Date: 3/12/26 7:42 am From: Inge Parker (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: bees on Oriole Jelly feeder
My Orioles love mealworms, live and dried and grape jelly. they do like
shelled peanuts when it's colder - also grapes. They don't seem to be
interested in oranges at all!
Inge Parker
New Bern
On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 8:29 AM Susan Campbell <susan...> wrote:
> Betsy and All,
>
> I use lard in my suet “recipe.” It works very well. Do not generate much
> beef fat here.
>
> I used to be able to get actual suet (beef fat found around kidneys)from
> pur local Winn Dixie meat counter. I never rendered it but cut it into
> small pieces and set it out during cold weather. However, that was years
> ago.
>
> Susan Campbell
> Apex, NC
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef> > ------------------------------
> *From:* Betsy Kane <oldurbanist...>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 11, 2026 9:38:15 PM
> *To:* Ann Brice <ann.brice...>
> *Cc:* Susan Campbell <susan...>; Herbert, Teri Lynn <
> <herbertl...>; Carolinabirds <carolinabirds...>
> *Subject:* Re: bees on Oriole Jelly feeder
>
> Orioles will eat raw shelled peanuts. A lot of birds that like suet or
> insects will eat raw shelled peanuts. Fatty and nutritious.
>
> I like the recipe that Ann offers from her neighbor, although I'd change
> out bacon grease and use beef suet. When I have made "suet cakes" with
> bacon grease, they are fatty, messy, and greasy - a nasty mess. Beef fat
> (like from frying hamburger) much neater to work with.
>
> I think, too, we are advised not to use Crisco to feed birds, as it is
> full of artificially weirded stuff like hydrogenated oils that birds may
> not be adapted to eat.
>
> Suet is a natural food that many birds would eat in the wild (finding
> animal fat on carcasses in winter, for example) but today it too is
> "weirded" - since cows are fed some very odd things in feedlots, and as a
> result the chemical composition of animal fat from industrial livestock
> operations is quite altered from what human and avian bodies are adapted
> to.
>
> And if you just aren't fond of what industrial animal production does to
> the animals or the environment, a decent substitute is good old peanuts
> (also produced at industrial scale with industrial processes, but still far
> less impactful than any kind of animal agriculture).
>
> Betsy Kane
> Washington, NC
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 4:36 PM Ann Brice <carolinabirds...> wrote:
>
> My neighbor in Wilson, NC, Fred Hite, has successfully used this suet
> recipe to feed orioles for years (and his mother before him.) Maybe this
> would work for you. I don't think the bees would swarm this. (I haven't
> used the recipe because I have cats in my yard, but he has had as many as
> 22 orioles in his yard.)
>
> Baltimore Oriole Suet
> 2 cups sugar
> 2 cups water
> 1 cup Crisco or bacon grease
> 1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
> corn meal (Tender Bake self-rising yellow)
>
> Combine sugar, water, grease and peanut butter and bring to a boil. Add
> corn meal until you get a semi-solid mixture. Fill holes in feeder.
>
> He has feeders that he has made from a 2"x2" x 8" block of wood that he
> drills holes in about 1" in diameter. He inserts pegs for perches under
> the holes.
>
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 8:29 PM Susan Campbell <susan...> wrote:
>
> Teri and All,
>
> Nope. There is no way to dissuade the bees given the open feeding
> scenario. And yes— bees are sure hungry right now! Cold weather will pull
> them back into their hives next week for sure.
>
> Do you have a sugar water feeder for the orioles? Maybe just use that for
> now…..
>
> Susan Campbell
> Apex, NC
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef> > ------------------------------
> *From:* <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...>
> on behalf of "Herbert, Teri Lynn" <carolinabirds...>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 10, 2026 7:55:41 PM
> *To:* carolinabirds listserve <carolinabirds...>
> *Subject:* bees on Oriole Jelly feeder
>
>
> Does anyone have any way to discourage bees on the jelly feeders? The
> orioles won’t come near it with all the bees on it. I know, the bees don’t
> have any flowers right now, so they need it, but neighbor is worried about
> the orioles not having a chance at the jelly. Thanks for any ideas! Teri
> Lynn
>
>
>
> --
> Ann Brice
>
> *First Wilson Properties, Real Estate Broker, GRI
> http://www.firstwilsonproperties.com/ <http://www.firstwilsonproperties.com/>* >
> <ann.brice...>
> cell: 252 373-0326
> office: 252 237-9900
> fax: 252 243-9600
>
>
>
