Super Suet Fat Balls

Suet balls, or fat balls as they are also known, are typically made from animal suet and other fat, which is mixed with other ingredients to help preserve the product and its shape.

A very important point to understand about suet and fat balls is that the quality varies hugely between suppliers, and the poorer the quality, the less beneficial they are to birds. So if you see cheap suet or fat balls on sale, you can almost guarantee they are of poor quality, have low nutritional value and have very little suet since they are filled with waste ingredients such as sawdust. All the suet balls we sell at Vine House Farm are, of course, of high quality.

Besides the high overall quality and high percentage of suet, Vine House Farm’s suet balls do not have the potentially harmful plastic netting often found on fat balls, which eliminates the possibility of birds getting entangled in the netting.

Robins do eat fat balls, but they ideally need a fat ball feeder that they can stand on, or fat balls placed on a ground feeding tray.

Fat balls should be eaten quickly by birds, provided they are of high quality. If the suet fat balls aren’t eaten quickly, then look for signs of deterioration such as discolouration and mould – these are signs that they should be replaced.

Additionally, the time of year and weather will also have a bearing, with fat balls put out in the winter months having a longer shelf life – albeit they’re also likely to be eaten more quickly during colder weather.

There are two basic ways to feed Super Suet Fat Balls to birds: The first is in a special hanging feeder, with this allowing species such as Blue tit and Long-tailed tit to feed on them. The second method is to place the suet balls loose on a ground feeder tray, as this allows for species such as Blackbird and Robin to feed on them.

Grey squirrels will indeed eat fat balls, which can be a problem in some gardens. To prevent this from happening, we also sell caged suet ball feeders, which will allow small birds to get to the fat balls but keep squirrels out. Red squirrels do not normally eat fat balls.