How To Clean A Suet Bird Feeder

I love to feed the wild birds in my yard all year long, especially during the cold winter months. So I decided to make a suet feeder that would keep them fat, happy, and healthy through the cold winter. And to keep it extra interesting (and very Sadie-esque), I decided to try my hand at making homemade bird suet that I would pour in a coffee mug.

Because, let's face it. If there's one thing that every thrift store has in DROVES, it's ceramic coffee mugs.

Ceramic coffee mugs or novelty mugs at the thrift store for a suet feeder or DIY bird feeder

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How to Make Bird Suet for a Suet Feeder with Ceramic Coffee Mugs

After selecting some ceramic coffee mugs from Goodwill, I brought them home and ran them through the dishwasher.

I always like to start off with clean project materials, even if they're for the birds!

Ceramic coffee mugs that will be upcycled into a suet feeder with homemade bird suet

Now, to transform a coffee mug into a suet feeder, you can do a couple of things:

Melt down a pre-made store-bought suet cake , or
Render beef fat into homemade bird suet to mix with the bird seed of your choice .

I opted for number 2 as an experiment. Though I wasn't exactly sure how to make suet for a suet feeder, it seemed pretty straight forward.

I purchased some beef suet from Whole Foods which I rendered (i.e., melted into liquid form) in a pot on my stove.

While it rendered, I gathered some sticks from the yard to create perches for my DIY bird feeders. I snipped them so that they would touch the bottom of the mug and stick out approximately 4″ beyond the top of the mugs.

Sticks as perches to go in the ceramic coffee mugs for a suet bird feeder or winter feeder

Next, I poured some bird seed into the coffee mugs, filling them approximately halfway with seed.

Then, I placed the "perches" into the seed. To ensure the perches stayed in place later on, I wrapped some heavier-gauge jewelry wire around each one.

How to make a bird feeder with a coffee mug as a suet feeder and how to make suet

Finally, I poured the rendered beef suet (or homemade bird suet) into each suet feeder!

Admittedly, rendering beef fat to make bird suet stunk up my kitchen – so be prepared for that!

How to make bird suet in the ceramic coffee mugs as a suet feeder in the winter

I placed my suet bird feeder in the fridge to cool down and allow the suet to harden.

It took about an hour to re-solidify and I used my stick-perch to stir it periodically to evenly re-distribute the seed.

Suet Feeder in a Coffee Mug for Winter Bird Feeding

Once it was solid, I used a carabiner to hang the suet feeder in a tree!

If I didn't already have a carabiner, I would have just used a loop of jute twine to tie it to a branch.

Suet feeder with homemade bird suet as a DIY bird feeder in a coffee mug from the thrift store

And for anyone wondering if the birds actually ate from the suet feeder…

They sure did!

Suet bird feeder with the homemade bird suet in a coffee mug from the thrift shop

Moral of the story? If you've ever wondered about how to make bird suet or how to make a bird feeder, this suet feeder is a great place to start! Plus, not only did it involve upcycling a coffee mug, it was a very inexpensive way to make a DIY bird feeder!

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I'm also excited to announce that my first book is now available ! If you enjoying upcycling clothing and simple sewing projects, then you will love my book on flannel crafts !

Crafting with Flannel by Sarah Ramberg