Fat Balls for Birds
Fat Balls for Birds
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.
Which birds benefit from fat balls?
Fat balls are popular with blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits, house sparrows, blackbirds, robins, woodpeckers, nuthatches and blackcaps.
Add rehydrated raisins, currants and sultanas, small pieces of apple or pear, or grated cheese. Crushed peanuts and mealworms can also be added.
Foods to avoid
Avoid using turkey fat, which doesn’t set like suet and lard, and can coat birds’ feathers, preventing them from being able to fly. It can also spread disease. You should also refrain from using raisins and sultanas if you have a dog, as they are poisonous to them. Bear in mind that mealworms are harmful to hedgehogs, so only add these if you’re hanging fat balls in winter, when hedgehogs are hibernating.
You will Need
Lard or Suet
Twine or string
Old yoghurt pots
Unsalted peanuts
Currants and/or sultanas
Oats
Breadcrumbs
Grated Cheese
Bowl, saucepan and spoon
Mix the ingredients
The best ratio for this fat ball recipe is one part fat to two parts dry mixture. Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Add the fat
Melt some lard or suet in a pan and add the dry mix. Stir well until the fat has all been absorbed by the dry mixture, and everything sticks together.
Make the fat balls
Make a hole in the bottom of a yoghurt pot and thread through a length of twine or string, then pack the pot with your warm fat mixture, to make fat balls.
Remove the yoghurt pots
Place your fat balls in the fridge overnight to set, then cut through the pot and and peel it away. Tie a big knot at one end of the twine to secure the ball.
Hang the fat balls
Hang the fat ball in a tree or shrub and wait for the birds to come and feast.
