A little while back, I saw where someone told how to make large pine cones into bird feeders. It said to roll the pine cones in something? and then in bird seed. Can you please tell me exactly how to do this?
If you ask the butcher at the grocery store, he/she will either give or charge you a small price for suet. I use the grease left over from cooking hamburger or bacon instead.
I have read that you CAN roll the pine cone in peanut butter as long as you mix the peanut butter with lard. The small bird's beaks get stuck together with just plain peanut butter.
I did a search for suet and came up with this:
"Suet is raw beef or mutton fat, especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys. It is a solid at room temperature, and melts at about 21°C (70°F). It is a saturated fat.
The primary use of suet is to make tallow in a process called rendering, which involves melting and extended simmering, followed by straining, cooling and usually a repetition of the entire process.
Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without refrigeration. It is used to make soap, for cooking, as a bird food, and was once used for making candles.
The type sold in supermarkets is dehydrated suet.
Woodpeckers, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, thrushes, jays, kinglets, bluebirds, wrens, and starlings are all known to favor suet-based bird feeders"
PLEASE DO NOT use peanut butter!! We used to use it for bird feeders when I was a Cub leader and found out that the peanut butter can become stuck on the beaks of birds sometimes plugging up their nostrils and thereby suffocating them.
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Archives:
Tip: Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Archived on 12/08/2000
Pine cones are plentiful, whether in nature or in craft supply stores. The only other materials you need are suet and birdseed. What could be easier? Give hours of enjoyment to the birdwatcher, and help the birds to make it through the winter. It is an activity that both youngsters and adults can enjoy.
Marianne
Responses:
RE: Pine Cone Bird Feeder
01/23/2003
You can roll a pinecone in peanut butter and then roll it in birdseed, cereal or breadcrumbs for our wild little critters.
