With the weather getting colder, the leaves falling from the trees and the shutting down of my garden for the season. I am turning my attention to my DIY To-Do list. This is a very long list and sure to keep me busy all winter long. It contains such ventures as making a new dining room table, installing a wood floor in my bedroom, making a blanket ladder and making some scrabble letters for my dining room wall. Those are much more labour intensive than this DIY which was also on my list.
So I thought it best to start small and work up to the bigger ones. Plus, this DIY for wild bird treats with no corn syrup has the power to give back to the native birds that overwinter here in Ontario. Or at least to those ones that choose to pass through my back yard. ‘Cause that’s where the treats at!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
If you’re like me, then you love natural biodiversity in your yard. The key is naturally bringing in the ones you want and discouraging the ones you don’t! If you are struggling with garden pests then you may want to check out my post on 16 garden pests and how to deal with them. But birds are always welcome in my yard, especially in the winter. This year I had a pair or two of goldfinches lay their claim on my yard.
I loved being out in my garden this summer and hearing them singing and hanging about as I went about my gardening. I look so forward to the day I can buy some land and start to build my homestead from the ground up. When I finally get my land, I plan to practice biodiverse farming on my homestead but that is a story for another day.
Today we were supposed to be making suet cakes for some backyard birds but that quickly went down the drain. After multiple calls to local butchers, I discovered that NOBODY (well butchers and grocery stores) will apparently sell raw suet anymore due to it being an E. coli risk. No amount of begging and pleading on my part would change their minds. Which totally sucks as I wanted it for two reasons. One for the suet cakes and the other to render it into tallow to use in some cold process soap making. But alas, until I can find someone to be my suet dealer I am finding myself having to pivot. Luckily peanut butter works a charm and so this post is saved. That said peanut butter is not going to work for the soap!
Now I should state that you can buy pure suet cakes so I WILL be doing a post on making suet bird treats. Not sure if that will pan out for use as tallow in my cold process soap, I still need to do more research.
Cockatiel Seed “Tweets” RecipeThe recipe calls for whole eggs, which I thought was interesting! I have learned the shells provide calcium for the birdies. The food processor “crunches” them up perfectly! I hope your birdies enjoy the recipe!
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup millet
- 2 tablespoons sunflower kernels
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 whole eggs w/ shells
- 1(+) tablespoon(s) olive oil
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Fill the bowl of a food processor equipped with a multipurpose blade with flour, nuts, and seeds.
- Pulse to combine. Add two eggs-whole, pulse to combine. Run on low and drizzle in oil. Add more oil if needed for dough to hold together.
- Scoop out 1 teaspoon (or more) of mixture, roll it into a ball, put it on a baking sheet, and gently press the ball down. If you’d like, make a hole in the middle of each tweet with a drinking straw so it can hang in a cage. ).
- Bake for ten to twelve minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. For extended storage, freeze or chill in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
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Do wild birds need winter treats?
They don’t, but that doesn’t imply they won’t be enjoyable nonetheless. Even though I don’t need the tub of Haagen Daaz ice cream, I still like it and it makes me gain weight. The same is true for the birds, though since they must spend the entire winter outdoors, they can benefit from the excess fat. Me not so much .
This one is the easiest and quickest. This is not to say that the other ones are difficult; rather, it’s just that I had to list them in a certain order. Another advantage of these is that they have the pinecone there as a base structure in case it does warm up a little. If the temperature increases and the treat is no longer frozen, the twine or ribbon may break and the other ones may fall to the ground. Then you have bird treat mush, but even then, someone is going to take advantage of it!
Pinecone & peanut butter bird treats
- Pinecones
- Butter knife or spatula for little kids
- Twine or ribbon
- Small dish or bowl for the birdseed
- Cookie sheet
- Aluminum foil
- Peanut butter
- Wild bird seed
- Black oiled sunflower seeds
- Create a loop for hanging by wrapping the twine around the top of the pinecone.
- In a small dish, pour some birdseed and sunflower seeds
- Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil
- Apply peanut butter all over the pinecone using a butter knife or spatula.
- Press and roll the pinecone covered in peanut butter into the seeds.
- To help the pinecones harden, arrange them on the cookie sheet and place them in the freezer for one hour.
- Make sure there is a branch underneath where the birds can perch by hanging them outside for them.
To be honest, this is actually more like two and a half recipes. This one uses most of the same ingredients as Recipe #1 did but with a wee tweak. Just sayin’. I wouldn’t advise leaving these outside until you are certain that the temperature won’t drop below freezing. Why? Because if the mixture isn’t frozen, there isn’t a base structure. Thus, the pinecone treats are always the first ones I display.
FAQ
What are cockatiels favorite treats?
How do you make bird food stick together?