Wild Bird Food Recipes

Why are you looking for wild bird food recipes?

Using bird food recipes to make your own wild bird food is a great way to fuel your kids' interest in bird watching. You can use a project like this to teach them about what birds eat. You can have a lot of fun when making your bird food by using seasonal molds or cookie cutters to shape your food.

Maybe you are out of bird food and your bird feeders are empty and you don't have enough time to pack up the kids and head off to the store. There are many common ingredients, which you probably have around the kitchen, that you can put together to make delicious treats for your feathered friends.

You can follow one of my recipes or just have some fun by mixing several ingredients together and see what happens.

There are many great books that provide recipes for making your own bird food. You can find projects from simple suet bird food to how to make a bird seed wreath.

I have a special area set up for you to share your favorite bird food recipes with my other readers. It's easy, take a look!

Here is a list of household foods and the birds that are attracted to them.

Bread Products	Wrens, mocking birds, thrashers, sparrows, warblers, tanagers, titmice, towhees, creepers, robins, blackbirds, kinglets, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, chickadees, bluebirds, thrushes
Suet (rendered from beef fat)	Woodpeckers, wrens, warblers, tanagers, nuthatch, creepers, chickadees, orioles, titmice, mockingbirds, cardinals, goldfinches, bluebirds, grosbeaks, buntings
Peanuts and peanut butter	Towhees, goldfinches, cardinals, chickadees, wrens, sparrows, titmice, grosbeaks, buntings, juncos
Berries	Wax wings, robins, bluebirds, thrushes
Raisins and currants	Wax wings, orioles, robins, bluebirds, thrushes
Nuts	Creepers, towhees, juncos, thrashes, mockingbirds, warblers, woodpeckers
Apples	Wax wings, mockingbirds, thrashers, wrens, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings
Fruit	Tanagers, orioles, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, thrashers, warblers, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, goldfinches, finches

Here are some things you can use, if you are using recipes to make homemade wild bird food:

Raisins or Currants
Dates
Shelled peanuts
Apples
Oranges
Birdseed mix
Black oil sunflower seeds
Molds to shape your creations
String or yarn

Lard, shortening or rendered suet
Crunchy peanut butter
Molasses
Oatmeal
Stale bread, breadcrumbs or crackers
Cornmeal or cornbread mix
Cream of wheat
Graham crackers
Flour (whole wheat flour preferred)

Here are two bird food recipes to start with:

If you are going to use an oriole feeder, consider making your own homemade Oriole bird food.

Homemade Oriole bird food Recipe

1 part sugar/6 parts water

Bring the water to a boil and then add the sugar. Boil until the sugar has dissolved. 1 part sugar to 6 parts water means that if you boil 2 cups of water you will need 1/3 cup of sugar.

Let the mixture cool before filling your feeder. Store any excess food in your refrigerator until ready to use. There is no need to add food coloring.

Learn more about attracting orioles here.

September Harvest

This is another homemade wild bird food recipe that I know you will enjoy. Here in New Hampshire September means apples. There are also many other fruits available. Many migratory birds that eat fruit will be tempted to linger at your bird feeders if you offer the following mix. Use a platform style feeder when offering this wild bird food mix.

2 cups of dried, chopped apples (dried apples will not get moldy as fast)
2 cups of raisins
2 cups of chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or any nuts you have available)
1 cup of chopped prunes
1 cup of dried melon or squash seeds

Simply mix the ingredients together in a large bowl or bucket. Start by adding small amounts to your feeder and store the rest in a paper bag in a cool and dry location. Now your homemade wild bird food is ready to serve.

Use the form below to submit your favorite wild bird food recipe:

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If you have a wild bird food recipe that works well for you why not share it? Backyard birders are always looking for new and economical bird foods to attract wild birds to their feeders. We would love to hear from you!

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What Other Visitors Have Contributed

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I like using September Harvest:
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Hi...
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Click here to see all of my homemade wild bird food recipes.