A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum Homemade Suet Cakes

Here's a link to the old suet cake topic....time to make some cakes for our birdy friends!!!!!
Scroll down to see pics.....

Homemade Suet Cakes

I have never made any but I think you sent me some one time Cindy, Lou, Roscoe. You and dodge are too smart.

OK, question...if I have NO plastic liners from boughten suet cakes, how to I form these cakes???

13x9" pan...but after you get the mixture into the pan pressed down good take a spatula and kinda form it off into cakes...much easier to cut after it's frozen. Tina turned me on to that trick...I'm not as smart as I look...

Thanks---so tell me......6 cakes in a 9 x 13 pan????

and just how smart do you look.... ...

Yep...6 cakes...fits perfect in suet feeder.



Oh.....I look very smart.....



.........don't I?

Why Cindy, of course you look smart--------
why you look just exactly as smart as I do....

and Cindy,....Thanks for the information about the number of suet cakes that the recipe makes---I appreciate it....

Look Cindy what I did the other day!!!!

In my cakes there is
bread crumbs, corn meal, crushed egg shells, oatmeal, wild bird seed & raisens. The binder I used was lard & chunky peanut butter.

what do you think???

Pretty!

Those look awesome!!!!!

They sure do.

Wondering if Rod tried to taste it?

Great job, Carol! How do the birds like it?

Thanks for all the posts about suet....I've never messed with it, but when I got to town Sat, I'm going to get a "holder" I'm wondering about other things the birds may eat. I can see any kind of fruit and the wild bird seed I already have, but was wondering about orange peels? Not too long I threw out a half jar of peanut butter as it was smelling a little rancid and as we don't eat peanut butter and my grandson won't be back until next summer I pitched the jar! I love my birds and I get to see them almost every day out my work room window. I have a pond with a bird bath sitting inside the pond, with a pump and small fountain so the birds come every day to take their baths and preen in my blue spruce, which is next to the pond. It gets a little pricy in the winter because of the stock tank heater I have to keep going. But they are so worth it! It is the most calming aspect of my life.
Have a Warm and Happy Day

Thanks Guys..... :ding:




now there is an idea---wonder what he would say if I put one of those on a plate & set it before him at supper ???



They like it---I was concerned at first--but I think the one I made is pretty much gone while the one I bought is still there (I have a wild seed feeder that has holders for suet on each end)

The real test will be when I fill my suet feeder that my Woodpecker uses....I will keep you posted..

Trust me, my DH would have sunk a spoon in it to see what it tasted like

If given both, like we did in Washington, it is amazing to see that they much prefer the homemade cakes.

well I will say that they "will" be eating the boughten cakes that I already have-- else they will go hungry--one should not waste food after all---

PS: I have my mom saving egg shells for my next batch---she eats a lot of eggs & we do not---so it is a win-win situation I figure.

... Ok then---

I went to town yesteday and got ingredients to make homemade suet cakes...also got suet holders from a friend who said the birds never ate from them. But I still wanted to give this a try. Made the suet last night...froze it, cut it up this am and put it in the holders and had them hung up. I made the cakes with Cisco, crunchy peanut butter, raisins, bird seed, orange peels (chopped small), chopped up dried peaches and some bread crumbs. The birds usually don't swamp my regular bird feeder till the afternoon. I did fill up my regular bird feeder, as I usually do every day. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I sat at my sewing machine which looks out at the birds, and got little sewing done as I watched the birds all afternoon and none of them seemed too interesed in the suet cakes. They would perch on top of the holders, but never seemed to peck at them. My DH suggested that our birds, mostly wrens and sparrows, are not big enough to be pecking inside the holders. Could this be true? Should we attach a perch to the side of the holder? He suggested we clip some of the metal to make the holes bigger...........or do I just need to be more patient and let the birds figure out what they are passing up? Thank you, thank you

I use the suet holders that have the wire far apart...it's about 1" squares, so the suet is easy to get to. I also have mine near limbs where birds can perch while they eat.
Sounds like you made some yummy suet!

Thanks for the input, Cindy. The squares on my suet holders are more like 1/2 inch, so my DH said he could cut out some of the pieces to make the holes bigger and because I am selfish I don't want the suet cakes hidden in the tree! But my DH said he could figure out some kind of perch for them. I just know if they can get to it they will love it!

That is so nice for your DH to help you out like that, Bobbie.
I think he deserves point for that.

I have suet holders on each end of my wild bird feeder. It was a gift & came like that. Then I have one that is free hanging, on a shepard's hook that my DH attached to my deck so I can watch easily.
My downy woodpecker loves that one, the other birds use the first one.

I judt gave my "Downy" a ball of the homemade suet--we will see if he likes it or not.

Carol - I keep meaning to ask you why you put egg shells in your suet - I've not seen that in my recipe, nor in the store bought? We do have lots of shells to use if it's beneficial to the birds!

I saw that Cindy did so I researched it. it is for grit & I think there is calcium in the shells (?) I ground them up really fine..

He is really good like that. He is the poster boy of American inginuity! All I have to do is have a problem for him to figure out the solution and he is a happy camper

I had friends with outdoor aviaries for all kinds of birds. She tossed all of her eggshells, in whole halves, into the feeders for the birds because it was so good for them. And she boiled eggs and broke them but left them in large chunks for the birds to eat. She said it seemed a little cannibalistic but it was very good for them. And birds eat their own and any other eggshells in the wild. No grinding necessary. They will peck them down on their own.

Guess I should make some also, I have a few bottles of sugar free healthy peanut butter that no one will eat. I'm sure the birds aren't as fussy as the kids

Those the best kinds for birds. It may attract a bear or something too.

that or I bet you could add some sugar to the BP--or better yet some honey--???

Our bears hibernate until April, Tina.

I've got 2 platform feeders but I've never put egg shells in them. I'm going to try it. I put apples and oranges sometimes.

Boy, I am so glad that i read this---I need to make new suet cakes---well I thought I wrote down what amounts that I added last time & if I did I then threw the paper away..

So at least I wrote down what I put in the cakes if not the amount.

so I will BE SURE to write down the amounts this time. (I am pretty sure I used 1 cup of peanut butter & 2 cups of lard and 2 cups of wild bird seed--the rest is up for debate.

but the main reason why I am glad I came back in here is I had forgotten that I asked my mom to save egg shells--so as I will see her tomorrow so I will wait until tomorrow afternoon to make these--poor woodpecker---

good to know, Tina thanks for telling me---

should I wash the eggshells? Cuz I didn't before I put them out yesterday.

If they weren't very old, then no. If they stink, then it would have been a good idea.

I got to thinking about suet cakes for the birds, I know a little early, but I got a couple cases of blueberries and the containers they come in looked like just the right shape, so I made a batch and lined the little plastic containers with wax paper and froze them. They fit in my suet holders just fine. These are like, half pint containers? what they call "clamshells". Anyway just thought I'd pass this little tidbit on while it is summer and maybe you'll be buying berries!