Wild Bird Fat Balls...

[Richard]

Hi

They seem to be getting a lot cheaper in the Shops nowadays, competition and more public awareness bringing the costs down I guess.

However, I'm really getting through them.

Does anyone make their own?

If so, how please

Richard

[tosca100]

I did this year as we haven't seen them in the shops here. We were given a load of pig fat when the neighbour's killed their pigs (it is considered a delicacy and they gave us a huge slab for Christmas too!) I rendered it down in the woodburner oven and used some for fat balls and some put in the freezer for lard.

All I did was add seed and dried fruit to the soft fat and put string with a stick across the bottom before filling the pots (lined with cling film for easy removal) You could add mealworms too, haven't seen them here either. Once hard, hang in the tree or feeder. I have to admit the sun is so warm here when it does come out that we had to put them on a feeder tray as the string went through.

So it all depends on the cost of your raw ingredients. I should imagine beef dripping might set harder than lard. We now have some in the freezer as we get no birds on the feeders when the sun is out!

P.S. Anyone reading who doesn't usually use fat balls and wants to give them a try, don't be tempted to put the balls in plastic netting, the birds' tiny claws can get stuck in the mesh.

[saint-spoon]

The birds that visit our garden don't touch the fat balls that I got from the fruit and veg shop... they love the half coconuts filled with fat though. Not sure why, are the coconuts full of a different fat to the balls? it's nothing to do with access either, the starlings latch onto the fat balls and lean across to the coconuts.

[Richard]

Thanks, interesting.

I buy them in the green plastic thingies but take them out to put in a double thickness feeder.
There's not a moment in the day where I don't see the various Tits on them.

Luckily my cats don't do birds and all works well.

Love watching them.

It's not so much the cost, just it would be a nice project.

I put Pork crackling up, that goes down well also. Interesting about the Coconuts.

Richard

[albertajune]

I have had a go at making them myself but they don't keep as good as the shop bought ones if not eaten quite quickly. Filling half coconut shells that I saved seemed better but still not the same. They must some sort of preservative that stops them softening.
Basically you need a hard fat, which is melted and what you want is mixed into it . I added all sorts of things, such as seeds, meal worms and dried fruit. Let it set hard and then hang.
One big problem that I had, was that it attracted lots of larger birds like crows etc, so the little ones didn't always get a look in. They don't go for the shop bought ones at all, so something different about the home made. I don't make them now as they went so quickly and worked out quite expensive. I probably made them too tasty.

[Richard]

Thnks.

Think I may just stick to buying them, costs me about 50p per week which is nothing for purpose is it I guess.

I don't feed them in Summer, there's ample of everything for them around here.

Richard

[HazellB]

I sell thousands of them in my shop, so read on ONLY if you wish to be shocked by trade secrets ....

They're cheaper because they aren't fat on the whole these days. They are partly sawdust. That DOES NOT mean they are rubbish or bad for the birds, they are simply cheaper to make. Adding lower quality, cheap seeds and ground husks also brings the price down. Birds eat high lignin items like sawdust, wheat grits and so on anyway, so the contents are perfectly fine from the birds point of view. That's why they no longer melt in the sun.
Having said that, we shops can get the original fatty ones too but at a price. I sell both and frankly you can't tell the difference. Sawdust isn't listed on the ingredients as it isn't really a food, hence most shop keepers probably wouldn't even know.

The coconuts are suet, not fat, so far more costly. The 'fat' content in fat balls can be any fats, either veg or animal, and are cheap.

Yes, I was shocked too when I found out!