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Bird Food Recipe: Woodpecker Pudding

woodpecker in the snow, pecking at a tree, woodpecker pudding recipe.

How to Make a Suet-Based Treat for Your Backyard Birds

Jennifer Keating
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Calling all birdwatching enthusiasts and nature lovers! Dive into the vibrant world of backyard birds with our Woodpecker Pudding recipe. 

Woodpeckers, known for their distinctive markings and energetic drumming, love this suet-based treat. Made from simple pantry ingredients, this homemade treat attracts woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and other insect-loving birds to your garden. Enhance your birdwatching experience by providing these delightful creatures with a nutritious snack tailored to their needs. 

This recipe is for the birds! It promises the perfect blend of ingredients, ensuring your feathered friends keep coming back for more!

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How to Make Woodpecker Pudding

  • 8 pounds suet
  • 2 pounds peanut butter
  • 8-ounce bottle corn syrup
  • 2 pounds rolled oats

Instructions

  1. Melt the suet in a canning kettle or other large container, pouring the melted fat into another kettle as it cooks down. While the fat is still hot, add the peanut butter, corn syrup, and oats, stirring constantly until the mixture is well blended. 
  2. Put the pudding into old soup cans to cool and harden, and store in a cool place. 
  3. To use, warm the can until the pudding is soft enough to handle. 
  4. Drill a number of 1 1/2 inch holes in a 4-inch diameter birch log (leave the bark intact to provide good toeholds for the birds), spread the pudding into the holes, and hang the log outdoors where it is accessible to the birds.

Read more about the best winter foods for birds.

Have you tried Woodpecker Pudding Bird Food? Tell us what your backyard birds think of this special avian treat below!

Backyard Birds
About The Author

Jennifer Keating

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She is an active equestrian and spends much of her free time at the barn. When she’s not riding, she loves caring for her collection of house plants, baking, and playing in her gardens. Read More from Jennifer Keating
 

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Comments

Denise T (not verified)

11 months ago

I haven't made "suet cakes" for many years, the reason being that it's been impossible to get real "suet" from the butchers at my local supermarkets. There are 6 markets within a 20-minute drive from my house and none of them have true suet for sale. Some of them will give you trimmed fat from roasts and such if you ask, but it's not true suet that comes from around the loins and kidneys and has a firmer consistency and works better in cake recipes for the birds. Actually 4 of the 6 markets don't even have functioning butcher shops anymore. They get their meat from a central processing plant where it arrives already cut and shrink wrapped.

Can I just buy lard from the Amish or Mennonites? They have it in huge containers.

Valerie (not verified)

7 years ago

Will give recipes a shot. most likely much better for the birds as well

lkbluebird (not verified)

7 years 2 months ago

Thanks for the recipes. I'll keep them and try one of them for the first time.

farmerboy96 (not verified)

14 years 10 months ago

I liked this article a lot. It really helped me. I will try this sometime this week. Thanks for the help.