Suet is beef fat, and in winter it is the single most valuable thing you can hang out. The birds that want it — woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches — are insect eaters with no insects to eat.
What suet actually is
Traditional suet is plain beef fat, usually kidney fat. Commercial suet cakes are rendered and often mixed with seed or fruit. Both work. The rendered cakes last longer in warm weather, which matters more than you would think.
When to put it out — and when to take it down
Cold weather is suet season. The catch is heat: raw suet can go rancid if it has not been specially processed. In warm spells, switch to a commercial cake labelled for summer use, or take it down entirely until the weather turns.
A simple rule for most of the country: up when the nights are reliably cold, down when daytime temperatures are consistently warm.
How to offer it
- A plastic-coated wire cage is the standard, and the coating matters — bare wire can be a problem in freezing weather.
- Hang it against a tree trunk or a post. Woodpeckers brace with their tails and feed more comfortably vertical.
- Keep it out of all-day sun. Sun is what turns suet soft and rancid fastest.
The peanut butter alternative
Peanut butter is the other high-energy option for the same birds. Mix it with cornmeal or oatmeal to stiffen it, and smear it into the bark crevices of a tree or into holes drilled in a hanging log. Use plain peanut butter, not the sweetened kind.
What to avoid
- Anything mouldy. Moulds can produce toxins harmful to birds. If a cake has gone furry, bin it.
- Salted or flavoured products. Plain only.
- Leaving an old cake out for weeks. Half-eaten suet that has weathered through a thaw is not worth the risk.
Who shows up
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are usually first, then chickadees, nuthatches and titmice. Starlings can take over a suet cage — an upside-down feeder, which forces birds to hang to feed, keeps most of them off while woodpeckers and chickadees manage fine.
Sources
- Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology — food types and suet guidance
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Winter Bird Feeding
Last reviewed: October 2026.