Do you have a good recipe for fat balls

[SusieBee]

Bumping this thread because there's so much good info here. I've been all over tinternet looking for a good home made bird cake recipe. Well, should've known WAB would be best place for info.
Can get expensive especially over winter so here goes me off to melt the suet!
Great thread thanks to all who contributed.

Cheers SusieBee

[daffy66]

hi barbara
try this link to the rspb website. its not brilliant but gives an idea of what to put in your fat balls.
The RSPB: Advice

john

[Picidae]

I made my first winter batch of fat balls today (don't bother during summer)

As for the 'recipe', for me anything goes and it's a good opportunity to clear out the bird food store of 'cheap' seed that wasn't popular and any other remains of the bags of food bought over the summer. Rather like my old student days of making stews out of anything I could find in the cupboards!

I generally use melted lard as a base with rolled oats since it's cheap, suet if not. I have half a dozen or so half coconut holders which have been reused many times and scrubbed clean/disinfect. While mixture is warm, I pat it firmly into the coconut shells and leave to set.

Today: Lard, cheap bird seed, some left over mealworm mix, porridge oats.

I've been thinking recently, rather than 'sweep' off dead insects from the window sills, that these should be bunged in too but can't bring myself round to the idea of putting dead insects in my saucepans!

Re: Saving fat off the meat joints/frying bacon etc - Fat clogs up drainpipes and Ubends, so do yourself a favor and as soon as you remove the meat from the frying pan/roasting dish, layer the bottom of the dish/pan with slices of brown bread while it's still hot. When cold, scrape up and put on bird table. Birds love it and your sink and outside drains stay unblocked and pans are easier to clean and you need less detergent to wash up so better for the environment!

[davejg]

Re saving fat
nice tip picidae

[Elean0r]

When I make my own I use oatmeal to bind the lard, and add some mixed seed to it, sometimes I add raisin or sultanas.

This year I'm going to try filling a whole feeder instead of making little balls, because I saw something that looked like large tubes of fat/seed for sale in the pet shop.

I thought if I put some clingfilm round the outside of the feeder it would stop the soft fat from dripping out while it's setting in the fridge.

[Kleftiwallah]

I use the 'disposable' coffee cups from the vending machines. Suet from the local butchers, assorted fruit and nuts, insert a loop of string as you fill the cups and to extract, a little boiling water helps to remove it from the cups. No need to freeze as suet sets easily. Cheers, Tony.

[daffy66]

eleanor
couldnt you use old toilet roll/ kitchen roll tubes for a mould ? if you line the tube with cling film you can just slide the set food tubes out.
john

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

In my opinion their is no right or wrong way to make fat balls as long as you use food and ingredients that are safe for the birds, its more fun and more of a buzz to come up with your own recipie where you see the birds like what you have made.

This is my own recipie.

Take some bird safe peanuts and sunflower hearts and put them into a food blender and add some cheap weetabix, blend until its a lot finer but so it leaves some texture. Add some cheap porridge oats and some grated cheese, throw in a few sultanas and mix with your clean hands.

Melt some lard or suet in a pan, let it cool down after its melted so its still runny but not hot.

Get something like a plastic sandwich box or deep container and pour the mixture from the blender into it, then pour over the melted lard or suet and stir it with a fork so it all gets covered, at this point you can make some round fat balls by taking some of the mixture into your hand and rolling it into balls. Leave everything to set in the fridge for about an hour then after just leave it in a cool dry place until you want to use it.


Sultanas are just 65p for a 500g bag at tesco, they do cheap porridge oats as well and their own brand weetabix which is also cheap. The only expensive thing is cheese but you can still get that fairly cheap.

Just do your own mix to your own budget, birds love it and its fun doing it and a buzz when you see them eating your creation.

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

Originally Posted by daffy66

eleanor
couldnt you use old toilet roll/ kitchen roll tubes for a mould ?

Thats what i use, just use the inner from a toilet roll or kitchen roll and throw it away after, it sets perfect and the right shape for the metal fat ball holders. I put them in the freezer for 1 hour after ive made them and leave them in the fridge after, when i want to use one i just take it out of the fridge and leave it at room temp for about 1 half hours before its ready to go into the garden.

[Elean0r]

Originally Posted by daffy66

eleanor
couldnt you use old toilet roll/ kitchen roll tubes for a mould ? if you line the tube with cling film you can just slide the set food tubes out.
john

Sounds like a good idea.

If I fill up the whole feeder with a fat mix I know it will last about a week, so if I'm not about in daylight I know I needn't worry about food for the birds.