Fat Balls - for the birds!

[mrs.pudding]

Have just made my own fat balls for the birds - with suet, chopped peanuts, bird seed, etc.  I think they look brilliant but the birds disagree and won't touch them!  Obviously they share the family's opinion about my cooking.  Any suggestions for a good fat ball recipe that the birds will like.

Thanks

[FP]

Hi Mrs Pudding.  I tried as well.  The birds love the ones I buy from the pet store my my effort hung there for months until I threw it away.  I will watch this thread with interest!

[mrs.pudding]

They love it if I put out my rather grey uncooked pastry.  Perhaps that's the answer!  

[FP]

Our local water authority is apparently now selling make your own bird cake kits - a plastic container into which you pour all your waste liquid fat and then add all the other ingredients.  It is to stop people pouring fat down the sink and clogging up the sewers.  I think it's a great idea.

[mrs.pudding]

well..... fine if the fat is cleanish but after I've cooked suasages mine tends towards the carcinogenic!  :-)

[archbishop]

mrs.pudding Love the title of your question

[stoo_pid]

don't know if this will help but we just use the cheapest lard we can find & put in quite a lot of seed (regular seed mix).  We used to put it on a tree stump but they seem to prefer it if it's hanging up - the starlings seem to prefer the 'cages' and the tits & sparrows go for the coconut halves.

The RSPB have some recipes that might work tho:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/feedthebirds/recipes.asp

and they have a free, feeding guide you can order:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/feedthebirds/pack/index.asp

 

[Cetti]

I don't think its your cuisine that they're turning their little beaks up at -  but the time of the year.

 

It's still early autumn and there's plenty of natural food about. The hedgerows are packed with berries, still a few apples on the trees or fallers, the mild weather assures loads of midges and flies - so they can afford to be picky.

 

Fat balls also turn rancid quickly in the mild weather which don't do little birdy tums much good., so keep your balls till after Christmas when it's the barren time foodwise,  then you will be rewarded for your efforts.

[stoo_pid]

good point Cetti, I should have said we don't put ours out til it's pretty cold

[FP]

I just must have very greedy birds.  The ones I buy get eaten really quickly all year round.  Mind you I have now got literally hundreds of tree sparrows living in the garden,  who really love them, and I am so pleased,

[Robinia]

Yes the same happened to me too & like Fakeplastic says the bought ones are always eaten.  We have to put them in cages round here because the squirrels bite through the nets & roll them away - my friend saw one stealing one of those giant fat balls!

[mrs.pudding]

similarly, my sparrows - this is all getting a bit possessive here - anyway, my sparrows stuff their little gullets with bought fat balls whenever they can.  It's just mine they don't want.  Last time I slave over a hot stove for them!

[woofgang]

My mum lives in london and her birds go for fresh fruit and peanuts, but not fat balls whatever the time of year. I can't put them out in my garden because my dog eats them!!

[FP]

My computer is situated next to a window in the study with a tree outside which is where I hang all my bird food.  As I type this there are four little house sparrows hanging on and feeding from one of the giant fat balls.

 

I tell my husband that this is why I spend so much time on the computer, just to watch the birds at the same time.  It's my excuse and I'm sticking to it - but I must admit I did organise things so that I can always watch the birds from here.

[FP]

Sorry, they are Tree Sparrows not House Sparrows.

[smudge]

I've not attempted to make my own fat balls yet, but the birds love the shop bought ones that we hang up, all year round. 

 

We have to have squirrel proof bird feeders & fat ball cages in our garden, otherwise they don't last five seconds with the little perishers - the squirrels I mean! We have a telescopic camera set up in the dining room & have spent many hours watching the birds & squirrels close up. It is so therapeutic & fun watching all their little antics. Where would we be without wildlife?

[Hgrove]

I agree with Cetti, and suggest you wait till it gets really cold; they may well appreciate your fat balls then.

[ahs]

I have been making my own fat balls for some time now - and they seem to love them!

I melt 1kg beef dripping and 500g lard in a large pan, add in  500g suet and 2 jars of crunchy peanut butter and let this dissolve in the liquid fat (don't let it get too hot!).

Stir in a medley of chopped sultanas, oatmeal (porridge oats), wild bird seed and any mixture of other suitable seeds (they seem to like pumpkin, poppy and white sunflower seeds - and I add pine kernels, too!

I then place the pan in a bowl of cold water to speed up the cooling process, stirring every couple of minutes to keep all the seeds well distributed.

Once it is the consistency of medium soft butter, I do one of two things; either:

Fill empty paper towel rolls with the mixture and leave to set overnight. You can use empty loo rolls, too! Once set, the roll can be peeled away and inserted in a cylindrical fat ball holder (takes two loo rolls - they fit quite nicely!) or stored in a sandwich bag in a cool place till needed. Or:

I refill empty coconuts which I used to buy full of fat treats from the pet shop. Again, leave overnight to set and either put out for the birds or store until needed in a cool place in a sealed sandwich bag.

You can also keep the trays the square fat treats come in and fill these with the fat mixture. Once set, just put them in the square holders you can buy from most pet shops.

This amount costs about �5.00 and makes 10 - 12 full coconuts.  Adjust amounts to make the number you require.

Hope your birds like them as much as mine do! Let me know how you get on.

ahs   

[mrs.pudding]

ahs - shall copy your recipe at once and give it a whirl.  Thank you.  Apart from anything else, buying the things gets so expensive.  And I feel guilty if I suddenly fail to put the things out.  The birds all sit round looking depressed and disillusioned!

[ahs]

I hope it works for you, mrs pudding, as it does for me!  I have been getting all kinds of birds coming to feed on them - robins, finches, siskins, nuthatches, woodpeckers, jays, all kinds of tits (of course!) - even the chaffinches have been known to peck!

The amount I make lasts about a month and saves me at least �15 because, like you, I hate to disappoint them, so I used to buy three or four coconuts at a time, together with small and large fat balls.  I have one feeder which is a square wire 'box', and I now also make a square 'cake to put in this - far more substantial than the ones I was buying!

I thought they might not feed as much off them now that their natural food is more abundant, but I think they are feeding their young off them - the blue tits in particular often fly off with a mouthful, presumably back to their nests!

 

Good luck!  Do let me know how you get on!

[mrs.pudding]

ahs - don't know if you're still watching this question but, if you are, the recipe is a great success.  The birds are positively queuing up at the bird table!  Thanks.