially produced balls.
Yesterday I spotted a coconut in the supermarket. After we have gorged on coconut I plan to use the shells to make two more reusable bird fat feeders.
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Hi. I have been reading all of the tips and think they are great. I have only been in the UK for 15 months, I’m originally from Australia, and as a Brownie Leader we used to make bird feeders with the girls. We would use a large pine cone, smother it with peanut butter and then roll it in bird seed. Hang them on the tree and the birds went mad!! Just an easy bird feeder for the kids. Kind regards
Kylie Dougall
Hi all, this information is great and im sure our readers will find it helpful.
All the best
Sam Kent
Hello Martin
Thank you so much for dropping by and adding these comments to our archive. You’ve given me loads of food for thought – I had no idea that those nets can be dangerous.
Thanks for taking the time to share so much useful information, much appreciated.
Hi all,
I™m very puzzled by the need to melt the lard to make the cakes.
When I make fat balls or bird cake, I use the lard at room temperature.
I just get a large bowl (or you could use a bucket if making a large amount at once) I then drop in a pack of lard or as much as I need and then add seeds, dried fruit (which can be bought very cheaply from the supermarket by buying the value packs or any out of date bags that are sometime on offer), I also empty all my old cereal boxes into another bowl and crush the cereal to very small pieces and add this, plus if you keep an old ice cream tub in the kitchen you collect apple cores & old fruit etc and then chop this up and add to the mix (don™t worry if the fruit turns into mush, it will still provide good protein).
In the winter or breading months I will add suet to the mix to boost the protein even more.
Once you have added all the edible ingredients that you can find then simply get your hands in there and rub the mix together as you would if you where making a cake. you can adjust the mix as you go, adding more seed or lard as you need until you end up with a stiffish’ mix that holds together well. Too much seed etc will make the mix too crumbly and fall apart and too much lard will make it more prone to melting apart (After a few goes you will learn to get it just right).
The resulting cake can then be rolled into fat balls or pushed into coconut half’s or yoghurt cartons etc with string through the bottom and piece of stick or match inside to stop the string pulling out, then leave to cool at room temperature or put outside to cool (as it will be soft straight after rubbing due to your hand temperature) once cooled, make sure that it stays where it was put and is not melting, if it is then don’t put it out on hot days or readjust the mix.
You can save a lot of money making your own recipes or get the kids or grand children to rub it all together for you (They love doing it) but the best bit is the self satisfaction of seeing the birds enjoying your creations.
I tend to make large amounts when I can and keep them in old cake tins or ice cream tubs etc, until I need them, this way it doesn’t seem such a task and they last a long time.
Finally a little note about fat balls.
Don™t be tempted to put them out in plastic netting from old orange bags etc.
Using plastic netting can cut the birds tongues, because when they peck they very often get their beaks either side of the net strands and as they pull their beaks out the plastic netting can cut their tongues.
You should also ideally remove the green netting that the shop bought ones come in.
The best and safest way is to buy or make a metal cage type, fat ball holder that can hold several fat balls, or use a large bore peanut feeder.
Most of all have lots of fun doing it
Regards & Best Wishes
Martin Lowe
Hi Dave L
Thanks for dropping by.
That’s a great tip using shredded suet that can be moulded without heating, particularly for children.
Yes berries and desiccated coconut would be good additions.
Reading this and postings on other sites it seems that many people are using a lard or suet base which has to be melted before it can be used. I bought SHREDDED vegetable suet from the baking section of the supermarket, this can be mixed with seed and moulded without using any heat. Those people who encourage children to get involved in making suet balls might find this method safer.
Dave
With regard to buying bulk bird seed, don’t forget to try the local small pet shops. Our local shop has 20k of mixed seed for £11, which is cheeper (yes OK it should be cheaper, but it is bird seed) than most large suppliers around here.
I tried making fat balls before I found this site. I used a supermarket own brand vegetable suet mixed with seeds and it seems to be going down OK with the birds. I will try the berries later and I will also try adding desiccated coconut which is available from the supermarket.
Dave
Just been reading your comments,ive been makeing my own fat balls for some time now,i use lard and mix in seed and mill worms {dried} .
i use coconuts and large pine cones filled with this mixture
Hi Woody Woodpecker
We found that slabs of fat based feed attract woodpeckers too! Especially the homemade ones.
Hi Mildred
Good point. I try any put some fat balls at an accessible point for the robin, thrush and blackbird. It is easy to forget ground feeders and with clever cats around this can spell death.
Putting ‘Fat balls’ out is a great method of feeding garden birds. The fat, packed with seeds, fruit and nuts, tempt a wide variety of birds. As well as hanging them up for the ‘acrobats’ we place some where blackbirds etc can comfortably perch to nibble their share. And I agree, Woody (above), it IS wonderful when you get a Woodpecker calling in for his breakfast!