How To Select the Best Suet Cake For Your Birds

Suet is largely the nutritional substitute for insects in the diet of birds during cold weather. Selecting a quality suet cake is important for the birds and your enjoyment.
Mark McKellar is a wildlife biologist with over 35 years of bird study experience. He has a degree in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from North Carolina State University and has worked for the Department of the Army, the Wildlife Departments of North Carolina and Missouri. He ran nature centers for many years in Missouri and Pennsylvania before buying the Backyard Bird Center in the Northland area of Kansas City. Mark has led hundreds of bird hikes both locally and abroad. He has taught classes about birds and other wildlife to groups of all ages and brings that knowledge to the customers of his retail business every day. More information about Mark at backyardbirdce...
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[@JohnWood-tk1ge]

I have a friend that has a butcher shop and I get large chunks of suit from him and hang it in a wire cage I made. I also hang a few of the cakes,like a mix of both.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

That is great for the birds (and you)

[@josephgrosso8731]

Very informative video! Thank you!!

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Thank you. Glad to help

[@Miguel195211]

My woodpeckers and bluebirds love their suet.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

For sure

[@johnp.5882]

I use a peanut suet cake and the Pine Warblers are all over it, along with the Red Bellied Woodpeckers and the occasional Tufted Titmouse and Eastern Towhee. Watching the disfunctional family drama of the Pine Warblers at the suet feeder is pretty funny...

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

You are lucky. We don’t get to see them on feeders here.

[@johnp.5882]

Thanks Mark - forgot to mention the Palm Warblers and Yellow-Throats as well. There are so many, it's a hoot!

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Where are you?

[@johnp.5882]

We are located in Ocala, FL and our house shares a fence with the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, not too far from a nature preserve and a wildlife management area, all connected by protected forest. I feel pretty fortunate. It's not everywhere you can see 2-4 Towhees sneaking under the fence to steal ground throw everyday!

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Do your Towhees have white irises? That is a cool subspecies found down there.

[@AllThingsConsidered333]

I had suet cakes out yesterday.. the starlings came with their babies & swarmed them and the cakes were totally gone in just over an hour! It was kinda cute to see them pick off bits for the babies but not so cute how fast the cakes disappeared!

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Ugh 😑

[@daviddexter4958]

Get an upside-down feeder you'll have no problem

[@BreannaTaylor-mt8rv]

Thanks! I was about to buy suet, and I started wondering if the 'more deluxe' ones with all the stuff were actually better.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Glad to help!

[@shirleywilhelm1495]

You mentioned hot oil. Can Cayenne pepper powder be added to beef fat, along with sunflower seeds? I thought I'd try it.

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

You can try it. Have not had favorable reports from those who have tried it.

[@TheOfficialVexMeow]

My birds wont eat the suet I put out at all I'm in south Florida, is it because it is too hot?

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

It is more likely that they have insects available all year. Suet is the nutritional substitute for insects 🐜 n winter.

[@adriennelee6065]

I bought a pure suet cake recently. I wanted something without seeds in it to keep the house sparrows and starlings from claiming it all. Since I put it out, not a SINGLE bird has shown any interest in it. Is there something I should do that I'm not doing or vice versa?

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Is it really cold where you are? Those cakes get really hard in really cold conditions

[@wesb123]

Nothing eats mine, I’ve tried 4 varieties and nothing. I bought 8 pounds of the suet nuggets and the evil House Sparrows and Grey Squirrels devoured it all in under a week. The Chickadees are obsessed with my Finch sacks so unless a Woody Woodpecker shows up I’m not buying anymore suet. 🤷‍♂️

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

That’s understandable. Many people do not feed suet.

[@wesb123]

@@MarksBackyardBirds I just came in from outside and snapped about 70 photos of a juvenile Downy having his way with one of my suet log. Just when I had given up!! 🙏

[@MarksBackyardBirds]

Excellent!