An Experiment

Whilst perusing one of my many garden bird feeding catalogues I came across something called a Feast Wheel. Interesting, I thought, and so read the blurb that came with it:

Feast Wheel - A tasty blend of black sunflower seeds, peanuts, safflower seeds and red millet, bound together with gelatin and shaped into a BIG ring complete with it's own strong cord hanger. At 9" in diameter, over 2" thick and weighing over 900g, 'feast' is arguably an understatement!

And the price? £13.95 plus £2.50 p&p. Total £16.45.

And here it is:
Nice!

I decided it was something which must be reasonably easy to make. I looked in the cupboard and found a 9" silicone baking ring a bit like this one:

No idea why we have one, or what the hell it's used for, but it looked ideal and being silicone it is completely non-stick and totally flexible. Next, I knew I had plenty of seed to fill it, but I didn't have any gelatin in the house. That was easily fixed with a quick trip to the Co-Op. £1.19 for 70g (6 sachets). I found some string to put in the middle so I could hang it up. There! I had everything ready:

Mould
Seed
Gelatin
String.

I filled the silicone ring with mixed seed, chopped peanuts and sunflower hearts. Total weight: 964g. Next, I melted three of the six sachets of gelatin with around 1/2 pint water, tipped the seed mixture into a pan and poured the gelatin onto it and gave it a good mix. I've never used gelatin before (as a vegetarian I don't have much need for it!) but this seemed to work! It was turning into glue! I poured half of the gluggy (is that a word?) mixture into the ring, placed the string around the middle, poured over the rest of the mixture and then popped it into the fridge to set.

And here is the result:

Da da daaa! 9" in diameter and just over 2" thick!

Note the pretty pattern!

Total cost: 60p
(well, 59.5p really)
Total saving: £15.85!

It's the same size and weight as the shop equivalent.



Next up, would the birds actually like it?

Siskin did:

Starling did:

Goldfinch did:

Robin did:

Greenfinch and Chaffinch bothe fed on it, too.

You can see the string I used for hanging purposes ... I abandoned that idea after the ring span constantly in the wind and so I just hooked it over the hangers instead.

I am yet to see any Tits on it - but I'm sure they'll find it eventually.

It looks like it's going to last considerably longer than a fat cake usually does (around thirty minutes if the Starlings are about!). The ring has been out for two days and it's still intact - and that's with plenty of visitors feeding away on it.

Conclusion: RESULT!