If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll know by now that winter is just a stone’s throw away. This means cold days and cold nights, sleet, sleet, and in some cases a lot of snow. Once winter comes and you feel comfortable and warm at home, have you ever thought about the animals and birds that live, eat and sleep outside? Well, you should and especially the wild birds that fly in and around the garden all year round.
Do you feed birds in winter? If you did, and I know many of you do, would you make your own grease balls? Well, making your own bird feed for garden birds is a great idea where you can add any seeds including flower seeds that you have in reserve, nuts and other ingredients that you want and then mix them together. But to make the ingredients stick together, what do you use? Read on for my tips on making grease balls that will keep those wild birds feeding all winter long, and won’t cost you much.
What to feed wild birds
These are just some of the ingredients you can use when preparing the perfect wintertime snack for your feathered friends. I use all of these and usually all at once but the choice is yours, use whatever you have around you. Another tip is to save things all year round. Seeds and nuts will keep as well as oats provided they are kept in an airtight container and in a cool dark place. These ingredients alone will ensure that you attract wild birds in the winter.
- Bird seed
- Sunflower seeds
- Dry bread
- biscuit
- Moseley
- Old cooking oil
- Oats. A similar alternative is oatmeal porridge
- corn chips
Old cooking oil, I hear you say? Yes. If you have a chip fryer or deep fryer when you clean it, save the oil. I have a large 10 liter drum that I pour old oil into and then keep outside near the door. Leave it outside with a cover until winter they use it for balls. It saves the use of fat, margarine or other things for the grease balls to stick to, and you recycle at the same time.
Other utensils to consider
- Old mixing bowl
- Old mixing spoon
- Latex or surgical gloves
That’s right, that’s right
Yes, that’s right, the wild birds around where I live are better fed than me in the winter! No wonder there are hundreds queuing up in the morning waiting for their breakfast!
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- Take cornflakes, oats, and muesli and crush them into powder or small pieces. As a guide I try to make the oatmeal look like a pre-made brik.
- Take the bread and cut it into small pieces. If I had a piece of bread I would grate it with a cheese grater.
- Crush the crackers and then add everything including the seeds into a large mixing bowl. It is best to use an old store that you no longer use or go to a cheap store and buy a cheap one for this.
- Mix the ingredients together and slowly add the cooking oil until the ingredients stick together.
Now comes the sticky part and that’s why you have to wear gloves.
- Take a piece of the mixture and squeeze it together into a ball. If it sticks when you open your hand, it’s okay, if it crumbles, keep mixing and add a little more oil. You want it so that everything sticks together without soaking through.
- Once you are satisfied with the consistency, make a ball and place it inside the net and then flatten it. You can use all kinds to secure the net including electrical ties, bread plugs or an old coat hanger like I use.
Save for a winter day
As for the grease ball grid, do you keep it once it’s empty? Again I do and reuse it. I also save the net that you get from fruits and vegetables in the supermarket just for this purpose, just make sure the holes in the net are not too small or large. To put it on the tree, I use an old coat hanger bent at both ends. Simply tie one end of the net and then the other to hooks on a tree branch.
And there you have it. Feeding birds in the winter homemade grease balls of all wild birds will cost you less than you think. Once they get out and the resident wild birds tell their friends that there is food in your garden, you will see a surge of birds all climbing over to grab a tasty bite. These are excellent and easy bird feeders that kids can make, so why not share with them too? It’s a great way to introduce them to the wildlife around them.