A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Homemade Suet Cakes

I just got a PM from a new member here inquiring about suet cakes. So, thought it would be a good time of the year to post this again.

Here's the recipes I started from...
Suet Recipes
...but I improvise on them a LOT!

My birds love them...

Cindy

WOW! What great ideas for thing to put in them! ( i had no idea)I got one once for hummers andit melted and got funky. This will give me something to do! And I can pass along the idea to daddy who is retired and "had nothing" to do! thanks for taking the time to share.

mimi...I have a stockpile of suet cakes in my freezer. After I have them in the freezer for awhile in the little plastic containers, I take them out, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them back in the freezer so I can re-use the containers as molds. My crow LOVES my suet cakes...he's outside right now chowing down on one! If I don't have his cake out there by 7 a.m. he starts screaming until I bring it out. He's rather spoiled!

Welcome to the forum, mimi_in the garden!

Cindy

My Stepmother thanks you!!! yeah! Daddy made these!Consider this a cyberhug! Thanks so much. Now for me to make some over the weekend. Just tackled Martha Stewarts mile high apple pie. It was yum. Never thought of making these for the Budgies. They could eat them?I guess huh? Wouldnt they "melt" in the house? Mimi

Not a good idea, trust me on that one!
I made some for Lola out of all her treat foods...
You talk about a MESS! I had to give her a bath when she was done. I gave the rest of them to the outside birds. They seem to be a little more "tidy" when they eat than Lola is.


Cindy

Cindy - can you use turkey or chicken fat in them or does it have to be bacon grease?

Hmmm...I use everything. I use mostly lard to hold them together, and add a little bacon grease...because the bacon grease alone wouldn't keep them firm enough to stay together. I've had grease left in a pan from frying chicken, etc. and used some of it along with the lard. If I have fat from chicken or pork chops or whatever I like to put it on the dry stuff first, to moisten it, then add the lard.

Did that make any sense at all?

...sometimes when I start typing what's in my head it kinda turns into rambling...and then suddenly I realize the whole post has gone awry.
Like I think it just did.....

So Cindy, do you think those would ship well? My mom loves her birds and she is in Utah. She and dad are so hard to shop for and I love doing homemade things for them. They might really enjoy bird food. Since I have never bought them before, would a small flat Tupperware container work for the mold and do they actually get hard and dry? Lots of questions, huh? Guess I should check out the web link.

Thanks Cindy I have about 5 crows hang around my house so I will save all my birds left overs and put in them why not I make food treats for my Sugargliders all the time.
Jimmy

I made suet for my birds and they haven't eaten any of it. I used suet from the meat market, rendered it down and added a bag of wild bird seed.

Should I have added something else?

Amigatec.

Question,
Have you ever put out suet before???
Or is this the first time??

And what kind of birds do you already have
in your yard???

Amigatec...I would think that would be a good start. It may be that the right birds just haven't found it yet. I find that I mainly get downy woodpeckers, creepers and such coming to mine. Try putting out sunflower seed in feeders, if you haven't already, to get them coming around, and they'll find the suet.

I have put out suet for 2 years now and haven't had any problems with it. I have right next to my black oiled sunflower feeder.

I changed it out with some store bought suet, so maybe that will find it. If they start eating it I may melt down my homemade suet and add something to it. I do see a few nibbles on the side, but after 2 weeks I would think that they would be eating it up.

Also today I made a shield to go around it so that the bigger birds don't eat any of it.

Did it smell funny???

Sometimes it can go rancid?????

I took it out of the freezer, it didn't smell bad, but it did have more lard in it than the store bought one. It may have been one of the last ones I made when there was more lard than seed.

Maybe warm it up a bit,
and press some more new seed into it..
and add some peanut butter...

Thanks Cindy!
How much lard, shortening, grease do you use instead of the suet?
Do you use the equivilent amount 1/2 lb?

I don't know, Becky.
I never measure anything.

I'm gonna make some suet cakes in a little while, and I'll try to measure...and take some pics.

I have mine on a bush outside my lr window.
They're only about 3.5' off the ground, but Starlings seem to like it.
Starlings are those little black/darkbrown birds right?

The birds haven't taken too much interest in any seeds though. I wonder why?
Anyone have any ideas?

I really need to go out there today and check how much suet is left and make sure it's not frozen.
Is suet something that should be out year round or just when the weather is cold?

You should leave suet out all the time. It rarely, if ever, spoils. I just buy mine for about a dollar a cake. If no Starlings are around one cake will do me aBOUT 2-3 WEEKS. If there are ANY starlings around the longest a cake lasts is about 24-48 hours. Mr. Mocky and Mrs. Mocky, my resident Northern Mockingbirds do an excellent job of keeping the Starlings out of my yard, but allow any other birds to come and freely eat, drink, bathe, and nest. They seem to LOVE the company of any bird species EXCEPT Starlings.

Miss Jamie, try boiling your meat in a pot with enough water to cover it over an inch or two. Then, leave the meat in the water to cool completely. The fat should float to the top and congeal as a thick, white, waxy, crust. This crust IS suet. Scrape the suet off the top of the water and save the suet. Use the rest of the water and the meat in it to make a delicious soup or stew by adding a variety of your favorite vegetables, herbs, and seasonings (that you grow yourself). Melt the suet down and mix in the other ingredients and pour into molds and pop the molds and suet into the freezer to harden. Then whenever you need suet, just take a cake out of your freezer and pop it into your feeder.

oh i'll have to try the ideas here. the only times i ever make them is if we cook bacon. i just use the grease and pour it in a plastic disposable cup and then fill it with asst birdseed. i put twine down inside and then freeze it. when it's done i pop it out and tie it up in the tree. i never makes it to day 2. but i'll have to use the bread crumbs and other asst things mentioned here. i love to watch the woodpeckers go at it!

Wow, what a wide variety of suet recipes. Thanks!!!

I make one for my mockingbirds that they just love.

Patches, that is a PERFECT blend of ingredients for a Mockingbird. Mockingbirds LOVE suet, fruit, and peanuts. Now, mix in a little apple juice or applesauce and you would have the QUINTESSENTIAL Mockingbird suet cake!!!

Once I did put some leftover applesauce in it but it made it a lttle too soft so I had to serve it in a dish. However, I do cut up apples into small pieces and put that in there.

patches

STEP BY STEP SUET CAKES

Huge bowl, with Lola's leftover stuff...
...cashews, Avi-Cakes, Cheese-Its, cereal, etc.



Added a bunch of bread crumbs...



...some cooked rice and bird seed...



...chopped apples, corn meal, smooshed eggshells...



Mix it all up...

...and add melted shortening.
I used 2 1/2 cups of melted shortening for this huge bowl. Depending on how much wet ingredients you use, you can use less or more shortening...just keep adding a little at a time until it gets nice and mooshy and sticks together good.


Pressed into the old containers that store-bought suet cakes came in.
Finished product...

I pop these into the freezer, then when they're solid I put them in baggies. You can leave 'em in the containers, but I have to make suet cakes constantly so I need to re-use the containers everyday.