Suet pellets (1 Viewer)

[Nature__lover]

have seen the shop I get my bird food from has put some bags of suet pellets on their shelves.
they are quite expensive so am just wondering if anyones tried them and if they work?

 

[jpscloud]

In my (relatively limited, I admit) experience, suet pellets are ALWAYS gobbled up rapid! Starlings love them, blackbirds love them, robins love them, everyone loves them! Starlings will perform all sorts of acrobatics on feeders to get them here. I tend to put some out on the ground for starlings and blackbirds so they won't raid the feeders as much, and robins can get them from the ground too if they want, though they often choose to hover at the feeders.

I stopped buying the pellets beause they are so expensive - I buy boxes of Atora shredded suet now and scatter a bit of that on the ground, blackbirds and starlings love that just as much - the blackbirds seem to get more of it too. I also made home made suet cake with the Atora and that's been gobbled up in my absence today so I will put more out for tomorrow now.

 

[Nature__lover]

thanks for the reply. sounds good.
I am wondering because I have a peanut feeder that is barely used, and thought I could fill that up with pellets instead of peanuts?

 

[Mary]

Yes, they are pretty expensive, though they can be cheaper if bought by the sack. I get a 10 or 15kg sack at about £2.60 per kg. So far this winter, I've used about 25kg! Must cut down next year!

 

[jpscloud]

That's real dedication Mary! I'm on a very tight budget this year so Atora will be my choice

Yes, you can put the pellets in a mesh feeder for peanuts, works very well.

 

[Nature__lover]

to anyone who has used suet pellets... what birds like them? did you get any new birds in the garden when you begun putting them out?

 

[jpscloud]

to anyone who has used suet pellets... what birds like them? did you get any new birds in the garden when you begun putting them out?

In my garden several kinds of tits (great, blue, long-tailed and coal that I recognised), blackbirds, starlings and robins preferred suet pellets to anything else. Oh and pigeons and doves, they'll scoff as many as they can get their beaks on! The sparrows eat them but seem to prefer sunflower hearts in my garden.

I don't have as great a variety of visitors as some on here so I imagine other people can report some really good stuff too.

 

[Nature__lover]

fantastic jpscloud, as I am trying to attract long-tailed tits.
I have previously had a few in the garden so I know they are in the area.

 

[jpscloud]

fantastic jpscloud, as I am trying to attract long-tailed tits.
I have previously had a few in the garden so I know they are in the area.

I wish I could say I'd had some long tailed tits feeding recently, but I haven't - there was a little group of five or so that used to feed on the commercial peanut/insect suet pellets a few years ago but they were rare visitors really.

Had one individual checking everything out the other day, but I haven't seen any since - they could be coming in the day when I'm not home, of course!

 

[Fozzybear]

In my garden the suet pellets are loved by the Collared Doves, the Blackbirds, the Dunnocks, the House Sparrows, the Starlings, the Robins... oh and the Wood mice and Hedgehogs. They'll all come running if I start throwing out some pellets and in fact they've been key to the Collared Doves hand-feeding (and a Wood Mouse and one of the Robins last year would too) and the Robins and Blackbirds would like them so much that if I have the back door open and didn't put out some pellets for them they'd come into my kitchen to remind me.

 

[James Thomas]

I stopped buying the pellets beause they are so expensive - I buy boxes of Atora shredded suet now

http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/product.asp?id=15599

Atora £12 a kg !!!

If you are on a budget your local butcher will probably give you some, grind it down in a food processor, mix in a bit of flour and freeze to store (the stuff you buy is dehydrated).

 

[jpscloud]

http://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/product.asp?id=15599

Atora £12 a kg !!!

If you are on a budget your local butcher will probably give you some, grind it down in a food processor, mix in a bit of flour and freeze to store (the stuff you buy is dehydrated).

:eek!: Thanks for pointing out the false economy James - I didn't really do much homework... just saw a box of Atora at 69p or so and thought that was much cheaper than the pellets in the garden centre. I don't really have the time to grind up and process raw suet so I'll do better research and get good value pellets I think.

 

[barnstormer]

cheap pellets

have seen the shop I get my bird food from has put some bags of suet pellets on their shelves.
they are quite expensive so am just wondering if anyones tried them and if they work?

I pay £16,50 for a 10kg sack of fruit based pellets at my local pet store on wheatly hill county durham works out £1.65 a kilo.

 

[Nature__lover]

yesterday I had long-tailed tits in the garden- and I haven't even put any suet pellets out yet- now I must buy some to keep them coming

 

[jpscloud]

yesterday I had long-tailed tits in the garden- and I haven't even put any suet pellets out yet- now I must buy some to keep them coming

my local petstore is selling suet pellets with mealworms - I couldn't resist them, and it turns out neither can the birds! Starlings are a bit greedy over them though. I usually just have up to five or six starlings, but yesterday when I put out a lot of the suet pellets I had more than 20 by the end of the day.

 

[Fozzybear]

Those are the ones I mainly buy, those or the ones with insects. The berry ones don't seem as popular with the birds here but the mealworm ones are avian cocaine!

 

[Birds 4ever]

A goldcrest came instantly when I put them out!
WARNING - you must clean the feeder often! I left it for a month or so then tried to clean it - it was a nightmare, the pellets melt/get squashed and I ended up cleaning the feeder for like, 2 hours!

 

[Nature__lover]

Wow, goldcrest sounds great Birds4ever.

I will keep in mind what you say about the cleaning.. I'll wash it as often as possible when it's up. think I might be able to get some suet pellets today actually.

 

[Fozzybear]

I only put some in a feeder once... never again. I filled a feeder with them, went out an hour or so later and it was empty! I just use them as a treat.

 

[Amy5]

I've tried using these pellets since Oct, and right now I have mostly small song birds... All of which do not seem to like these at all. I did however just put out the "bluebird" flavor today in a peanut feeder vs tray feeder. We'll see if anything takes them.