Little Creatures

[JanetMarie]

Have hardly had Japanese beetles this year. I think it's because of the dry weather. Now that it's rained I've seen a few more. I've just been squishing them and leaving them there. They're always on rose blooms. Sometimes the chickens are right there and they eat them if the beetle drops.

Other times when I had many beetles, which is normal, I've picked up a chicken and held her as she cleaned up all the beetles off a rose bush. I've also gathered them by knocking them in a container that is partially filled with water, then throw them in the pond when the muscovy ducklings are there, and they quickly gobble them up.

 

[JanetMarie]

The blackbirds are not hanging around as much. It was the defective new bag of woodpecker blend that I put out. Normally the blend has quality mixed nuts (walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, almonds, pecans) and black oil sunflower seed. This defective bag had lots of cracked corn, and peanuts and none of the other nuts! When the defective mix was all gone from the feeder, I put just black oil sunflower seed out.

I made the suet cakes, but going to work on the recipe more. The birds like the store bought version better. So, I have ideas of how to make it better/more appealing to them and still all natural. I'll post the recipe then.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Lots of snakes this year. Love my snakes.

 

[JanetMarie]

Lots of snakes this year. Love my snakes.

Me too! Hubby not so much. He's scared of them.

 

[JanetMarie]

I re-made the suet cakes. Here are the three ingredients I used. No salt in peanuts. I'm able to get organic peanuts here. No added oils either. Raisins with no other ingredient added.

Rendering down the suet. Cut into small pieces. It takes a few hours on the lowest heat possible.

The rendered suet, strained.

Peanuts were ground in a food processor to very small pieces.

I found that twice the amount of peanut pieces to rendered suet seems to work well. Easy to remember. Then add whole raisins. I remelted the previously made cakes and added more peanut pieces. I let the mixture cool a little before putting into the mold.

I have a silicone soap mold that was never used, so I thought that would work well. I put the extra mixture in a small glass baking dish lined with parchment paper.

Unmolded and ready to store away! Yummy! To store I wrapped in parchment paper, (I suppose wax paper would be okay also) then into plastic gallon bags, and store in frig. Suet is supposedly shelf safe, but I just store in frig. anyway.

In the feeder! The birds like these a lot. They have a good peanutty aroma.

The solid crispies from rendering the suet are dog treats! And he loves them.

No corn, milo, wheat in any feeders now, and no blackbirds or cowbirds! Much more peaceful.

What I will try next time is to increase the amount of peanuts, because I would rather have more ingredients in the suet to make it go further. Maybe 2.5:1 ratio.

 

[flowerbug]

I re-made the suet cakes. Here are the three ingredients I used. No salt in peanuts. I'm able to get organic peanuts here. No added oils either. Raisins with no other ingredient added.
View attachment 16247


Rendering down the suet. Cut into small pieces. It takes a few hours on the lowest heat possible.
View attachment 16248

The rendered suet, strained.
View attachment 16249

Peanuts were ground in a food processor to very small pieces.
View attachment 16250

I found that twice the amount of peanut pieces to rendered suet seems to work well. Easy to remember. Then add whole raisins. I remelted the previously made cakes and added more peanut pieces. I let the mixture cool a little before putting into the mold.
View attachment 16254

I have a silicone soap mold that was never used, so I thought that would work well. I put the extra mixture in a small glass baking dish lined with parchment paper.
View attachment 16251

Unmolded and ready to store away! Yummy! To store I wrapped in parchment paper, (I suppose wax paper would be okay also) then into plastic gallon bags, and store in frig. Suet is supposedly shelf safe, but I just store in frig. anyway.
View attachment 16252

In the feeder! The birds like these a lot. They have a good peanutty aroma.
View attachment 16253

The solid crispies from rendering the suet are dog treats! And he loves them.
View attachment 16245

No corn, milo, wheat in any feeders now, and no blackbirds or cowbirds! Much more peaceful.

What I will try next time is to increase the amount of peanuts, because I would rather have more ingredients in the suet to make it go further. Maybe 2.5:1 ratio.

looks like breakfast!

japanese beetles here have just started to be more visible the past few weeks. to me this seems fairly normal for us. once the bean plants get bigger then i start to find them.

 

[JanetMarie]

looks like breakfast!

japanese beetles here have just started to be more visible the past few weeks. to me this seems fairly normal for us. once the bean plants get bigger then it start to find them.

I know! They look like blondie bars or something similar.

Since it's rained here almost every day for a week, there were the normal amount of Japanese beetles on their favorite rose bush. So, back to capturing and feeding them to someone.

 

[JanetMarie]

Y

I

have never made these, but it looks easy,

Yes, very easy to make and simple ingredients. Just a lot to wash up afterwards. It may be difficult in some locations to find beef suet. We have farm stores close that sell it.

 

[JanetMarie]

There were Carolina Wren parents that have their nest in the chicken shed. The babies left yesterday. I didn't take a picture of them so they were disturbed as little as possible. So just took a picture of the empty nest.

There was an unhatched egg left behind.

 

[JanetMarie]

Last year the wrens built a nest in the barn. When it was time for the little ones to leave they were trying to get out through the windows, which are glass, but closed. My husband and I helped guide them out through the barn doors, which are kept open during the day. The young ones were landing on my arms and hands as we guided them out. The wren parents were there too.