Evening star., 1946-01-09
This and That
By Charles E. TraceUeu.

A correspondent wants to know how
to make suet cake for the birds.
One formula, which has been very
successful, is as follows:
Bread, dried and ground. ounces:
meat, dried and ground, ounces; hemp,
ounces; millet, ounces; ants eggs.
2 ounces; sunflower seed, 3 ounces. and
dried berries, ounce.
To this mixture should be added one
and half times as much melted suet.,
materials stirred in.
The cake is then allowed to cool of
and harden, after which 1t may be served
up to the birds in number Of different
ways.
One good method is to take an old
wire soap container, cram in the suet
mixture and hang on a tree limb.
This cake will always be favorite of
many birds, including the woodpeckers,
nuthatches, chickadees and titmice.
1t may attract starlings now and then
but these big clumsy fellows offer note
OF comedy as they teeter on the soap
dish.
1t should be understood that the
amounts suggested above are only ten
tative. There are no hard and fixed
rules, but the big idea is to use suet as
the base, and then to include sunfiower
seed in particular and such other foods
as birds may like
The ANTS eggs" are not very good
food and may be omitted. We would
prefer whole wheat bread to white bread
White bread is good emergency food
for birds, but will not do as a steady
diet for them.
The natural seeds, and even chicken
feeds, such as scratch feed and baby
chick feed, may be used.
Pieces of Suet, plain, or mixed as sug-
gested, may be nailed to trees, or placed
in crevices of bark, where the ever
questing nuthatches will be sure to find
them.
Since suet is liked by dogs, it will be
necessary to place such cakes out of
their reach.
Some dogs are rather clever at get
ting suet down, so a little care will have
to be taken to make sure that they do
not get it.
1t is interesting to experiment with
various mixtures for the birds. One will
not always have berries to grind, or even
meat to dry and grind. Such things are
just as easily left out. The birds will not
miss them. They eat whatever tastes
good to them, and find simple suet. with
few small seeds in it, much to their
liking
Not all species, of course, like suet in
any form or mixed up in any way.
The whiteneSS Of suet often frightens
birds away White as color, will scare
some species at feeding places. A mound
of snowy popcorn, far from attracting
them, at times will keep every bird away
from formerly well-patronized feeding
station.
We discovered one winter that the
introduction of some cottage cheese was
great mistake. Not a bird came. Five
minutes after the offending substance
was removed there were at least 100
birds at the station.
Dog biscuit, or dried dog food, makes
an excellent addition, when ground, to
the suet cake. Do not use too much of
it. 1t will do very well as substitute
for the ant eggs and ground meat in the
above formula
A supplementary food called yeast
for dogs" would make nice addition
to such a cake. Not more than half a
teaspoonful, ground, should be added.
Always keep in mind that not all birds
which stay here in winter like suet.
Seeds, after all, are the staple of most
of them. Seed-eating birds want seeds.
Even the hardy mockingbird, of which
several hundred remain every winter,
will not eat suet, except now and then.
He cannot eat most seeds, and so must
go hungry if he cannot find berries on
shrubs. He likes bread, doughnut, raisins,
and his natural food should be supple
mented with these, especially when
snow and ice are on the ground. An
apple cut in two is always treat.