Feeding the Birds

dollindebt

Hi hotcookie,
Similar to champys' post above, I pour the slightly cooled but still liquid fat into a large bowl, mix with birdseed, leftover crumbs/bits of stale bread/cake/etc. then spoon or pour the mixture into the soft silicone muffin moulds, and when cool they can easily be turned out. The trick then is to keep my dog away from the bird table--she will do anything to get at them!

Maxjessdru

I have successfully used a used tin can before now (washed of course!)- has the added advantage that you can also open the sealed end with a tin opener and push the fat/seed/whatever you have used mix out easily.

HariboJunkie

Tuna cans work well. I pour the fat into a pyrex jug and mix in seeds while it's still a bit sludgy then pour nto an empty can and refridgerate.

Larumbelle

Just remember that the fat should be saturated, not just solid at room temperature. Birds can't do anything with hydrogenated non-saturated fat!

whiteguineapig

i am hoping you can all give me some help. whilst watching autumnwatch on friday they got to talking about winter coming and how we should all be feeding our garden birds. they then went on to say that on no account were we to feed them bread as it is not good for them nutritionally (sp!). this really started me thinking , they seemed to think that other than buying peanuts and bird food we could also feed them leftovers and bits of old fruit and cheese. i would love to feed them as i have a large garden and i do like to watch them but i would have to do it cheaply. there simply are no leftovers in our house and i rarely throw anything in the bin, i don't think i can afford peanuts and i don't have anything to put them in if i could (a family member once told me that she spends nearly £10 a week on birdfood ! this is nearly half of our human food budget). but there must be something i can do , i am thinking on the lines of smart price fat /oats (do you cook them first?) they also mentioned couscous, not sure about that. i spotted a bag of wild bird food in b and m that was 79p but it looked very fine little seeds and i wondered if i could make something with that, but what would you put it in (no bird table and oh is not "handy!")
so i'm looking for tips and ideas please, hopefully i can get one thing this week then something else the next and make them something each week (thank you in advance)

newlywed

You can make your own fat balls using the seeds any any other bits. But I haven't done this so sorry can't give any further tips on that

If you buy the coconut bird feeder things, you can reuse the shell to make your own stuff in them and they have a bit of string to just tie onto a tree/fence/washing line.

The birds also eat left over bacon rind (they need some fat in their diet). Blackbirds like grapes so if you have any going a bit mank you can put them out, the birds also like apple cores and things too.

2cats1kid

You can get peanuts and fat balls from Poundland. Works out a lot cheaper than buying from anywhere else. Whenever I've tried to make fat balls they have turned their noses (beaks?) up at them - fussy little blighters!

Muddles

I love feeding my Birds but try to do it as cheaply as possible. I buy basic Digestives from Sainsbury's which they all adore. Also they love Porridge (dried )
so I get a big cheap bag of that. I also go to poundland and get fatballs and fat squares there which work out a lot cheaper. I used to feed them sultana's and currants but just buy an occasional basic packet when I am feeling a little flush. I also bought a huge bag of Sunflower seeds on line which also ended up saving me a lot of money.

SailorSam

Make Your Own Wild Bird Treats Have a look at these.
Homemade A Bird's Delight

deeds

theres a 'recipe' here for fat cakes.