I’d never seen a Pileated Woodpecker eat out of an individual’s hand until 2002, when Carrie Griffis, a reader of my long-running nature blog, sent me photos taken on her back deck, where the massive woodpeckers were regular visitors. My first query was: “What are you feeding them?!” Carrie had made a homemade concoction she called peanut butter suet dough. I purchased the ingredients and whomped together my first batch that week. The birds immediately took notice. More than 20 years later, I’m still serving a version of the recipe to a shocking array of species in my Ohio yard.
With this dough, I’ve developed years-long relationships with a pair of Chipping Sparrows, a Yellow-throated Warbler, a pair of Pine Warblers, and any variety of woodpeckers. Nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, Blue Jays, and Brown Thrashers all clamor for more. I’ve even used it to assist Summer Tanagers and Baltimore Orioles through harsh May freezes. It’s great things when made and offered with care.
Through the years, I’ve learned so much concerning the composition and use of this superfood. Followers of my blog, where I share my feeding observations, named it Zick Dough; though I didn’t create it, the name stuck. What I did do was pay close attention to the birds that consumed it, and my recipe has evolved to raised nourish them.
It’s great things when made and offered with care.
The current version leans on unmedicated chick starter, which could be bought in farm and feed stores or online and is loaded with protein, calcium, and other vital nutrients. Without it, the unique recipe caused gout in my bluebirds when consumed in excess. A reader helped me out, noting that the combination contained an excessive amount of fat and never enough calcium (something to pay attention to with any homemade suet). Using chick starter as a base helps correct the deficiencies. Thus was born Zick Dough, Improved, also featuring cornmeal, rolled oats, lard, peanut butter, and flour.
Zick Dough, Improved is a crumbly concoction not suited for a typical suet cage. It is best provided in a small, covered feeder that may keep it clean and perfectly dry. I’m an enormous fan of Plexiglas domes, which I suspend over a dangling cup feeder. This helps keep squirrels and chipmunks away. To thwart daring but skittish European Starlings and House Sparrows, which can disappear your Zick Dough very quickly, hang the feeder inside a couple of feet of an energetic window.
As with all suet, Zick Dough is a wealthy food and ought to be withheld in late spring and summer, when natural foods are available for foraging and feeding chicks. It’s best reserved for winter as a once-daily treat loaded with the energy and nutrition birds need. It’s wonderful during ice storms when fruit and insects are locked away, or in early spring when the weather turns vile for migrants. Home cooking for your feathery neighbors will quickly endear you to them. Don’t be surprised in the event that they tap in your window for more.
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Recipe: Zick Dough, Improved
Combine dry ingredients:
2 cups chick starter, unmedicated
2 cups quick oats
3 cups white flour (whole wheat spoils too quickly)
1½ cups yellow cornmeal
Melt together in microwave:
1 cup lard (you should use vegetable shortening, but my birds clearly prefer lard)
1 cup peanut butter
Directions: In a big mixing bowl, slowly add the melted fats to the dry mixture while gently stirring or mixing on low until a dough forms. If too gummy, add just a little more flour and cornmeal until soft, dry, and crumbly. Makes 12 cups, or 3.5 kilos. Store in mason jars in a cool place.
Serving: Provide a half cup of dough once a day as a winter or early spring treat (in temps below 55 degrees Fahrenheit only). Place either on a dry, flat surface or, ideally, a small dish with a canopy to guard from rain and squirrels.