The peanut butter suets are the best IMHO. They pack both nutrition
(peanuts, millet hopefully, and sunflower seeds), and fat. See my last post
for the recipe. Personally, I don't have time for this...so I buy Peanut
Delight, not cheap, but takes a long time to get eaten as it is
nutrient-dense.
But, if you want, get the elbow grease out and make your own - half and
half suet to peanut butter or less of one, more of the other, then add
millet, add sunflower hearts. Then send me a recipe that I can share with
all of you. :) And read about why soft-fats are to be avoided.
If we all want to chat about this - might I suggest we move it to the
Native Bird Care FB page. I will post something on suet.
Bon Appetit, for the birds.
Elise Wolf
www.nativebirdcare.org
Sisters, OR
541-728-8208
On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 5:24 PM Andy Thomas <adt0611@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I want to know about this too. I have no interest in feeding hamburger to
birds, but I have been using a suet recipe that includes lard which I buy
at my local grocery store on the shelf with other cooking fats and oils,
unrefrigerated. My recipe must be the “Sullivan Suet”; I found it on this
list a few years ago. Elise Wolf, you have informed us about what is
unhealthy for birds. Would you mind offering an actual recipe for healthy
bird suet along with possible sources for the ingredients? Also, are any of
the commercially available suets good? Thanks.
Andrew Thomas
On Thursday, March 4, 2021, 10:11:02 AM PST, Jeff Gilligan <
jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Since you mentioned “fatty liver”,
https://scandibio.com/portfolio/phase_2_nafld/. The main ingredient is
the B-3 vitamin variant, Nicotinamide Riboside (Niagen). In regard to its
other benefits, I suggested a study to give small amounts of it to vultures
or Andean Condors regarding another benefit, and consider giving it to
California Condors if it proved beneficial. Farm chickens laid more eggs,
with higher hatch ratios, and more robust chicks, when supplemented with
it. Mice mothers gave birth to life-long more healthy and strong colts,
and recovered post partum better.
Do you have a link to any study that fats, such as lard, which is used by
many birder feeding people, has adverse effects? That and peanut butter
are key ingredients in “Sullivan Suet”.
Jeff Gilligan
On Mar 4, 2021, at 10:34 AM, Elise W <ewolf97@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wow. This is just so seriously sad. The current frenzy and fanaticism of
feeding birds is becoming seriously problematic. I saw a post of someone
proudly showing their (bird-killing) giant mesh feeder full of dried
mealworms on FB today. Someone sent me an email about finding a trail in AZ
with over 8 trees slathered in peanut butter - notably mid-summer.
Please please please advise these well-meaning but horribly misinformed
folks to stop. Hamburger is full of chemicals - not good. Also, animal
flesh is hard for songbirds to digest; corvids, fine - seed and
insect-eating birds, no (meat and insect proteins are different). And just
like humans, birds and all wildlife will take a free meal any day and head
for the donut shop over healthy meals.
Our overfeeding of fats is likely leading to fatty liver disease in some
birds (as it does in pet birds). Birds that fill up on hard-to-digest
foods, in the end, suffer as they miss out on the nutrition of good food.
For birds getting ready to breed, this can lead to metabolic bone disease
(which leads to fractures either as babies or even a year later,
egg-binding as adults, deformities, etc).
Finally, fats fed in ways the birds can get it on their feet or feathers
leads to weatherproofing issues. Most songs are preening with their feet,
which means what gets on the feet, gets into feathers. An oiled, greasy
bird is a hypothermic bird, even in the summer if the weather is cold at
night. Chronically cold birds die. Fats can only be removed by soaps.
I will start posting on these issues heavily on Native Bird
Care's Facebook page. And I already have blog posts on fats and salmonella
on my blog. www.nativebirdcare.org/blog;
https://www.facebook.com/native.bird.care
In sum - human foods - seeds, some nuts, fruits are safe to feed. No
sugar, no meat, no bacon grease - if it's bad for us, it is deadly to them.
No chemicals, no preservatives. No mealworms unless fed as a minor treat
and gut-loaded (fed up with healthy foods) - LIVE only. NO dried mealworms
sure way to cause dehydration, compaction, and ultimately kill the little
songs (rehabbers get these poor birds in, we even get live mealworm fed
birds in that are so full of mw exoskeleton they cannot eat or poop, they
die). No loosely fed suets - like balls, wreaths, tossed out fats - cages
only and keep these clean!. I could go on for another hour, but I will shut
up now.
We all should have our critical thinking and common sense caps on when
pondering feeding ideas for birds. Much of what's on the internet is deadly
for our birds.
Feel free to copy and post this wherever you want.
Elise Wolf
Native Bird Care
www.nativebirdcare.org
Sisters, OR
541-728-8208
On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 9:00 AM Jeff Gilligan <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I hope (think) that posting about birds is OK here.
Anyway, there are several birders in my Arizona neighborhood, one of whom
calls herself “BirderGirL” in her email address. Talking to her yesterday,
I first learned of something that might rival the famed “Sullivan Suet”
formula.
She buys the cheapest frozen Walmart fatty hamburger, fries it up and
freezes some into separate containers. She then crumbles the burger and
feeds it along with seeds to the birds in her yard.
She is feeding 4 Roadrunners currently, but everything but the
hummingbirds love it. That includes warblers, kinglets, sparrows,
Cardinals, thrashers, woodpeckers, quail, Abert’sTowhees, wrens, etc.
Last summer the Roadrunners even brought their partially grown young to
feed on it.
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