Suet balls

5.0 out of 5

57

I have been feeding these balls for a number of years and having bought three large boxes this year i would say that the quality has deteriorated. The balls break down far too easily and you end up with most of it on the floor in a very short time, some will be eaten by ground feeders but not enough so you end up with a fatty mess. Also there is far too much whole barley in them which is not really eaten by small garden birds.

These suet balls are the preferred choice of my feathered friends, if they are happy, so am I.

The sparrows, blue tits and starlings love these fat balls. The only thing that is disappointing is the fact that the box of 150 balls arrive with some broken but I jut crumble them up and feed to the birds who love them regardless.

These suet balls seem to have had mixed reviews, but compared to some of the cheaper ones I've tried these are popular with the wildlife in my garden. I agree the packaging is perhaps not the best environmentally (and the long thin package on 12 is a bit ungainly), but I've never had a problem with the quality of the balls themselves.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review of our suet balls, it is good to hear you and your wildlife are pleased with these! We are currently searching for new ways to package our food which is more environmentally friendly.

since putting this out birds came from all over to try them mostly Thrush X50

The RSPB fat balls are now the only ones I buy. They are a little more expensive but I have wasted money on cheap fat balls which either stink or are like concrete in cold weather. These are a huge favourite with all birds - robins, siskins, blackbirds, tits etc. I use the larger box shaped fat ball feeder and the soft bilked birds that don't readily 'dangle' can perch on top and easily feed! Highly recommended after much trial and many errors...

Having spent a small fortune on seed which ended up in huge piles on the ground, I've finally found a suet ball all my birdies will eat!
I've around 30 sparrows, 3 robins, blue, grey and coal tits who all seem very happy with them :)
The only problem with this is that they love them so much they are currently consuming 6 balls per day - it's always feeding time in my garden, so I'm purchasing my second box in a matter of weeks!
Definitely the birds favourite suet balls of the ones i've purchased and believe me I've tried lots!

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, so pleased you have found a firm favourite for your birds!

house sparrows love them

The birds seem to love these fat balls. Yes there were a lot of broken and crumbled ones in the pack which personally didn't really bother me because I use the broken ones on my bird table and ground feeder which pleases the robins and blackbirds. However for people who want them for hanging feeders only you may be disappointed due to the amount of broken balls in the box.

These suet balls are wonderful, they are so popular with robins, chaffinches, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, marsh tits, and even a greater spotted woodpecker has been coming all week to the (first floor) window on which the feeder is hanging (the first woodpecker I have seen in 20 years!). I am hoping for even more bird visitors and have bought plenty of these suet balls in case the weather gets colder when there might be even more birds - but I am most happy with what I have so far. Thanks RSPB!

I had got other suet balls, but the birds didn't touch them, preferring the coconut shells and suet sprinkles I had from the RSPB. When I reordered them, I added a box of these to see if it was just suet balls they didn't like, or the particular suet balls I had! They can't get enough of these, and the old, uneaten balls have gone in the bin! I've had woodpeckers, jays, chaffinches, robins, long-tailed tits, great tits and blue tits all come to visit - and that's just today! The suet balls are also coping well with the current hot weather and storms.

All the usual garden birds love these suet balls and queue up to feed! I even have a Jay come in to feed on them but he doesn't queue up... he just takes over. I have been using them for a few years now and have never been disappointed. Thank you RSPB.

Great product- they are very popular in my garden and all sorts of birds are attracted to the feeder, such as tits, woodpeckers, robins and sparrows. :) I get through them so quickly that buying the refill pack of 50 is very useful!

The birds in my garden love these, I put them in feeders and crumble onto the tables, then sit back and watch the birds flock in. Unlike other cheaper suet balls these do not melt in summer or freeze in winter. I'm very happy with them and so are the birds.

These suet balls are easy to use, not too hard or too crumbly and they don't smell rancid like some suet products from other sources and the birds love them. I have attracted everything from long-tailed tits to Jackdaws, woodpeckers and the usual smaller suspects (even had some type of warbler I could not identify) . You can feed fruit or insect so varying the diet and the species attracted. I hang mine in a feeder off our 1st floor balcony and watch, in the late spring and summer, parents feeding their fledglings in the nearby tree branches, straight from the suet ball feeder.

I bought this small pack as a test for my ungrateful birds after reading the reviews on the larger packs. My birds (starlings, blackbirds, dunnocks, blue tits) are notoriously fussy and won't eat anything except suet, I assume because lots of people feed them in this area. I've noticed before the lack of appeal the supermarket balls have and hoped these would be better. If I smash them up and feed them instead of other suet they will get eaten eventually but it's not quite the uptake I was hoping for. I'll trickle feed the last few and split them between the birds and my chickens.

Really pleased with the fat balls. Great price for bulk order. Quick delivery. None of ours had broken - all intact & held together well when putting them in the feeder. The birds love them. Will buy again.

This is the 2nd time I bought these after the first time went badly.. Well this time was the opposite and not even 1 was broken.. The box is the same as before and is fine and seemed to be a better plastic bag holding the balls in. But I still think maybe needs protecting inside the box due to sometimes being bumped around in the post. I did test my local suet balls which are solid hard but the birds hardly touched them, yet they love these and seems maybe because the birds prefer softer suet balls. Over all much better long lasting and worth the money!.. I will 100% buy these again from here

I am very please with the large boxes of suet balls but, I wish that you could supply the Buggy Balls in the large 150 ball boxes as well.

This is an excellent product and the first time buying suet balls. RSPB suet appears more brown in colour compared to others: this takes a few days for both birds and humans to get used to! Previous commenters have issues with damaged packaging and contents, not me! I've checked and all balls are intact, some crumbs are present in packaging. To the touch they are firm and non-greasy - perfect for use on the ground or in feeders. Starlings and sparrows are particularly attracted. Typical use is 10 per day. I am now buying these repeatedly with exceptional satisfaction.

High quality, all intact. Will buy again.

Good quality, all intact, Will purchase again.

These suet balls are so popular it is hard to keep up with the demand and at 21p each my view is they are excellent value. There's no point spending money on cheaper food that isn't going to be eaten.
I have just one question though, I've just discovered that my latest batch delivered during the week has a strong cheesy smell, even though they are kept in a cool place. Is it still okay to feed them to the birds? They still like them!!

RSPB response - Thanks for your review. The only ingredients in our suet balls are suet, wheat, naked oats and sunflower seeds. Depending on temperature there can sometimes be a slight variance in smell, however none of these ingredients will go off or turn rancid and all will remain safe for birds throughout the product's best before period.

Very popular with our birds, more so than ordinary locally-sourced fatballs, especially the sparrows in the cold weather. However there have been problems with packing. On two occasions the tubs were not packed at all at the bottom of the containing cardboard box, and not surprisingly arrived broken, the second one irreparably so.
To be fair the lady at customer services was very helpful and sent me a replacement for the last one at no cost, which thankfully was properly packed this time. Hopefully this problem has now been sorted out at the warehouse, but just be warned.....
It would also be better to have a stronger base to the tubs, as the plastic at the bottom is rather weak and brittle, unlike the top which is reinforced around the lid.

Bought these in December, birds love them. Mostly intact, only a few broken ones.

I now have ordered this box a few times and we have been satisfied every time. Balls all in tact. And the birds are very happy! I think the complaints about the broken balls have to be addressed to the delivery vans, as they some times throw the boxes around in their van, which obviously is no good to any sort of delivery...

The birds seem to enjoy these a lot more than the supermarket fat balls which I have to buy if I unexpectedly run out! Have to keep them in the house now as the mice who have snooked into my garage are very partial too! Definitely a good buy!

Bought this large box from the Pulborough brooks shopbewteen Christmas and New Year. Upon decanting into a couple of empty tubs today, I found I had only ~130 balls that were complete, or nearly complete, and a pile of bits that certainly didn't look like another 20 balls worth. I've weighed the decanted balls in their tubs, and the remaining 30, plus bits and I recon I'm nearly a kilo and about 10-15 balls short.

Put 6 balls out in container yesterday they have been seriously devoured especially by the bluetits. Every time I looked out today there was at least one, often two birds feeding together. The cheap green netting ones from garden centres often go bad as they are only half heartedly eaten by the birds. These rspb ones are a big hit!

My birds prefer these to normal fat balls. I get lots of visited different birds they are fighting over it. I get dunnock visting eating them globe visited in to my feeders. It highly recommend these are better.

I also had decided to stop ordering this large box since so many fat balls were just crumbs, but having read Annie's review decided to give it one more go. Yes problem seems to be sorted now!!

I've got a couple of suet block holders and I find that the broken suet balls fit into these very well. I didn't notice many broken balls. The bits that are too small for the feeders, just go onto the bird table anyway. All the birds seem to love these.

I have just received my 1st box of 150 balls and can say that they were all (as far as I can see-heavy bag) complete. But even if there were not I am happy to put the bits out on the table or on the ground. So the packaging seems to have been sorted. They may be expensive but at least any profit is going to the RSPB.

Out of stock when I ordered them but soon back in stock and arrived as expected, however, out of the 150 'balls' there are only a few that are in 'balls' mostly crumbed so will need to get an alternative feeder to put the crumbs in :-( Probably better to purchase in smaller quantities or in a plastic container.

I used RSPB fat balls a couple of years ago - no takers, so bought a large box of fresh ones. By the time it was cold, early December, I decided that my birds preferred the other RSPB food they were getting, packed up the fat balls into small boxes to give as Christmas presents to bird-loving friends scattered about the south of England, and their garden visitors 'woofed them down'. Mine like the fat cylinders and squares, so I'll stick to these in future. We all have personal preferences, I suppose, and my birds have voted with their beaks!

I used RSPB fat balls a couple of years ago - no takers, so bought a large box of fresh ones. By the time it was cold, early December, I decided that my birds preferred the other RSPB food they were getting, packed up the fat balls into small boxes to give as Christmas presents to bird-loving friends scattered about the south of England, and their garden visitors 'woofed them down'. Mine like the fat cylinders and squares, so I'll stick to these in future. We all have personal preferences, I suppose, and my birds have voted with their beaks!

We've always been a bit jealous of our neighbour's ability to attract a Greater Spotted Woodpecker but, within an hour of putting these suet balls out we were treated to the longest visit we've ever had from it. A great bird to watch and these suet balls are worth every penny.

my suet balls do not go hard. I keep them in plastic bags and in a bucket. So do other reviewers do this or is this why theirs are going hard. I buy them in batches of 150 and they don't last long. Anne Kearton

These are great - our Greater Spotted Woodpecker loves em - as do all the other usual suspects, starlings, sparrows, tits ( Great, Blue and Long Tailed ) - haven't really tried them on the ground or the bird table but maybe I should...and cut down on the mess of discarded seeds...

These suet balls are a hit with the wild birds in my garden, especially the starlings. They love them and sometimes fight for a space on the feeder containing them. I would recommend them, they were better than I thought. It's nice to see the detail of the starlings' feathers.

Birds love these and usually fight over them... I may need to invest in another bird table to cater for the demand! I find mixing it with peck and mix bird food gives good variety and by crumbling the suet ball in to smaller chunks also helps the birds eat it.

From Annie K I have tried shop bought fat balls from various shops and garden centres but in the last two years they have been no good either to hard or not enough fat. So i decided to send for RSPB ones direct. supplied to the birds all year round in a small garden i have gone through about 200 to 250 this year so far. THEY ARE GREAT. We have Magpies, starlings, blackbirds, sparrows, bluetits, great tits, doves, piegeons,robins and occasionly greenfinches, and (one great woodpecker one year only).

Birds love them - I agree they freeze in winter so not so good then but when it's warmer they are in constant demand. Mine get through about a pack of six every day... costing me a fortune '-)

My birds love suet and buggy nibbles, and fat balls, might have to apply for a loan to foot the bills! My regular vsitors are two tame female blackbirds and one wary male. Two Robins very friendly, obviously a pair. They feed each other, now bring their cute offspring. They just love buggy nibbles, One blackbird we call Shirley, comes right indoors for her share. She lands on the window ledges, door handle or flies to each window in turn until we feed her. How could you refuse? We've had friendly females for many years, I think each generation learns from their parents to come to my garden. I've had the privilege of feeding many babies close up, almost touching.

I've been buying these for a few years now. The birds love them, especially the starlings and blue tits. And the squirrels! I like the fact that they don't have those awful bags that can catch the birds' feet. The only thing more popular than this is the suet nibbles.

Great product and price, birds prefer them to shop bought ones. I would have given 5 stars except having paid an extra pound for the tub, it was really difficult to prise the lid off and when it eventually came off, the tub broke. (Don't be put off buying the tub for the coconut feeders as this has a different type of lid)

I used to buy Fat Balls locally but found the birds didn't want them, and in the end I gathered they weren't interested. They are picky creatures! Anyway I thought I'd try the RSPB Fat Balls just to see if anything had changed. Now I am filling up the container every other day. All the birds love it. Even the Magpie has got the hang of clinging to the holder to feed! In the morning there are literally 'wings at dawn' between the Starlings and Sparrows. I will never buy anything but these again.

The daily parade starts at 4am (!!) with the Jackdaws from our Owl Box (!!!) and their babies who are suprisingly agile and carries on with the woodpecker family, sparrows, starlings, tits and even the blackbirds whilst the Partridges hoover up the crumbs in competition with our hens.

Last evening I watched a family of blue tits feeding on these fatballs, 2 adults and 4 young. They were voracious, you could see the fat balls getting smaller. other birds have also enojoyed them, Great tits, starlings and even goldfinches. Wonderful thing to watch. They're great.

I have had these suet balls for two days and already have had to fill the feeder twice. At the moment only seen four different types of bird eat them. The blue Tits go crazy for them eating at them every two or three minutes. House sparrows really enjoy eating them and the Jackdaws really like them as well. Sometimes my Great tits have a nibble as well. Over the next few days i expect other birds to get interested. I am very pleased with this product, great stuff.

My problem is that the crows and rooks like them, they tend to cause damage to other feeders unable to be delicate they go in with the sledge hammer called a beak.

Every bird seems to love fat balls but they must never be put in plastic nets. Buy a proper feeder from this shop. They can also be put out loose on the ground or tables. Recommended.

These suet balls are safer then any other supplier because the RSPB have there suet balls without any nets.Nets can be so dangerous because the birds can get there feet and beck trapped and could cause serous damage to the birds beck and feet.

I've just enjoyed watching our local Greater Spotted Woodpecker (male) tucking into the fat balls I always put out and what a handsome boy he is!!Most birds, even the robins will get up there to the feeder and the house sparrows adore these better than peanuts which I no longer buy. Fat balls really are a bird magnet and a must for the Big garden birdwatch later this month!!It's amazing what you'll get on them! Blackcaps included!! Buy some, you know it makes sense!!

My birds have gone through all 50 balls in less than two weeks! You might think of selling boxes of 75 or even 100. Tried others but my birds definatly prefer these!

I put these in the RSPB bird cake ball caged feeder. The birdes are eating them like no tomorrow. They've got though ten in the last week!!! Sparrows love them to bits.

I bought these and it took a while for the birds to find them. Now they can't get enough of them. The starlings are the worst for demolishing them so quickly but have now got 2 hangers out and have lots of sparrows now visiting too. Even Mr Magpie will do all he can to have a good go at them!! That's hillarious to watch!!!