Suet products can be a superfood for garden birds in the winter

High quality suet products are something of a superfood for garden birds in the cold winter months, as the high fat content provides energy and helps keep them warm. But the problem is that a good percentage of this sort of bird food which is readily available online and in shops & stores, is anything but good quality. This especially applies to fat balls, with some of the ‘fillers’ used in low priced products including sawdust, sand and chalk (but of course they never state these ingredients on the packaging). You won’t need to be a bird expert to know that such ingredients are not only useless but also potentially harmful, and are simply used to keep costs down – and with zero consideration for the wellbeing of birds. So our first piece of advice is to avoid such fat balls like the plague, with the best clue to the poor quality being a very low price and the sort of retailer selling them – e.g. discount stores and online shops which are all about price rather than quality. Of course at Vine House Farm we don’t sell such inferior products, though our range of fat balls are of varying fat content and therefore available at different price points – with our Super Suet Fat Balls representing the best available. However and in all cases, we always state what the ingredients are.

Also for fat balls, never buy those which come in plastic nets, as these can be a deadly hazard for birds like Blue tits if they get their feet tangled in the netting. Instead, use a special metal feeder which the fat balls are dropped into and keep them in place, with the feeder also allowing for birds to cling onto it in order to eat.

Suet Blocks are also a good option, with all those available from us being very good quality. Again, these can be fed from a special

metal feeder which the block neatly fits into, or place them on a ground tray or bird table so ground-feeding species like Blackbird can easily feed on them. But if you do use a bird table, then be sure to thoroughly clean it very regularly because the flat wooden surface can be a serious health threat to birds if it becomes contaminated.

Similar in their ingredients to Suet Blocks, our Suet Logs and Jumbo Suet Sticks are further ways to provide garden birds with high energy food on cold winter days. Suet Logs are intended for this specialist feeder, with Jumbo Suet Sticks neatly dropping into a feeder like this one which is also designed for suet fat balls.

Finally, Suet Pellets are a further option and can be fed from a mesh feeder which is typically used for peanuts, or just loose on a bird table or straight on the ground.

For our full range of suet products and including our very popular suet-filled Coconut Halves, have a look here.