Home made fat balls are too soft - any recommendation for how to fix? (2 Viewers)

[OScotty]

Hello!

Yesterday I made some fat & seed balls for the birds (it started snowing yesterday so I figured a bit of extra food might not go amiss).
I used a mixture of animal fats that had been leftover from cooking, that I've kept stored until there was enough to make a few balls - think 1/2 a standard plastic takeaway container. I melted the fat gently in a pan, and then added loads of mixed bird seed and a few handfuls of peanuts.
I put them in cupcake wrappers with twine going through whilst still warm, and left overnight to cool/ harden. However, this morning they're still a bit soft and crumbly, despite it being extremely cold. If I hang them up, I worry the balls will fall apart and become rat food.

Are they fixable? If anyone has any recommendations (more seeds? adding oats?) I'd love to hear them!
Thank you!

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

I'm not sure how to fix your problem, but could you place the balls on a bird table instead of hanging them up?

 

[pianoman]

Different fats have different melting points - If making my own fat balls I use fat from the stock left over from cooking lamb, which always stays reasonably firm. Put leftover stock in a jar and the fat settles to quite a pure white solid layer at the top. I sometimes mix it with solid vegetable cooking fat (the stuff that is sold as a pure white solid block).

You can also ask a butcher for lamb suet, they often give it to me for free

 

[MikeInPA]

If I get the proportions wrong I will remelt failures and correct them by adding extra ingredients.

Check out this recipe, it's American but it works for me.

Bird Cake Recipe

 

[pianoman]

You will never be able to avoid some spillage onto the ground below the feeders. In my case there is never a shortage of ground feeding birds to mop up the leftovers though