I live in the middle of Canada roughly, when I was a butcher in the winter November to March we used to take a piece of pig fat from their backs about an inch thick with the skin still attached and nail it high up a pole and all kinds of birds would pick it clean just a thin layer of frozen skin left
brilliant!! I'm going to try your recipe tomorrow, glad you mentioned about the peanut butter though and you're right a lot of the video's on here include that - OMG how lucky you are to have RED squirrels, nearly fell off my chair when I saw that one, I'm in the north of England and sadly not a red in sight thanks to the bossy greys!
Renata boyle haha bossy greys! In my area there aren't any greys, they get taken care of and I'm not entirely sure on which manner :/ you do see greys in the cities though :) England does have some reds, it's a shame they don't have more success, they're cuter than the greys. Both are cute though! As for this recipe, it works well. One thing I'll add, whichever you use; lard or suet, let it cool 2 or 3 minutes before you mix it or everything will sizzle and cook briefly haha. Good luck!
going in kitchen to do mine, wish me luck, not sure about how much fat to melt, I've got Atora beef suet and a slab of it - forgot to get the meal worms but got raisins, nuts, oats and sunflower hearts. wish me luck ! can we come and see your reds?? not a single one in Yorkshire (but we DO have a badger sett that we feed every night and a family of deer so I suppose you can't have everything lol) Will let you know how mine turns out.
Renata boyle oh a badger sett! Fantastic. We do get badgers up here but I've never personally seen one. Good luck with the mix! Remember to let the oil cool down a little before you mix... I'd guess around 2 parts mix and 1 part oil, but I found the suet released less pip than you'd imagine. Its all trial and error but it's quite satisfying seeing wee fluffballs eating your creation :) Haha sure, come see our reds! They'll appreciate your nuts lol
Thanks for your lovely video! I just made a batch today. You might try chopping the suet pretty fine before rendering it.. you'll get a lot more liquid fat that way. Merry Christmas!
kowdah1 great tip! I shall try that next time. Good to hear you made some up and it turned out well. I should make more too! Birds seem to disappear from my garden in winter though.
Great job, great video. I went to our town Butcher and he didn't have beef suet. So I had to go to the grocery store and come to find out they had and I were selling it for a dollar 99 a pound. I wish I could have got mine for free too
Good stuff, but check around - I've spoken on two occasions to zoologists in my area and there's simply no evidence that salt is harmful to birds whatsoever. In fact they need some salt just as we do. They pick and choose what they want of seed based on what they are hungry for and the same is true of suet - if they don't want it/don't need it they won't eat it. Perhaps during deep freezes if the birds are starving they'd eat anything, but in that case getting all those calories and surviving far outweighs a little too much extra salt for a week or a few. Just wanted to post this here - I've heard this "peanut butter is bad" myth all over and it just won't die for one reason or another. It's just a myth that keeps being repeated. Happy holidays and hope your bird neighbors are happy this winter too! Some info (hard to find much) craftsbyamanda.com/birds-peanut-butter-bird-feeders-myth-facts/
therealchickentender oooo.. Interesting to read. I'm part of a few birding groups in the area and many comment on how peanut butter gets all over their beak and can work against their feathers and waterproofing. There is also the sugar argument... I'm more bothered about sugar than salt really. I do agree most creatures require a little salt in their life though. I'm not sure where an inland / freshwater based bird gets it mind you. I tend to follow guides by the Rspb... It's been Rspb folk who have planted the seed about unsafe foods for me.
That's what I hypothesized . And I wondered about using beef suet, because I had seen someone making it when I was a girl. I don't know about the oats. I get to thicken, but do the birds like it? They do not like the lard.
Maybe when editing your videos don’t put your music soooo loud it’s louder than your voice do had to keep turning down the volume when music plays and turning it up when you talk watch it yourself and you will see!
but using human processed treat foods, which is what she was referring to and is common in many other youtube videos, has way more salt and sugar than they would encounter in their natural diet.
