making suet – New England's Narrow Road

homemade suet in a foil pan — My Homemade Suet

Just about this freezing time of year, I usually begin to make up batches of homemade suet to feed my backyard birds. I bought some beef suet at the local grocery store and stuck it in the freezer for winter feeding and now that it’s January and finally getting quite cold, it’s time to give the birds a treat.

My recipe includes adding peanut butter and stale crackers, cornmeal and just about any other thing the birds might like to the store bought beef fat. I usually add some old bread (kept in the freezer too) and flour to hold it all together and then cool it in a large, foil pan.

Personally, I don’t like to add seeds. I keep the seeds in separate feeders.

Once it’s firm, it can be cut to size to fit your suet feeder or placed in a mesh bag. I only put one piece out at a time and freeze the rest, just in case some animal comes and takes it in the night. I had a fox eyeing the feeder one year.

Just a word of warning – your birds will love this and eat it up quickly! The squirrels will like it too, of course.

It’s November and was only 27° this morning so I started to feed the birds. I had made up some suet about a month ago and kept it in the freezer to use this winter. The birds seem to like my homemade suet much better than the store bought kind.

Although we don’t eat much bacon, I save the grease in a can in the fridge to use for making suet. When I have a full can, I add it to store bought fat (beef usually) and melt it on low heat. Then I add peanut butter, and whatever else I have to bind it together – such as old bread, cornmeal, crackers, cereal, etc.

I’ve found that using a disposable tin pan is best, since clean up can be a chore, and a nice square or rectangular one is perfect for cutting the suet (once it’s cold) into the right size for my feeders.

I don’t add seeds of any kind to my suet as it is intended mainly for woodpeckers. I put out plenty of sunflower and thistle seeds for the seed eating birds so I don’t waste it in the suet.

A tail prop feeder works best for woodpeckers since they use their tails for balance. Also the upside down suet feeders are good for keeping the squirrels from chowing down.