Bird Food Recipes

[MHScotland]

Hi everyone,
does anyone have any good bird food recipes that can be made at home at low cost?

[Jenny]

Hi, know someone with a midgie machine? Get a bag from them, freeze dry and mix with some bird seed and suet for a tasty dish. Chat to local green grocer/supermarket and see if they'll oblige with fruit that's still good but too bruised to sell - they may charge you a few pence but if you cut out the bruising, it's still good to chop up for the birds. Same applies to local bakery for bread - know it's not so healthy but can top up supplies a bit when money tight. Stale hard cheese is also great but grate it up (:o ) real small and stick under shrubs. (Don't bother with half fat or anything with garlic in - my lot don't like it!!). Got minute quantities of nuts, raisins and sultanas left in bottom of a packet? - chop 'em up and put 'em out, but I tend to mix with seed and fat into cake as well. And if you like things like macaroni cheese - any leftovers will be grabbed. Beware of salt content of things though. Hope this gives you some new ideas!

[Emma]

Hi, MH

Don't think I've posted this before but here's the gelatin seed ring that I make:

http://www.bordersbirds.co.uk/2006/03/experiment.html

You don't need the mould if you don't have one - you could use an old takeaway carton, for example.

The pics might take a while to load as the server is playing up at the moment.

[Amy B]

If you have a blender, try chopping peanuts and sunflower hearts, and add to any scraps you have. They'll boost the energy of any leftovers. Try soaking bread in ordinary cooking suet and scraps, and I read somewhere about blending fruit and freezing it into ice cubes?!

[Kerry L]

Hi Emma
Just saw your seed wheel/ring - it's very impressive as are the photos of the birds! :D Would the veggie gelatine work as well? I don't use gelatine either - vegetarian daughter, so I try and use alternatives so that we can all eat virtually the same meals. I think it might be too soft, so perhaps melted vegetable fat might work? (Veggie suet too crumbly too). I have some Xanthan gum as my father is a coeliac, and apart from binding cakes, it apparently thickens and stabilises sauces and dressings, so might be good when combined with veggie gelatine. I will have a try and see. Now I'll have to buy a ring to put the concoction in! Otherwise I have an underused (OK, I haven't used it at all) flan tin, so perhaps I could just make a hole in the centre by putting a cup in upside down. Ooh, already saved a few pounds!
Jenny - I know you have the midgies way up there, but what is a midgie machine?:confused:
Regards, Kerry

[Emma]

Hi Kerry - did you get round to making a seed ring, and if so, how did it come out?

I might make one with suet soon - but it won't last long once the starlings get to it.

[Kerry L]

Hi Emma
I haven't done it yet - been laid low with laryngitis and lurgy - much to the relief of the rest of the family who have had a reprieve from my singing!;) Still back on track now (still can't hit the normal and high notes properly, but the low notes are perfect:rolleyes: ). Hoped to do a cake for my dad with the gum for testers when the old'uns visited on Sunday, but didn't get around to that either.
I shall have to make a cake for He man first otherwise he complains that the birds get preferential treatment to him (true, actually he is quite low in the pecking order!). At the moment "Benjy" (daughter named it) the elephant hawkmoth caterpillar has a des res in the kitchen with lots of fuschia leaves to munch - I've been topping him up every morning. He man has to get his own breakfast!
I also bought some flour to make bread with - more good intentions that will probably result in me finding them well out of date with creepy crawlies running around inside the packets!:o
This week is going to be busy - must get either more saucepans or a washer upper!
Goodnight, regards, Kerry