Bird Treat Recipes

Tasty treats for the birds in your garden

Attracting birds to your yard has never been so easy when you offer them tasty treats to eat. Birds, like humans, appreciate an occasional delicacy as an addition to their regular meals, but unlike some human treats, bird treats actually can be beneficial to their health. Best of all, they can be easily made by you or your children on a boring winter afternoon, out of the birds' own birdseed and food scraps you have around your house. What could be better?

The basis of most bird treats is suet. Suet is rendered beef fat that hardens and provides your feathered friends with the energy they need to keep up their strength in the cold winter months. When you combine suet with peanut butter, fruit, cereal or cornmeal, you will see the birds flocking to the feeder to get some of the delicious treat. Not only are you providing them with their own “candy,” you're helping them through a tough time when food is scarce.

We've compiled some recipes that are easy for you and your children to make. Even if you don't have children, this is a good way to spend a quiet day. You can make these treats for your own pleasure and watch all kinds of birds visit your backyard.

If you have any recipes or ideas for bird treats, don't hesitate to e-mail them to us at editor@birdfeedersdirect.com.

Suet Cupcakes

You will need:

• 1 lb chopped suet
• 1 cup mixed birdseed
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup sunflower seeds

Melt the suet over a low flame and stir in the ingredients until they are coated in suet. Spoon into a cupcake tin and chill until the suet is hardened. Place in suet feeder.

Raisin Cake

You will need:

• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup cornmeal
• ½ cup lard
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix all ingredients except raisins together to form a thick batter. Dredge raisins in flour and add them to the mixture. Flour a pie plate or cake pan and bake the cake for an hour. When done, let cool and break into large pieces. Place in mesh bags and hang outdoors.

Bird Cake

You will need:

• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 3 uncored apples, chopped
• 1 cup raisins
• ½ cup unsalted nuts
• ½ pound ground suet
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 small jar of peanut butter
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup cornmeal
• 1 cup birdseed

Mix all ingredients together to form a stiff mixture. Press into pinecones or form into balls. Put balls into mesh bags. Hang pinecones and balls outdoors. Freeze leftover mixture.

Birdseed Pancakes

You will need:

• Leftover pancake batter from Sunday breakfast
• Dried fruit
• Assorted nuts
• Birdseed

Pour batter onto griddle and sprinkle fruit, nuts, and seeds on top. Flip the pancakes and cook as usual. Once the pancakes are cooled, tear them up, and serve them on a platform feeder. If you made extra pancakes, layer them with wax paper and freeze them in a plastic bag.

Seed Cones

You will need:

• Pine cones
• Peanut butter
• Birdseed

Pour birdseed into a large paper plate. Spread peanut butter all over the pine cones, and then roll them in the birdseed. Tie a piece of string to the top of each cone and hang them outside on tree branches. You can reuse the pine cones, once the birds have picked them clean.

Festive Popcorn Strings

You will need:

• Popcorn
• Dried cranberries

Pop your popcorn and let it cool. Thread a long piece of string on a large needle. Alternate a piece of popcorn with cranberries. Once you have several strings, take them outside and hang them around trees in the backyard. For added variety, roll the popcorn in oil and then in sesame seed, bread crumbs, or birdseed.