Why not make your own fat balls for the birds?
Comments(67)
Watching the birds feeding just outside the kitchen windows gives me enormous pleasure. Since the bird eating cat that used to lurk in our front garden has moved away there are many more ground feeding birds and quite often I spot mice collecting seeds. Mice in the shrubs are fine. When they come into the house they are a problem.We give the birds mixed seed and fat balls all year. We only put out peanuts in the colder non nesting months as baby birds can choke on peanuts. Finally my large tub of fat balls for the birds has run out. So I decided to make my own. My friend Bunty, pours off all her warm leftover fat into flat plastic containers and she strings these up for the birds. This works well in the depths of winter when it is freezing outside. I tried it once in the summer and the fat melted in the sunshine.
I had a bit of a sniff about on the Internet and discovered that lard or suet seems to be a good fat base for home made fat feeders. There is an interesting thread in the Wild About Britain forum with several recipes and useful suggestions such as adding raisins to the mixture.
I found an old coconut feeder knocking about in the barn. We buy wild bird seed in 25 kilo sacks. So I filled the half coconut shell with mixed seeds and poured the melted lard over the seed. I put it in the fridge to harden. It hangs in a sunny spot and has not melted. Lard is cheap, and the massive sacks of bird seed are under ?10. So this homemade mixture is so much cheaper than the commercially produced balls.
Yesterday I spotted a coconut in the supermarket. After we have gorged on coconut I plan to use the shells to make two more reusable bird fat feeders.
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Thanks for the tip. I ran out of fat balls a while ago so I’ll have a go at making these. I don’t think I’ve ever seen coconuts in the supermarket though, maybe I just haven’t been looking!
I found the coconut in the tropical fruit section of Waitrose. Thanks for dropping by.
We are going to make some of these for definite! Maybe even a lot of them… There are sacks of coconuts left over from the school summer fair (they have a traditional coconut shy). I had planned on buying some of the sacks and using the coconut shy for the boys birthday parties in the summer. It would be really cool if we split the coconuts and all the children made some bird feeders to take home. Nice and different to the plastic bags full of tat!
Great idea, Amanda. You could pre melt the lard, heated and cooled is softer than the stuff straight from the pack. The kids could press the seeds etc into the lard. A bit of the hot lard that I was using dribbled out of the hole where the string is tied and when it had set I just scooped it up and put it into the shell. It didn’t melt in the sunshine.
The birds love the coconut feeder. The little shell doesn’t last long. The coconut that I bought is still waiting to be transmogrified into a couple of larger bird cafés.
Hi All – I plan to make these fat balls for bird-feeding for a gardening project for children in my area during the school hols – you dont really need a cocnut if you cant afford/get hold of them – all you need is a pce of string stuck thru a disp paper cup and then set them in the fridge. Thats how we did it for our playgroup abt a million light years away, or seems that way anyway! Great site.
Hi Susan,
The paper cup idea is great. Thanks for dropping by and leaving the tip.
Hi where is a good place to buy sacks of the bird seeds tho? I live in Lancaster – thanks
Hi Jacqui
A good place to by giant sack of birdseed is a lerge pet emporium, such as Pets at Home or Scampers (I don’tknow whether these exist in Lancaster). Big garden centres also sell big sacks of birdseed too. It might be worth ringing to check first.
Hi,
I’m planning on using old tennis balls cut in half to make these bird feeders.
Hi Clare,
That’s a brillant idea. Thanks!
[...] the Woodpecker Jump to Comments ‘Love it…love it’ – famous words from King Kev - and I also loved it thismorning when I saw my woodpecker (now known as ‘my’ woodpecker) feeding from the fat balls (way of doing so courtesy of cottage Smallholder, but mine was from gardeners world) in the garden! Makes my heart smile knowing that I am attracting something that bit different into my garden – my limbs have also started moving quickly….hope I am not TWITCHING……bum bum. Sorry… [...]
Putting ‘Fat balls’ out is a great method of feeding garden birds. The fat, packed with seeds, fruit and nuts, tempt a wide variety of birds. As well as hanging them up for the ‘acrobats’ we place some where blackbirds etc can comfortably perch to nibble their share. And I agree, Woody (above), it IS wonderful when you get a Woodpecker calling in for his breakfast!
Hi Woody Woodpecker
We found that slabs of fat based feed attract woodpeckers too! Especially the homemade ones.
Hi Mildred
Good point. I try any put some fat balls at an accessible point for the robin, thrush and blackbird. It is easy to forget ground feeders and with clever cats around this can spell death.
Just been reading your comments,ive been makeing my own fat balls for some time now,i use lard and mix in seed and mill worms {dried} .
i use coconuts and large pine cones filled with this mixture
With regard to buying bulk bird seed, don’t forget to try the local small pet shops. Our local shop has 20k of mixed seed for £11, which is cheeper (yes OK it should be cheaper, but it is bird seed) than most large suppliers around here.
I tried making fat balls before I found this site. I used a supermarket own brand vegetable suet mixed with seeds and it seems to be going down OK with the birds. I will try the berries later and I will also try adding desiccated coconut which is available from the supermarket.
Dave
Reading this and postings on other sites it seems that many people are using a lard or suet base which has to be melted before it can be used. I bought SHREDDED vegetable suet from the baking section of the supermarket, this can be mixed with seed and moulded without using any heat. Those people who encourage children to get involved in making suet balls might find this method safer.
Dave
Hi Dave L
Thanks for dropping by.
That’s a great tip using shredded suet that can be moulded without heating, particularly for children.
Yes berries and desiccated coconut would be good additions.
Hi all,
I’m very puzzled by the need to melt the lard to make the cakes.
When I make fat balls or bird cake, I use the lard at room temperature.
I just get a large bowl (or you could use a bucket if making a large amount at once) I then drop in a pack of lard or as much as I need and then add seeds, dried fruit (which can be bought very cheaply from the supermarket by buying the value packs or any out of date bags that are sometime on offer), I also empty all my old cereal boxes into another bowl and crush the cereal to very small pieces and add this, plus if you keep an old ice cream tub in the kitchen you collect apple cores & old fruit etc and then chop this up and add to the mix (don’t worry if the fruit turns into mush, it will still provide good protein).
In the winter or breading months I will add suet to the mix to boost the protein even more.
Once you have added all the edible ingredients that you can find then simply get your hands in there and rub the mix together as you would if you where making a cake. you can adjust the mix as you go, adding more seed or lard as you need until you end up with a stiffish’ mix that holds together well. Too much seed etc will make the mix too crumbly and fall apart and too much lard will make it more prone to melting apart (After a few goes you will learn to get it just right).
The resulting cake can then be rolled into fat balls or pushed into coconut half’s or yoghurt cartons etc with string through the bottom and piece of stick or match inside to stop the string pulling out, then leave to cool at room temperature or put outside to cool (as it will be soft straight after rubbing due to your hand temperature) once cooled, make sure that it stays where it was put and is not melting, if it is then don’t put it out on hot days or readjust the mix.
You can save a lot of money making your own recipes or get the kids or grand children to rub it all together for you (They love doing it) but the best bit is the self satisfaction of seeing the birds enjoying your creations.
I tend to make large amounts when I can and keep them in old cake tins or ice cream tubs etc, until I need them, this way it doesn’t seem such a task and they last a long time.
Finally a little note about fat balls.
Don’t be tempted to put them out in plastic netting from old orange bags etc.
Using plastic netting can cut the birds tongues, because when they peck they very often get their beaks either side of the net strands and as they pull their beaks out the plastic netting can cut their tongues.
You should also ideally remove the green netting that the shop bought ones come in.
The best and safest way is to buy or make a metal cage type, fat ball holder that can hold several fat balls, or use a large bore peanut feeder.
Most of all have lots of fun doing it
Regards & Best Wishes
Martin Lowe
Hello Martin
Thank you so much for dropping by and adding these comments to our archive. You’ve given me loads of food for thought – I had no idea that those nets can be dangerous.
Thanks for taking the time to share so much useful information, much appreciated.
Hi all, this information is great and im sure our readers will find it helpful.
All the best
Sam Kent
Hi. I have been reading all of the tips and think they are great. I have only been in the UK for 15 months, I’m originally from Australia, and as a Brownie Leader we used to make bird feeders with the girls. We would use a large pine cone, smother it with peanut butter and then roll it in bird seed. Hang them on the tree and the birds went mad!! Just an easy bird feeder for the kids. Kind regards
Kylie Dougall
Hi Sam
Thanks for leaving a comment. Feeding the birds can be such fun.
Hello Kylie
This is a great idea – thanks so much for sharing!
I must be doing something wrong then, the birds in may garden prefer the shop bought fat balls! I melt veg lard, add a variety of seeds, chopped nuts, bits of bread, and set the balls in the fridge. I sometimes fill coconut shells too and even they seem to do better than the fat balls. Am I doing something wrong, cos when I put the shop bought fat balls out, 4 are gone within an hour!!!
Hi Carol
It’s difficult to say what’s going wrong with your fat balls.
Whay not try a new recipe. There are several in the comments above. The fir cones, peanut butter and bird seed ones sound tempting!
Hi Bird Lovers
When I put out fat slabs on the feeding tree….all I get is flocks of Starlings which eat it all in about half an hour and the tits and finches and other small birds do not get a look in…..
what can I do to discourage them and give the little birds a chance???
Any advice accepted
Thanks in Advance
Hi all,
I enjoyed reading the comments but I had to say something about birds cutting their tongues on the store bought fat balls.
I can’t think of a scenario where I would be able observe such a thing. I’m sure birds however small have the intelligence to cope with the plastic netting from store fat balls. If I’m wrong, I stand corrected.
I would say however to dispose of these nets responsibly as they could cause more harm to other garden visitors, especially hedgehogs.
Thanks for the tips on the ingredients, that’s why I googled and stopped to read this site. very helpful.
Does anyone know how to prevent starlings from bullying the smaller birds. One afternoon last week starlings mugged me for 4 fatballs but they couldn’t use the seed feeders.
thanks for the tip mate i,ll start making my own right away i wonder d if you had any more tips for garden birds
After reading this thread a few days ago, I very successfully made some fat balls by rubbing kitchen bits into lard, including chopped up bacon rind, end of breakfast cereal and seeds etc
Only thing is it dissapeared rather quickly!!!
Will be making more, one feeder I made by using a small plastic milk bottle, cutting out a hole on the opposite side of the handle near the bottom (but leaving a small ledge for birds to perch on), tying string onto handle and hanging it from a branch, this kept the smaller acrobats busy !
Hi
Just want to know if any body thinks it s safe to make fat balls from the fat off left over roast dinners ?
Some great ideas here! One word of warning though-using dessicated coconut is not a good idea, as it can swell up in a bird’s gizzard or stomach, and cause death. It needs to be reconstituted first by soaking in water. Best to stay with the seeds, nuts (unsalted) and dried fruit (not as bad as the coconut, though it might be worth soaking these in water first too). Wholemeal flour, Porridge oats are good, and cheap. Make sure any peanut butter you use is unsalted, as salt will dehydrate a bird.
Has anyone tried grinding their peanuts and sunflower hearts to add to DIY fat balls. I do using an old coffee grinder for just a short burst.. I also soak chopped up cheap dried fruit which has been soaked in a small quantity of boiling water for a while. The birds love this mixture, especially the soft bills who cannot deal with hard seeds etc. I put some on a ground feeder (blessed starlings) and some hanging.
Hi , I enjoyed reading all your comments. for the first time i have today made some fat balls. I used a pack of lard and garden bird seed. I cut string and placed this in 6 cups. I heated the lard added nuts and garden bird seed. then i found left over dates from christmas. I stuck one in each cup. hope these are safe for the birds. I have now placed the cups in the fridge and hope i can get them out when they cool. I am so excited and hope this works. I made a loop in the bottom of the cup of string then after filling i moved the string to the middle. I will let you know if it works.
The other thing I thought might be a good idea. is to buy a coconut and use the drill for making holes in doors for yale locks.
drill the coconut and hang it up with the coconut still inside. the birds can then eat the contents and the blue tits might even nest there.
what do you think.
I have bought bird houses but they fall apart.
I think nature knows best.
Loved reading this thread as I always made fat balls with the children at the playgroup I worked in every year as part of a winter project. I agree though that the birds do seem to prefer the shop bought ones – perhaps they contain the bird equivalent of MSG. We have loads of starlings about here but they seem to prefer feeding off the farm next door’s sillage pit. We have had a buzzard trying to catch the birds feeding around the bird table though – they are probably an easy catch in the cold weather.
Hi all, Im a bit upset at my lard ball success. I made a lard ball as you had all said and tied mine with string and placed it in a prominent place in my garden where the plastic ahnger used to hang and the birds flocked to. I have been watching and the birds wont go near it, it has been 3 days now. Is their a reason for this do you think??
Some times birds take a while to get used to something new in the garden and if its something they have never seen any where else before this may be a factor. Im undecided on attempting making fat balls as i buy high quality ones which are hand made from a local farm shop for 20p each and im not sure if i can do it any cheaper altho im sure the kids would live a go at making them.
Hi, I’m using fat ball from my local wildlife society shop. They’re fine until they become smaller than the mesh size of the fatball feeder, they then fall through and my small dog eats them. He’s then immediately sick, usually on the carpet.
I now remove them before they get too small but it’s very wasteful and so I’ve tried to gently heat them up together as I thought they’d melt or at least soften and I could pour or push them into a new container. All that happened was I filled the house with an exceedingly nasty smell and a lot of smoke.
Does anyone have any bright ideas on how I could re-use them?
As well as fat and seeds i also use cheap peanut butter added to the mix it works out a lot cheaper if you do a lot at once and the birds love it especially the starlings they can hang on to anything even my large seed feeders.Shop bought fat balls don’t interest the birds, I’ve tried them side by side and there’s only one winner.You can buy 50 small plastic cups or glasses at asda for £1 and these are ideal to fill,set,take out of cups and then put in a feeder
If you are really struggling for containers then you can use toilet rolls cut in half. I dip the end in fat and then place them on a piece of newspaper until it sets. Then I fill the bottom with stale bread and pack it tight, (to form a seal to stop the fat running out.) Then you can layer the rest of the tube with your mix letting it set slightly before you add the next layer. Once it is all set you can remove the newspaper and tie the tube up with string.
It doesn’t look pretty but the birds don’t seem to mind!
Hi Robert
This is a great idea. Thank you!
Hi I found the best way to make the fat ball was to use plastic cups. put the string in the cup first. heat the lard and the nuts bits of cake left of cerial. bread crumbs. and chopped fruit. any of the above.
heat the lard and the nuts.
let it cool so as not to melt the cups.
put them in the fridge to cool.
when you come to use them . run the bottom of the cup under hot water and it just pops out.
you can then reuse the cups.
tie the string around the centre to secure it better and tie it on a tree for the birds. they love them. better than the bought ones. bit difficult for them with the mesh.
Hello Liz
Thanks very much for this. Really useful tips.
Hi just thought i would share some of my thoughts about fatballs. If you take a fat ball and cut it in half it does not seem to contain much goodness.
So that set me thinking about making my own, after many attempts I came to the solution that most do. Suet is the answer.
I then needed a mould – finally settled on stainless steel tube, ok so im and engineer and that sort of material is no problem. I then made some end caps and moulded some with various seeds and nuts. That worked great but they needed to be compressed.
So once again being and engineer I used a valve spring compressor, sure I know you all dont have one of these – no worry all is solved later. Then came tricky part, how to get some plastic net and hooks. Well I did sort that too.
U may laugh but yes i bought 2000mts of it & 2000 hooks !!! (He must have a big garden or be off his rocker)
Seriously. I now have developed a kit of parts (Mould, endcaps, clamp, hooks & neeting) with instruction and recipes to make your own fatballs.
Ive called it “Fatzball” and the kit is avialable from me for £14.99 plus postage @ £3.25. If you would like to see photo of kit please email me. Ps yeh I know need to get rid of netting and hooks!!!!
Hello Bluedog
That sounds like an amazing kit. Thank you. If anyone is interested in these kits I’ll pass your emails onto Bluedog.
i make my own in yoghurt pots, lard and throw in any left overs, cereals, bacon rind, cous cous, dried fruit, honey,,,, in fact anything,,,, the birds feast,,,
On no account should netting be used – I know it is used a lot in shop bought balls, but small birds can get their claws caughtin the netting especially when the fst ball is getting smaller as it is eaten. More than once I have found the remains of a blue tit or great tit that had died struggling to get away.
I am new to feding bird as we had a cat until recently and I think that it’s cruel to feed birds with a good hunting cat like our was, now I am all about the birds I bought some coconut shells filled with fat for our birds and I will now refill them when they become empty, also I and going to try and do a sausage shape and fill the whole feeder instead of balls, do I feel lucky maybe, I read a a different site that you need to add porrage oates to make them shapable so hopefully I will be ok
Hi New top bird feeding
Great idea using oats!
DO NOT use dessicated coconut for birds. It kills them.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whatfood/index.aspx
Hello Damian
Thank you so much for leaving this comment, I had no idea.
I fill up the smallest Baked bean can with bird seed and fat from cooked chops etc. put it in the fridge till hard then remove the other side of the tin. You can then hang it from a branch by threading string through. Our birds do seem to prefer the shop bought fat balls but after a time they get used to the strange tins and devour the contents!
Hello Jenny
Using the tins is a great idea. Danny loves baked beans so we often have the tins knocking around – also good for repairing rat/mice dameage on sheds, chicken houses etc.
When the weather gets a bit cooler I’ll try this. Thanks!
[...] Link: Recipie and tips from The Cottage Smallholder: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/why-not-make-your-own-fat-balls-for-the-birds-357 [...]
It was quite a while ago but I saw a coment in your thread asking if fat left over from roasts etc is safe to use. I just thought I’d answer that in case anyone else was thinking about it. The answer is NO, there is too much salt and danger of salmonella etc. See the article attached:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-237136
Loving all the ideas by the way.
Thanks for that Birdfrindly – I was actually going to use the fat from our dinner last night but my husband threw it out! He must have known better than me.
Tried making fat balls with lard – they are ignored and go mouldy. I’m about to try with suet.
Perhaps I’m offering too many alternatives – sunflower, seed/peanut mix, etc
Hi just wanted to say i really appreciate your warm forum on this subject.
Ive a few reasons why i wanted to make fat balls:
Staling nuts and a few slices of bread going to waste
An indoor cat who loves watching the birds
Ive been off ill a few days and fancied something creative around the back of my upper floor city flat rather than any more daytime tv
So the upshot is, happy eating birds, happy busied cat and rested and happy me.
Thanks so much for the time you’ve all put into the site, it really is appreciated far and wide x
I have recently moved to bulgaria and have been amazed at the amount of birds here. I want to make the fat balls as i have a bird table that attracts loads of different birds. I have not seen fat balls here so i am making some this afternoon. We have even had a buzzard and a stork land in our garden. How lucky are we. many thanks for all the recipe ideas.
Hi All,
Just wanted to warn AGAINST using dessicated coconut. The UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) website states:-
“Desiccated coconut should never be used as it may swell once inside a bird and cause death.”
Their website has a great page advising what to feed birds and what types of food attract what types of bird. The website address is:-
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whatfood/index.aspx
Hope this is helpful.
Just spent a load of money on fat balls will have a go and post how I get on
[...] web to find out more about making your own bird food and I recommend this helpful site and page: http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=357 Be careful however when you search on ‘fat balls’ because you might not always find exactly [...]
can one use the fat from a george foreman grill run off to make these fat/suet balls??
I have made a bird box for my bird and i am going to make some Fat Balls and put it one my bird box
Hi just wanted to say i really appreciate your warm forum on this subject.
Ive a few reasons why i wanted to make fat balls:
Staling nuts and a few slices of bread going to waste
An indoor cat who loves watching the birds
Ive been off ill a few days and fancied something creative around the back of my upper floor city flat rather than any more daytime tv
So the upshot is, happy eating birds, happy busied cat and rested and happy me.
Thanks so much for the time you’ve all put into the site, it really is appreciated far and wide x
can one use the fat from a george foreman grill run off to make these fat/suet balls??
Great idea, Amanda. You could pre melt the lard, heated and cooled is softer than the stuff straight from the pack. The kids could press the seeds etc into the lard. A bit of the hot lard that I was using dribbled out of the hole where the string is tied and when it had set I just scooped it up and put it into the shell. It didn’t melt in the sunshine.
The birds love the coconut feeder. The little shell doesn’t last long. The coconut that I bought is still waiting to be transmogrified into a couple of larger bird cafés.
It’s true! Birds love fat balls!
I came across this site today looking for something else so I thought I would add the following info..
I don’t like using Lard, it is designed for cooking, real suet however can be obtained FREE in most cases as it is waste. True Suet is the solid fat found around Sheep and Cows Kidneys. My local butcher gives me around 6lb a week in a bag otherwise he would just throw it out.
I put the hard fat into a large deep roasting tin and place it in the top of a hot oven. As it melts, I take the tray from the oven and drain it through a fine metal sieve into a large saucepan… be patient, it can take a while if you are processing a large amount!
After a few hours you will have processed the bulk of it and sieved it all. In the bottom of the pan you may be left with a few stubborn lumps… don’t throw these away, I let them cool and just leave them in the garden and on the bird table as the birds love them, especially in the winter months when they need the extra energy to survive the cold.
The suet I have in liquid form takes a while to cool, I keep around a litre for myself as this is great for making suet pastry for pies and of cause, suet pudding (Spotted Dick).
The remainder I mix with good quality wild bird seed and add some xtra sunflour seeds and pour into old odd shaped glass jelly moulds I have collected from junk and 2nd hand shops. I buy balls of string and make loops with a large knot and push into the suet/seed mix and when fully set, I hang them in the garden on the trees.
Since I started doing this, the sparrows in my garden has risen from a handful, to over a 100 on a regular basis, a zillion starlings that fight over them, several blue tits, a couple of Dunnocks, a couple of Redwings during the bad snow over the last 2yrs… and 2 or 3 Wagtails.. all in Urbanised Romford Essex, not best known for it’s wildlife (unless you include the clubbers on a Friday and Sat Night in the Town Centre)
I have experimented with several variations of the mix, the Robins and Tits definately prefer a ground peanut and mealworm mix, the others prefer the mixed wild seed with unprocessed Sun Flower Seeds.
Hi
We use the fatball mix but drill about 10 holes in rustic logs 2.5cm wide & 1.5cm beep with a flat headed drill & fill with the mix & hang them from trees. The birds love them, we even get a greater spotted woodpecker & about 40/50 great & blue tits daily.