suet in summer? (1 Viewer)

[longbow]

Heya, do any of you feed suet all year? If so, do you have any probs with melting during the hot weather?

 

[KC Foggin]

I use strictly no melt suet. Birds love it and no mess in my heat.

 

[Dan123]

I put it out all year round but I minimize to what I know will be eaten in the summer. It's hot today and its going all soft, but I know it's the main thing the birds are coming in for at the mo whilst feeding the chicks so I know it will be eaten. Just put out a little and see if you have any takers. Suet is a great assist to birds all year long!

 

[cadillactaste]

I use strictly no melt suet. Birds love it and no mess in my heat.

I was wondering about this very thing...I have seen the "no melt" suet...but in a magazine I purchased. It stated only to feed them suet during winter months.
magazine name:
Backyard Birding Volume 1 [It states it's new]

 

[longbow]

Thanks all.:t:

 

[Fozzybear]

I buy the Unipet Suet To Go pellets and just feed the birds it as and when rather than put a load out (which disappears in seconds anyway!). The suet cylinder blocks I did buy once or twice but that was in the winter and only rarely as they were pretty expensive.

The one time I filled a feeder with suet pellets the morning I was preparing to leave for a holiday they'd eaten the lot before I left the house! A whole feeder emptied within an hour and a half! Wouldn't go off in the heat at least...

 

[jewlieee]

I get the no melt suet too. I don't go through it as fast during the summer as I do in the winter though.

 

[KC Foggin]

I get the no melt suet too. I don't go through it as fast during the summer as I do in the winter though.

Consider yourself lucky then I go through roughly a case (18) suet cakes every 3 weeks in the summertime. Parent birds realize it is a very easy and quick substance to shove down the hungry fledglings throat.

 

[Lisa W]

I put Suet out all year. In winter it will last a 2 days, but in the summer I could put out two cakes a day and it would be gone. The parents love to feed it to the youngsters. I also use No Melt, luckily have a Wild Birds Unlimited store in town I can buy it at. And I buy so much they give me a discount.
My other half says we can't retire as I spend so much on birds.

 

[longbow]

I bought a suet feeder cage thing today and a cake of year 'round, shall put it up tomorrow.

On the cost: I'm already spending my kid's inheritance on bird food; the bulk suet they had in the hardware store was 18 sammoleans for 10 cakes. If the birdies go thru the stuff as fast as you guys say, this new addition to the smorgasbord is gonna cost me dear. Is $18 plus tax a reasonable price or are they outa line?

 

[longbow]

Well, I've had the suet out for two days now and so far, it has been studiously ignored. Ain't that just typical?:-O

 

[dafi]

Its probably not to bad if its consumed fast. The real worry i have is that it will go quickly rancid and be a salmonella hazzard. Being my understanding that birds are just as suseptable to this sort of food poisoning as humans I would would like to know the opinion of someone versed in the microbological arts to put me right. I should say this is a bit of a pet theory drum that i bang from time to time

 

[longbow]

Huzzah!, had a downy wood pecker have a peck at the suet today, was able to get a real nice look at him. Unfortunately he only had one go at it then moseyed on off. Same for a chickadee, one looksee, then off he went. I'm wondering if a different brand would make them happier.

 

[Backyard Sanctuary]

Some of the no melts can take high temperatures with only a slight softening. I think it is because they use less fat in the mix and use other binders to hold it all together. I find C&S and Pine Tree Farms no melt suets to be very good at handling the hotter days of spring and summer.

 

[ilbirdwatch1]

I also use the no melt/ kind and have pretty good luck with them in the heat. I’m trying to alternate between suet and seed blocks. Seems like the woodpeckers haven’t been stopping by, but the Starlings and Grackles are always out in full force. I’ve also had a Mocking Bird and Brown Thrasher visit lately.

 

[Chris-Leeds]

I buy the Unipet Suet To Go pellets and just feed the birds it as and when rather than put a load out (which disappears in seconds anyway!). The suet cylinder blocks I did buy once or twice but that was in the winter and only rarely as they were pretty expensive.

The one time I filled a feeder with suet pellets the morning I was preparing to leave for a holiday they'd eaten the lot before I left the house! A whole feeder emptied within an hour and a half! Wouldn't go off in the heat at least...

I use these pellets in a peanut feeder and they go very quickly. Mostly down to starlings, especially now they have young with them. Not much else gets a look in.

 

[carjug]

Right now my woodpeckers are ravenous fro the stuff. They are feeding nestlings. I'm going to take down the sunflower feeder soon, but suet stays out all year. )}

 

[Pam_m]

Blackbirds, Tits and Starlings are all devouring the suet pellets, fatballs and fatcakes! Presumably their offsprings are eating well.lol!!

 

[ilbirdwatch1]

Yep, I just had a cake devoured by a group of starlings and their young. I took some great shots of the parents feeding their young. I've also had a few grackles stop by and feast. I was also pretty amazed to see sparrows pecking around at the suet the other day.