Hang up the fat balls near your greenhouse, and experience birds flocking around you. The fat balls can be made only of fat and birdseeds or with a pinecone as the base and will provide the wild birds in your garden with food during the cold winter months.

Continue reading and find out how to easily make your own fat balls for the wild birds in your garden.

 

Make your own fat balls

By making your own fat balls, you will avoid the green plastic nets, that can be dangerous for small birds or other animals in nature. The plastic nets often end up in nature, when the birds have eaten their contents.

Simultaneously, you have the option to choose which seeds you feed the birds, thus ensuring a variation in the seed mixture, that attracts the birds you would like to visit your garden.

Small birds, such as Chaffinch, Great Tit, Titmouse, and Sparrows, prefer oily seeds and nuts. Mixtures with a lot of breadcrumbs and corn attract pigeons and crows.

It is a good idea to hang up the fat balls early in the morning, as birds are most hungry at this time and need the energy after a cold night. When the birds are done eating, they are thirsty, so make sure to have a little platter with water near the greenhouse, so the birds have everything they need.

Do not hang up too many fat balls at once, and remember to clean up after the birds, if there are many wasted crumbs or seeds on the ground. 

 

Use the seeds you already have at home to make your own bird feed

Use what you have of leftover fat, crumbs and seeds or go all in and grow your own plants for bird feed, such as corn, sunflower or amaranth. These plants are very suitable for fat balls, bird sheafs or birdfeeders and will decorate your greenhouse until they are used for the birds.

How to make fat balls

Materials:

• 1 kg of fat, for example vegetable fat or leftover fat from cooking pork or duck.
• 1 kg of different birdseeds, for example sunflower, hempseeds or leftover bread crumbs, dried fruit, grain, or nuts.
• String, for example 1.5 mm jute twine
• Containers to form your fat balls, for example small glasses or cups, but not to wide.
• Small sticks, that fit in the bottom of your glasses or cups

Tools:

• A scissor
• A heat source, for example a hot plate or flame
• A pot
• A wooden spoon
• A ladle or soup spoon

 

How to do it:

• Tie a 20-40 cm long string to each of the sticks (the length depends on where you want your bird feeders to hang).
• Place the stick, with the string, in the bottom of each cup or glass.
• Slowly melt your fat in a pot. That fat must not boil. Add your mixture of bird seeds and crumbs and stir it all together.
• Pour your fat mixture in the glasses and make sure the string is approximately in the middle.
• Place your glasses for cooling, preferably outside. When your mixture is cooled completely and the fat has set, pull the fat balls from the glasses and cups, and hang them up for the birds.

 

 

 

How to make fat balls with pinecones

Materials:

• 1 kg of fat, for example vegetable fat or leftover fat from cooking pork or duck
• 1 kg of different birdseeds, for example sunflower, hempseeds or leftover breadcrumbs, dried fruit, grain, or nuts
• String, for example 1.5 mm. jute twine
• Pine cones (they must be open)
• Egg trays

Tools:

• A scissor
• A heat source, for example a hot plate or flame
• A pot
• A wooden spoon
• Two spoons

 

How to do it:

• Tie a 20-40 cm long string to each of the pinecones (the length depends on where you want your bird feeders to hang).
• Slowly soften your fat in a pot. The fat must not boil or become liquid. Add your mixture of bird seeds and crumbs and stir it together. Use your wooden spoon to knead the mixture well together.
• Place a pinecone in the mixture and jam the fat and seeds well into the pinecone, using two spoons. Make sure there is a layer outside of the cones as well.
• Place your pinecones in the egg tray for cooling. The cones are ready to be hung up, when they are cold, and the fat has hardened.

 

 

We hope you have a lot of great experiences with the wild birds in your garden.

The best green wishes
Team TagTomat