Some good reasons to feed suet in the spring

Spring is a time when a lot of birds fly thousands of miles to return to their Michigan nesting grounds. When they reach your yard they are exhausted and looking for a quick high protein meal to help them recover. Some cold days in May, I've seen different warblers, wrens and my regular woodpeckers stopping to fuel up on my suet feeder. Another good reason to always keep that feeder full!

To choose a suet that attracts the widest variety of birds, the first ingredient should always be rendered beef suet. Some people feed straight suet only. Straight beef suet will deter starlings and blackbirds at the suet feeder if they become overwhelming.  If you want to offer more protein and flavor the next ingredient should usually be peanuts or tree nuts.

Never, never buy suet where milo, oats, wheat, processed grain by-products or artificial flavorings are in the ingredients. These filler ingredients are used to make a cheaper cake but the birds have to pick around and pick out all this filler to reach a little suet.

All of the suets at the Wild Birds Unlimited - East Lansing, MI store are made with only the highest quality processed beef kidney fat. It is the most concentrated source of energy you can offer wild birds.

Our best seller is the peanut butter suet cake, which has only three ingredients: rendered beef fat, chopped peanuts and peanut butter. Again, no milo, no wheat, no corn, and no millet - no filler ingredients!

If you have a problem with squirrels or other wildlife eating your suet try our Hot Pepper Suet. It has rendered beef suet, ground peanuts and capsicum pepper. Capsicum contains capsaicin, a chemical that that doesn’t harm but can produce a strong burning sensation in the mouth of squirrels. Most mammals find this unpleasant, whereas birds are unaffected.

Related Articles:

- Attracting Michigan Songbirds http://goo.gl/Gmn0b

- Do we stop feeding suet in the summer? http://goo.gl/KM80C

- Best field guide for Michigan birds http://bit.ly/vPOMx1

- Warblers in Michigan http://goo.gl/WMMGs