It’s been a little bit since I last posted but I’m happy to report that spring is finally showing up in mid-Michigan. When you walk outside at night, the frogs are singing loudly in the swamp behind my house. I have daffodils that are in bloom, on the south side of the house, and all of my other flowers are starting to wake up and grow, too. Yesterday, I observed a female Eastern Bluebird on my woodpecker tree. I have five Bluebird houses on our property and have a pretty good success rate with Bluebirds nesting in them but they usually don’t venture close to the house, let alone eat from my feeders.
I make my own suet cakes for my birds and since woodpeckers are my favorite, I tend to cater to them. The recipe that I’ve posted is incredibly easy to make and can be changed to meet the needs of your flock. I plan on making another batch this weekend and will substitute meal worms for the peanuts to appeal to the Bluebirds. I use the suet to make cakes, plugs for my woodpecker tree, I fill the holes in my logs that I hang and I’ve also filled a coffee cup with suet and hung that from my pergola.
Homemade Suet Cakes
- 1.5 lbs of beef lard
- 2 cups birdseed mix
- 2 cups black oil sunflower seeds
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup shelled, split peanuts
- 1 cup raisins or other dried fruit
Mix the birdseed, sunflower seeds, flour, peanuts and dried fruit in a large bowl and set aside. Chunk your beef lard into manageable cubes and place in a heavy duty Dutch oven, cover and melt over low heat. You’ll want to keep an eye on the lard because it can get too hot and start smoking. I stir it and try breaking it up every 5 minutes or so. Once the majority of the lard has melted and is a nice golden color, you’ll need to remove the cracklings (the excess byproducts that won’t melt down). I remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate and once they’ve cooled down, I throw them out in the trash. Pour the seed mixture into the melted lard and pour into the desired molds.
You will need to store the suet cakes in the freezer as the suet can go rancid. When I put it outside, it’s frozen and my birds don’t complain.
A few pictures of the woodpeckers enjoying my suet creations.
