Suet for Birds..Facts, Recipes &...

I have always wanted to try making my own suet cakes but never had. Wild Bird Feeders are popular & easier to maintain..just fill them. Yet suet will attract birds much more. So I have decided to give it a try. Below is what I have learned about suet.

With winter around the corner I have decided to make some suet and put in freezer. Then wait for temperatures to drop and give it a whirl..

Some Suet Facts

• Suet is raw beef fat from around the kidneys and loins.
  
  
• Suet is suitable for human consumption and is also used in traditional English puddings and mincemeat pie.
  

• Suet is one of the best foods to attract nuthatches, woodpeckers, wrens, titmice, creepers, kinglets, chickadees, thrashers, cardinals and even bluebirds and unfortunately the starlings and squirrels!

• Suet can be put out any time of the year, but in the winter when the natural food supply is limited, it will be especially appreciated by birds looking for extra carbohydrates and protein.

• Above 70degrees Fahrenheit suet can turn rancid. So it is best to use hard rendered suet at these temperatures...These can be bought and are often referred to as no melt suet cakes.
  

• Raw Beef Suet can be purchased at butcher shop or supermarket or bought on line from companies such as AsktheMeatman
  
  
  • All Pure Beef Suet must be rendered(see below) before used in Suet Recipes
  • Lard is pig fat and can be used in place of rendered suet when preparing suet cakes for birds
    
    
• There is much debate as to whether vegetable shortening (Crisco) can be used in suet's place. There are arguments on both sides. My opinion is that suet is suppose to provide high animal fat content for birds and vegetable shortening does not have the fat content and thus is NOT a good replacement for suet.
  

How to Render Pure Beef Suet:

1. Ask your butcher to grind the Beef Suet or chop the raw beef fat as fine as you can
2. Heat the ground or chopped suet over a medium flame until all the fat leaches out. There should be nothing pink in your pan, only solid gray bits in a clear liquid.
3. Strain out the gray bits by pouring the melted suet through a fine cheesecloth
4. Save the strained liquid and let it cool till hardened
5. Repeat steps 2-3. If the fat is not rendered twice, the suet will not cake properly.
6. Suet can be stored in a covered container in your freezer for up to a year.
   

Items that can be used to pour suet in:

• Bakers Tin Foil Bake Cups
  
• Old store bought square plastic containers
• Roll in balls once suet cools
• Make a holding cell from heavy duty aluminum foil
• Small bread loaf pans lined with plastic wrap or foil for easy removal
• Margarine containers
• Any size baking/pie pans (when suet cools, cut into squares
• egg cartons
  

Suet cages:

• There are many commercial wire cages that you can purchase. To discourage the starlings it is best to purchase a suet feeder cage that is covered on all sides but the bottom. Only those birds that can hang upside down will use this feeder.
• The traditional suet feeder is a small wire cage, which may be placed on the trunk of a tree or suspended from a branch.
• Soft suet can be spread on trunks of trees or on a pine cone to hang from a branch.
  
• Some wild bird feeders have a hopper for seeds, and suet cages on the sides of the hopper.
• You can make your own homemade feeders including using nylon mesh bag, Small log drilled with 1.5 by 1.5 inch holes, plastic berry basket or wire soap dish

Suet Recipes:

Breakfast for the Birds

1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup suet
1/2 cup birdseed
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup Cream of Wheat cereal (not instant)
1/3 cup dry cranberries, chopped


Cook rolled oats in boiling water in a large saucepan for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly until very thick. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and suet until melted. Stir in remaining four ingredients. Cool and shape as desired.

It Must be Love:

1/2 Pound Fresh Suet
1/3 Cup Black Oil Sunflower Seed
2/3 Cup Mixed Wild Bird Seed
1/8 Cup Chopped Peanuts or Chopped Pecans
1/4 Cup Raisins

Melt the suet and peanut butter together until they are smooth and liquid. Add the cornmeal and flour, mixing well. Allow the mixture to cool slightly to thicken, then pour it into molds or containers to use. Refrigerate or freeze suet until it is firm and you are ready to use it.

Some more suet recipes

When researching for this post I acquired information from Birds and Blooms, Baltimore Bird Club, Bird Nature and AskTheMeatman

Don't forget to check out my website for many things for your backyard. Wooden Outdoor furniture, Outdoor bench, Decorative Birdhouses, Wild bird feeders, garden birdbaths, tuned wind chimes, Poly Recycled Furniture, Outdoor Lanterns, Garden Water Fountains, and much more.

Other posts that may be of interest to you:

Feeding Tips for Your Birds this Winter Season
Prevent Birds from Colliding into your Windows
Peanut Feeder for Birds
9 Bird Foods every Backyard Needs