Making home-made Bird fat blocks

Here is all you need
to make bird fat blocks:
A much needed foodstuff
for foraging birds at this
time of the year.








Lard (500g)
Mixed seed, Sunflower seed & Peanuts (600g)
Add Mealworms if you want.
Various yoghurt, pasta sauce, cream pots etc.
String or Twine.
Some twigs.
Large sauce pan (preferably an old one).
Large mixing bowl.


Make a small hole in the base of each pot, cut twigs into lengths slightly wider than pot, diagonal measurement is ideal. Tie twig to end of string/twine and thread through hole.



















Melt Lard over heat in old sauce pan, once in liquid form, leave to cool a little. Whilst waiting it's an ideal time to prepare the pots.

When Lard is cooler but still liquid, poor into seed mix in mixing bowl, stir occasionally until the mixture starts to stiffen, takes about 20-30mins. It's best not to fill pots when lard is still liquid as it will leak out of hole in pot base.
















A good tip is to put your finger over the hole whilst you fill the pots up with the seed & lard mixture, then the liquid cant leak out as you fill. I have also refilled some square containers that contained bird cake that fit in those wire feeders.
Leave for a few hours (preferably overnight) in a cool place, then carefully press them out. If your mixture is firm enough they should slide out easily, if not sliding a knife around sides will help to release it.

Hang up anywhere suitable, a tree branch is ideal, but I have used old shelf brackets on an archway & on the corners of my fruit cage.

No sooner are they in place and the birds home in on them, a Robin had a nibble of this one but flew off before I could take a pic.
The twigs act as a stopper so the seed ball cannot slide of the string/twine and makes a handy perch for small birds.