Make your own Fat Balls for Birds
- Bev
- Jan 3
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 11
How to make your own Fat Balls, which can be a wonderful food supplement for Wild Birds during the cold winter months.
Who knows who originally came up with the idea of making Fat Balls for birds? Whoever it was, it's clear that they love them. Blue tits, great tits, house sparrows, robins, blackbirds, nuthatches and even woodpeckers come into the garden and devour them during the winter months.
Table of contents:
What are Fat Balls?
Birds in the wild eat berries, seeds, worms and insects. Fat Balls can be a supplement to their natural diet and birds love them.
Because they’re made with calorie-rich fats, they can help birds get through the colder days and nights of winter when food can be in short supply. Fat Balls should be made with pure fats which go hard in the fridge like lard and suet, rather than with oils which stay liquid. That is because the oils can get into the birds’ feathers and interfere with flying.
You can make fat balls with the ingredients you’d usually put out on the bird table like sunflower seeds, dried fruits, small bits of apple and pear and scraps like bread and cake crumbs, and/or dry porridge oats (not cooked as cooked oats can be harmful to birds). You can also add any left over foraging or homebrew goodies such as elderberries, particularly loved by robins and blackbirds, and rosehips.
Mixed with lard and/or suet and refrigerated, you can turn all this into tasty treats.
Fat Balls tend to be made with one part fat to two parts dry mixture. So if you're using a 250g pack of lard, then you would add 500g of seed and other dried bits. That makes quite a lot of mixture, so I’d recommend making a few now and again unless you have a lot of spare fridge space.
Are Fat Balls Good for Birds?
The jury is out on whether fat balls are good for birds. In an ideal world, birds would forage only on what they find in nature. But there are parts of the UK where hedgerow and fields have been reduced so much by development, it’s hard to imagine that there is now enough to sustain a large and active wild bird population in the depths of winter. One thing we do know is that birds love fat balls. It is a joy to make them and then watch the birds appear when you put them outside. Once they work out you're going to make them these tasty treats, your wild garden bird population may increase rapidly.
How to serve Fat Balls
You could make the yogurt pot version I’m about to describe which has a piece of string through it, then hang the fat balls in a sheltered tree or shrub.
Or you could put them on a bird table. Alternatively, you could put them in fat ball holders which are widely available, like this one.
Fat Ball Recipe
You will need
250g pack of lard - widely available in supermarkets in the chiller cabinet
500g wild bird seed and mixed kitchen scraps. You could include pumpkin seeds, mealworms, dried raisins and cranberries, dried porridge oats, bread and cake crumbs, and small pieces of apple and pear.
Small pots like yogurt pots if you want a uniform shape, and string if you want to hang them up. If you have a fat ball holder you can simply form them into balls by hand.
Method
If your lard has been in the fridge, allow it to come to room temperature to make it softer and easier to work with.
Mix your lard together with the dried ingredients you’ve chosen in the bowl. You can use spoons if you don't like handling lard, however using your hands allows the heat in them to soften the lard making it easier to shape.
Push the seeds into the lard as you mix, so the fat binds the loose seed together. Ensure the seed is distributed as evenly through the lard as possible, so it doesn't crack as it dries out.
If you are going to use yogurt pots, make a small hole in the bottom of a pot and thread string through it. Then pack some of the mixture into the yogurt pot. Repeat for as many as you want to make. Otherwise simply shape the mixture into balls.
Place the pots and/or balls in the fridge overnight to set.
If you’ve used yogurt pots, cut the pot and peel it away from each fat ball. Tie a large knot in the string under the fat ball to keep it in place.
If you haven't used pots, simply place your fat balls on the bird table or in a fat ball holder and enjoy watching the wild birds in your garden.
Final Thoughts on Making Fat Balls for Birds
It’s easy to make nutritious treats for wild birds to sustain them through the winter months, and it’s rewarding too. Many more varieties tend to turn up when you actively feed them in winter, and they are such a joy to watch. Birds give us so much pleasure, and making Fat Balls feels like a small thing we can do to make their lives a little easier when it's cold. Yes, you can buy Fat Balls. But where’s the fun in that?
Want to learn more about the Birds in your Garden, and how to attract more of them?
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