A Home for Wild Birds

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:



Baltimore Oriole 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.





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What Other Visitors Have Contributed

Click below to see recipes from other visitors to this page...

Bird Cupcakes  starstarstarstarstar
Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal

1 cup flour

1/2 cup graded bread crumbs

1/2 tablespoon baking soda

1/4 cup peanuts

1/2 tablespoon of thistle/...

Linn's Easy Big Batch  starstarstarstarstar
Purchase a fifty pound bag of Cracked Corn and a twenty pound bag of Wild Bird Seed mix. Pour the Cracked Corn into a large lidded container.
Next pour ...

Leftover Baked Oatmeal Scramble  starstarstarstarstar
Yummy Baked Oatmeal for People:
1/2 Stick butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
...

Burgess Bird Food  starstarstarstarstar
1/8 Cup Crushed Egg Shells
1/4 Cup Crushed Crackers
1/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts
1/4 Cup Coarsley Chopped Oranges
1/4 Cup Currants
1/4 Cup Rolled Oats
...

Bird Pudding  starstarstarstarstar
Melt one cup lard and one cup crunchy peanut butter together.

To this melted mixture add one cup of quick oats, one cup of all purpose flour, 2 cups ...

hummingbird feed  starstarstar
1 boil 1 cup of water

2 pour 1/4 cup of granulated sugar into water

3 stir until sugar disolves

4 pour into humingbird feeder

5 wait until ...

Bread mush  star
2-4 slices of bread,
Water (tap if nessersery)
Masher

1. Chop the bread into a bowl.
2. Add water.
3.Use your masher to mash the bread,
4.Use a ...

September Harvest  Not rated yet
I like using September Harvest:
* 2 cups of dried, chopped apples
* 2 cups of raisins
* 2 cups of chopped nuts (any nuts you have available)...

Finch Favourites  Not rated yet
Ingredients: Utensils:
1 large bowl
1 1/2 cups Honey 1 ...

Winter food  Not rated yet
Hi...
I'M living in northern Québec...
here a recipe to help small bird go throw a cold night...

1part vegetable shortening or lard
1 part peanut ...

winter sun flowers  Not rated yet
I dry entire sunflower heads, then nail them to the fence and watch the birds get to work. It's fun to see, but the birds really do go through it fast....

summer days  Not rated yet
1 cup lard
1 1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cups millt
1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup dry cranberrys choped
1/3 cup figs
1/3 white cornmeal


In a pot ...

Tweet's Treat  Not rated yet
Fry up half a pound of bacon. Remove the bacon and crumble it up. Put the bacon grease aside. Melt a pound or two of suet. I find cutting it into small ...

The special  Not rated yet
Ingredients:
Half a pack of lard, 2 handfuls of crushed peanuts, 1 grated apple, 2 crushed weetabix and 5 crushed biscuits.
Method:
Melt the lard ...

Raisin Cake  Not rated yet
Ingredients:
1 cup raisins
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup lard (unsalted)
1 cup skim milk
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup flour

Directions:...

Louisiana Bird Cakes  Not rated yet
1 cup of Cornmeal
1/2 cup of Flour
1 cup of Peanut Butter (crunchy w/honey is best)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 cup of favorite bird seed

Mix ...

Cereal Peanut Butter Balls  Not rated yet
Ingredients:

1. creamy peanut butter, crunchy peanut butter, fluff, strawberry fluff, or any kind of jelly

2. honey nut cheerios, lucky charms ...

cherry-berry seed delight  Not rated yet
In the spring when the sour cherries are ready we harvest most and let the birds (especially the robins) have the rest. When I pit the cherries I dry ...

Rummy Yummy Bag  Not rated yet
I mix bacon grease, peanut better, cornmeal, raisens if I have them,
stale cereal and a little flour in a bowl. I add more cornmeal if it is soupy, if ...

Pinecone Surprise  Not rated yet
Things You Will Need:

Pine cones
Peanut butter or karo syrup (your choice)
Diced apples
Diced pears
Black walnuts (out of my tree outside) other ...

Chunky Peanut Butter Cheerios  Not rated yet
You will need:
1 parts of peanut butter (cheap peanut butter is fine- birds don't mind)

2 parts Cheerios

1/2 parts white or dark raisins

1/2 ...

Critter Comfort  Not rated yet
I actually use this to feed the birds and squirrels

1 10-lb. bag mixed birdseed
2 cups raw peanuts
3 cups black sunflower seed

Mix together and ...

Wild Bird Recipe  Not rated yet
Ingredients:


1 cup suet or lard
1 cup peanut butter (chunky is best)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 wild bird seed
1/4 raisins ...

Winter Suet  Not rated yet
Start by melting one pound of lard with two cups crunch peanut butter. While that is melting, mix together in another larger bowl one cup of oats, one ...

Quick and Easy Sandwich  Not rated yet
Here are the things that you will need:

Peanut butter
Honey**
Bread
Bird seed
Raisins

Procedure:

1. Take the bread and spread peanut butter ...

Rascals Balls  Not rated yet
Ingredients:

Beef dripping
Brown bread
Sunflower seeds
Bird seed mixed
Cheese
Cake crums

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with ...

Nutty Crumble  Not rated yet
Ingredients:

1 pack of lard
Oats
Raisins
Mixed nuts
Honey


Melt the lard; chop up the mixed nut and raisins in a food processor; add to the ...

Crunchy Peanut Butter Bites  Not rated yet
Old Bread or Rolls - (Whole or multi-grain bread is their favorite, but white bread works well, too)

Chunky Peanut Butter

Spread chunky peanut ...

Peanut Butter surprise  Not rated yet
Here is an amazingly easy way to attract birds and keep their bellies full during the bitter winters.

Here are your supplies...
1) A tiolet paper ...

Nutty Pine Cone  Not rated yet
Large pine cone
1 cup cooking oats
1/2 cup Cheerios cereal (crushed)
2 cups crunchy peanut butter
12 inch thin wire

First twist the wire to the ...

Fresh apple, Birdy granola bar, donut hanger  Not rated yet
I love to watch the birds take turns eating a whole apple until the core is the only thing left.

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter topped with raisins ...

snack on a stick  Not rated yet
Get your crunchy penut butter, get some mesh material take your birdfood (works better with smaller bird feed) and mix it together use as much bird feed ...

Peanut Butter Pine Cone  Not rated yet
During summer and fall hikes while my husband and I are hiking we collect various size pine cones.

Then in the winter, usually before the holidays, we ...

Click here to see all of my homemade wild bird food recipes.



   
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