Large Birdseed Wreath Recipe

I have now been making these gorgeous birdseed wreaths for over 10 years, have made hundreds since then, but this is how it started …

When we moved out to our island acreage, we had a couple of mature cedar trees in the front yard, right outside my office window, I decided that they would be a fantastic spot for feeding the birds in winter. The trees offered them shelter and safety while they enjoyed my homemade birdseed wreaths.

So, I started looking for birdseed wreath recipes online – there are quite a few, it turned out!

I knew that I did not want to do the peanut butter rolls, where you simply smear the peanut butter on a wreath form and then roll it in seeds. I wanted something special and pretty, while being healthy, organic, and natural.

I ended up making 3 different wreath recipes. Two were all natural, made with real ingredients. The third one was the one that is most prevalent on the internet, though I can’t for the life of me understand why people would choose to give birds a wreath made of gelatin, flour, and corn syrup!

Though the birds did eat that one, too, it was not their favourite. It is the pale bottom one in the picture above. I never made it again as I it offered nothing of any nutritional value that I could see.

A medium sized birdseed wreath with a pretty white ribbon.

These birdseed wreaths appeal to birds of all kinds. I have seen sapsuckers and woodpeckers at them, in addition to all the little songbirds. I am not a birder, do not know the names of the birds, but have seen little birds that cling to the tree and the wreath, as well as the others that like to peck at the droppings on the ground.

The wreath I make the most often makes one medium sized birdseed wreath, or 6 mini wreaths.

I have literally made and sold hundreds of these wreaths over the past decade. You can find that recipe here.

A large birdseed wreath with a frosting of suet.

Every so often though, I like to make a larger wreath, one that contains no peanut butter. I wrote in my notes from 11 years ago that it was a Martha Stewart recipe but have not been able to find it again since, though you can find pictures of a birdseed wreath with cranberries on top.

I often add some kind of topping to it, though never cranberries thus far, to make it look like a frosted cake…

This one above has just extra suet added. Melt a little bit of suet, half a cup or so, pour it into the pan to and pop in the freezer to set while you make the seed recipe.

You could also make a ‘frosting’ out of suet and peanut butter, if you wanted to.

A bundt pan full to the brim with birdseed suet mix.

Large Birdseed Wreath Recipe

1.5 – 2 cups cups of suet
6 cups *good quality wild bird seed with lots of sunflower seeds
1 cup peanuts, optional

Melt the suet slowly in a saucepan. Use a very low heat so that you do not scorch the suet.
Add birdseed and nuts (if using) to the suet.
Mix well.
Press the mixture into a large bundt pan.
Let harden in pan, overnight, in fridge or freezer.

I love the look of this wreath. It is very natural looking with the seeds all shiny and glossy from the suet.

*Be sure to purchase a really good quality birdseed that appeals to the broadest variety of birds in your area. The best seeds, the ones most liked by the birds, tend to be black oiled sunflower, nyjer, safflower, peanuts, and then white millet. If you use the seed blends that are low in sunflowers, but high in white millet and corn, it might appeal to rodents more than birds. Eek! Also, the millet is mostly tossed to the ground for the ground pecking birds to eat, so you may end up with a lot of weeds sprouting in spring.

* Important Tip

A ring of twigs in the center of the birdseed wreath keeps it from cracking in half.

Make a ring out of twigs or grapevines and place into the middle of the wreath as you are pouring in the ingredients. The ring does not have to be perfect, just has to stay together in a ring.

This ring of twigs will work as a stabiliser in the wreath, keeping the wreath from cracking in half and falling to the ground as the birds peck at it. Any kind of twigs will work just fine. I have used mockorange, willow, birch, dogwoods, grapevines….

A large birdseed wreath with peanut crust.

To make it look more festive, I added peanuts to this wreath. Pour a little bit of melted suet into the bottom of the bundt pan, toss in the nuts, let cool and set while you make the recipe for the wreath.

I love this ribbon, have not been able to find it since, but it was my favourite.

How To Hang

Use garden twine to make a loop for hanging it from a hook or nail.

I like to put a bit of pretty ribbon underneath the string so that the string does not start to bite into the wreath. The ribbon adds a bit of bling for the holidays and acts like a buffer, of sorts.

Wrap the ribbon around the wreath and make one knot in the ribbon, but do not tie the bow.
Take a length of garden twine and wrap it around the wreath, over top of the ribbon.
Knot the ribbon once again, over top of the string. Make bow in the ribbon, if you want one. Or trim the tails of the ribbon to make it look festive.
Knot the two strands of twine as close to the wreath as you can, just behind the knot in the ribbon. The knot is at the very back of the wreath. This helps keep the wreath lying flat against the tree/fence.
Leave enough twine to make a 3 or 4 inch loop for hanging the wreath.

These are some ribbons ideas that I love this year

Merry Christmas Ribbon / Jute Ribbon / 4 Rolls of Grosgrain Ribbon / Gold & Bronze Ribbons

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