How do you make homemade fat balls?
How do you make homemade fat balls?
Birds love energy-rich fat balls, which give them all the calories they need to get through cold winter days and nights. You can buy them in the shops but they’re easy to make at home. Simply mix kitchen scraps such as cheese, cake crumbs and dry porridge oats with melted lard or suet, and set in the fridge overnight.
Is it cheaper to make your own fat balls for birds?
Making homemade fat balls for birds is a cheap and fun way of encouraging more birds to visit your garden, and those extra calories could make the difference for winter survival.
What do you put in a fat ball?
Making fat balls is extremely easy, all you need is solid vegetable oil, beef suet or lard, plus bird seed mix, at a ratio of 1:2.
What can I use instead of lard for fat balls?
suet
You can use suet instead of lard, if you prefer, so fat balls are sometimes called suet cakes. You could also use single-ingredient peanut butter, with no added oils. But don’t use peanut butter containing artificial sweeteners or added salt.
Can you use butter to make fat balls for birds?
Solid Fat – Lard or Suet is best, avoid turkey or chicken fats, these can clog up birds feathers. Also unsuitable are oil, butter.
Can birds eat porridge oats?
Any dry breakfast cereal makes for useful bird food, although you need to be careful only to put out small amounts at a time. And make sure there’s a supply of drinking water nearby, since it quickly turns into pulp once wet. Uncooked porridge oats are also fine for a number of birds.
Can I use beef dripping to make fat balls for birds?
The core ingredient will be lard, suet or beef dripping. Your local butcher might have these, but otherwise most supermarkets have it in the fridge aisle near the butter. Look for small blocks of ‘Frytex’ beef dripping, or a supermarket own-brand equivalent. Note that butter, margarine, coconut oil, peanut butter etc.
Is unsalted butter safe for birds?
Birds have needs of some crucial elements, especially foods that contain a lot of fats. For example, you can provide seeds, dried fruits, or chopped up seasonal fruits. Here is a short list to help you out: unsalted butter or margarine.
Can birds eat dry Weetabix?
Any dry breakfast cereal makes for useful bird food, although you need to be careful only to put out small amounts at a time. And make sure there’s a supply of drinking water nearby, since it quickly turns into pulp once wet.