How Fat Balls Provide Essential Energy to Wild Birds

Whether you’re a bird enthusiast wanting to support local wildlife or you just enjoy watching different birds land on your feeder, it’s important to provide garden birds with the right type of food. As well as stocking your bird feeder with mixed seeds and peanuts, using fat balls is a great way to help birds thrive all year round. 

Fat balls are a nutritious and energy-rich treat, and they are ideal for feeding from a wire feeder, table, or crumbled into seed mixes. Below, we have explored how you can make a big difference to the well-being of your local bird population with fat balls, especially during the colder months when natural food is in short supply.

The Importance of Garden Bird Feeders

Bird feeders are a popular garden accessory, and they can be more beneficial than you may realise, helping to care for local wildlife. Putting out bird food can encourage different species of birds to visit your garden, allowing you to enjoy watching them in their natural habitat. It’s also an amazing way to support birds during different seasons, whether it’s breeding or migration, and keep them well fed when it’s harder for them to forage or hunt for their own food. 

Why Fat Balls are a Popular Choice

Bird fat balls are packed with high-quality suet, cereals and seeds, making them an excellent source of essential nutrients and calories for the birds you regularly see in your garden. This is particularly important during the colder months when birds need more energy to survive, and fat balls provide vital fuel to see them through freezing nights and frosty mornings.

The suet base is rich in fat and provides more calories than most other types of bird food. It is easy to digest and provides an instant energy boost, helping birds stay healthy and active, even on the coldest days. High-quality fat balls for birds also include seeds and grains for added nutrition, and this helps to attract a variety of birds while fortifying and nourishing them. 

When you provide garden birds with high-energy fat balls, you will be avoiding unnecessary fillers that provide little nutritional value. They are also less prone to spoilage than many other foods you might consider putting on your bird feeder, making them a safer and more substantial diet option for garden birds through all seasons

An Essential Energy Boost During the Winter

Whether local birds search for food by foraging or hunt for their food, winter can be the hardest time of the year. Natural food sources tend to be reduced during the colder months, making it even more important for homeowners to use bird feeders. Providing garden birds with fat balls will give them the energy they need for all of their daily activities, from flying and nest building to caring for their young. When the temperature starts to drop outside, wild birds use up huge amounts of energy just trying to stay warm, making fat balls important for winter survival.

Attracting a Wide Range of Bird Species

Fat balls for birds are an excellent way to encourage birds to visit your garden. From robins and blue tits to sparrows and starlings, lots of different species will flock to your bird feeder. Even the occasional squirrel or hedgehog might lap up the crumbs that birds drop in your garden, adding to the diversity of wildlife you can experience right outside your door. 

The soft and crumbly texture of fat ball feeders makes them easy for both small and large birds to eat. They can simply peck and pull off pieces from the ball, just make sure you’re providing them with somewhere to safely perch and feed without the balls rolling away. It’s best to look for high-quality products made without nets too, as they can cause harm or stress by trapping the birds' feet, wings, or beaks. 

Where to Put Fat Balls in Your Garden 

There are a few different ways you can use fat balls to feed birds in your garden. They can be placed inside specialist bird feeders with wide openings, hung from a tree branch with a strong string, or laid on a bird table. This versatility means they’re suitable for every garden, and they invite lots of birds to feed at the same time. Here are a few top tips for feeding with fat balls:

  • Choose feeders that keep fat balls secure and provide a perching space for the birds, making the food more accessible. 

  • Place bird feeders in sheltered, quiet spots away from high-traffic areas of your garden; this will encourage more birds to feed. 

  • Replace uneaten fat balls regularly, especially in the summer months when they can spoil in the heat.

  • Keep bird feeders clean and free from old food to prevent the spread of disease and encourage more visits.

  • Hang the feeders or place the fat balls up high to keep both the food and the birds safe from cats and dogs.

Year-Round Benefits

While winter is one of the best seasons to use fat balls for birds, they can be beneficial at other times of the year too. For example, spring and summer are busy seasons for nesting and rearing. Adult birds expend a lot of energy mating, incubating eggs, and gathering food for chicks, while fledglings need extra sustenance to grow strong. During the autumn months, some birds will start to build reserves for the cold months ahead, so providing a steady supply of fat balls will support wild birds with reliable, accessible nutrition all year round.

Helping Local Wildlife with Favour 

By giving wild birds access to nutritious fat balls, you can play a part in protecting local wildlife and boosting biodiversity. Simply filling a bird feeder and choosing quality fat balls ensures you’re supporting bird health and giving them the energy they need to thrive. 

You can explore the range of bird food we supply at Favour on our website today. Our fat balls are specially formulated to attract a variety of birds and help them stay active and healthy. They’re made with high-quality suet and meet the same high standards as our premium seed mixtures. If you have any questions about how to support the wild birds in your garden, our team will be happy to help, so get in touch today.

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