Make your own suet dough for birds!

A Recipe for Suet Dough

This peanut butter and lard suet dough recipe from Julie Zickefoose is popular with woodpeckers, jays, titmice, nuthatches, chickadees, sparrows, towhees, cardinals, bluebirds, mockingbirds, thrashers, and warblers. Did we miss anybody? Basically, backyard birds dig it.

Combine and melt in the microwave or over low heat:

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup lard

In a large mixing bowl, combine:

  • 2 cups unmedicated chick starter, available at farm/feed stores
  • 2 cups quick oats
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 cup flour

Add melted lard/peanut butter mixture to the combined dry ingredients and mix well. When cool, crumble and serve in a shallow dish, protected from rain. Store in peanut butter jars. Does not require refrigeration.

Because it is rich and can become gooey, this suet dough should be offered only in cold or inclement weather.

Looking for other foods to feed your birds? Please visit this bird food and seed list to learn more.