Recipes

Bark Butter

Description
Bark Butter is like spreadable suet to put on trees and is a great way to attract birds. Bark Butter attracts woodpeckers, nuthatches and LOTS more



Ingredients:

Bark Butter

• 1 cup lard
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds (or bird seed)
• ½ tsp. honey

Procedure:

• Stir lard and peanut butter
• Add cornmeal, rolled oats, sunflower seeds or bird seed, honey.
• Stir thoroughly
• Let it sit in room temperature
•  Spread on bark
• Store in container in room temperature

Notes:

• Feel free to share the recipe
• You can add anything you think the birds will like, nuts, dried fruits, etc…
• Put it high enough so dogs cannot reach it, they might eat it!
• You can purchase Bark Butter at a Birds Unlimited store.
• It is unbelievable how fast the birds eat it.
• Thank you to Whitney for sharing, http://whitneysbirdblog.blogspot.ca/2011/02/bark-butter-recipe.html

Hummingbird Nectar

Description:

Hummingbird nectar is easy to make and attracts hummingbirds.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 cups water
• Rose petals (optional)

Procedure:

• Bring water to a boil.
• Add sugar some at a time while stirring. 
• Once sugar is completely dissolved, let it cool      

Notes:

• Red food coloring is not necessary to attract hummingbirds and can be bad for them . You can add natural colouring by put flower petals in the boiling water. 
• Wasps and other insects may try to get at the nectar  
• Change often, at least once a week, it can be harmful for them if it is not changed and cleaned
• Hummingbirds do not like it dirty. Always keep hummingbird feeder clean
• Adding rose petals will make the hummingbirds like it more. Also if they are pink or red rose petals it will give it a natural reddish color.  

Homemade Suet

Description: 

We find that store bought suet doesn't work very well. So we mix store bought with other ingredients, and the birds love it

Ingredients:

• One block of store bought suet
• 1/3 cup chopped beef suet
• About 3 heaping spoons of peanut butter
• Then add other things, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, dried mealworms.......

A finished suet batch, the sunflower seeds floated
to the top for some reason

Procedure

• Put suet, chopped beef suet and peanut butter in a pot
• Turn stove on minimum
•  Melt ingredients on stove
• Stir in other things
• Put mixture in pan with sides. 
• Put in freezer to harden.
• Cut squares and put in suet cage
• Store in freezer

Notes:

• Sometimes the birds will not like a suet batch, that's okay though, melt it all down again and add some other stuff
• Be creative and make your own recipes
• Here's a link to a post I made with more specific directions and pictures: http://birdsinyourbackyard.blogspot.ca/2013/11/how-to-make-suet-step-by-step-with.html

Homemade Mixed Birdseed

Description:

This is a recipe to make your own homemade bird seed, which is guaranteed to attract many types of birds to your backyard. Thanks for The Cats and the Birds for the recipe!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1/2 cup peanuts, mix of in the shell and out of the shell
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 2 cups black oil sunflower seed
• 1 cup Nyjer seed
• 1 cup safflower seed

You will also need:

• A large bowl
• A Ziploc bag or large canning jar
• A small bowl

Procedure:

• Fill the small bowl halfway with water and put in the raisins. Let them soak for about 5 minutes.
• While the raisins are soaking, put the almonds and the safflower seed into the large bowl. Mix.
• After the raisins have soaked, take them out and lay them on a paper towel. After they have dried for about 2 minutes, roll them up in the paper towel and squeeze to get rid of any extra water. Add them to the large bowl. Soaking the raisins makes them plumper and tastier for birds.
• Add the peanuts, Nyjer seed, and sunflower seed. Mix.
• Put the mix into the Ziploc bag or canning jar and store in a dry place. The seed can be put into pretty much any seed feeder. Makes about 6 to 8 cups of seed.