Suet cakes vs suet plugs

The short answer

• Suet cakes are the cheaper fat, at roughly 18 cents per ounce of actual fat delivered against about 31 cents for the same blend sold as plugs.
• Plugs in a drilled log are the better delivery system: no wire grid means no crumbs on the ground, and no perch dowels means starlings cannot settle.
• You do not have to choose. One standard 11 oz cake, chilled and cut into batons, fills roughly 15 log holes, which is about five refills of a three-hole log.
• Neither format solves starlings on its own. A log with perch dowels under the holes feeds starlings just as efficiently as an open cage does.
• Both formats come down at the same temperature: about 70 °F for plain rendered suet, about 85 to 90 °F for no-melt dough.

Buy cakes and cut your own plugs. That is the honest verdict: cakes are the cheaper source of fat by a wide margin, and a drilled log is the better way to present it, so the winning move is to buy the cheap format and load it into the good feeder with a knife. If you will not do that, then buy cakes if cost and convenience matter most, and buy plugs if your yard has a starling problem, a tidy patio underneath, or both.

Format against format#

Where the standard cake stays ahead#

Price, and it is not close. Our site figure for suet is about $2.20 per pound, so an 11 oz cake costs around $1.51. At roughly 75% fat that cake contains about 8.25 oz of actual fat, or about 18 cents per ounce of fat. The same blend sold as plugs typically runs 60% to 90% more per pound, which puts a plug near 31 cents per ounce of fat.

Run that over a winter. A yard with resident Downy Woodpeckers, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, nuthatches and chickadees will get through about one cake a week for twenty weeks: 13.75 lb of suet. On cakes that is roughly $30 for the season. On bought plugs it is closer to $51. Twenty-one dollars is not ruinous, but it buys a lot of black oil sunflower, and you are paying it for shape rather than food.

Fit and choice. The 5 in square cage is effectively a standard, so any cake fits any cage, and the blend range is far wider. If you want an insect blend to pull in a Carolina Wren, or a no-melt dough for a warm shoulder season, you will find it as a cake. Plugs are mostly sold as peanut or insect and that is your lot.

Tail props. A cage with a wooden extension below it lets a woodpecker brace its stiff tail feathers and feed in its normal tripod posture, which makes visits longer and calmer. Allow 5 to 7 in of surface below the cake for Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and 9 in or more if you want Northern Flickers. A short log gives a smaller bird the same bracing surface but rarely enough for a flicker.

What a plug and log does better#

• Top-tier favorite for: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Carolina Wren, European Starling
• Eaten readily by: Blue Jay, Eastern Bluebird, Steller's Jay, California Scrub-Jay, Common Grackle
• Taken occasionally by: Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Baltimore Oriole, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird

Look at who rates suet a top-tier food. European Starlings are on that list at the same level as the woodpeckers, which is the entire reason suet feeding goes wrong. A log changes the physical problem.

No standing surface. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and titmice are built to grip vertical bark and stay there. A starling has feet built for walking on the ground. It can hang under a feeder in short bursts and it will not keep it up for a meal. Drill the plug holes straight into the side of a log with nothing below them and you have removed the perch that an open cage effectively provides. Drill them on the underside of a hanging log and you have removed it completely. That is the same mechanism behind an upside-down suet cage, applied in wood.

Nothing hits the ground. A cage presents the cake against an open grid, and a drying peanut or seed blend crumbles through it steadily. Those crumbs on the grass are what recruit starlings and grackles at ground level and, after dark, rats and mice. Fat sitting inside a hole in solid wood has nowhere to fall.

Small increments. Two ounces at a time is a much better fit for October and March, when demand is low and a full cake sits in mild weather going stale. Load one hole out of three and refresh it in three days.

Cost per ounce of fat, worked out#

Here is the arithmetic that makes the choice a non-choice.

• A standard cake is about 5 in by 5 in by 1.25 in, or roughly 31 cubic inches of fat.
• A standard log hole is about 1 in across and 2.5 in deep, or just under 2 cubic inches.
• 31 divided by 2 is about 15. One cake fills about fifteen holes, which is five refills of a three-hole log.

So the cake you already buy is about five loads of a log feeder at cake prices. The method:

1. Freeze the cake for 20 minutes. Warm suet smears and will not cut cleanly.
2. Cut it into batons about 1 in square and 2.5 in long with a stiff knife on a board.
3. Press each baton into a hole with your thumb and trim it flush with the wood.
4. Return the unused batons to the freezer on a sheet of baking paper. They keep for months there and go straight into the log frozen.

If you would rather make the fat as well as cut it, our homemade suet recipes pour just as easily into log holes as into a cake mold. Pour warm, let it set in the log, and skip the cutting entirely.

Which one belongs in your yard#

• Starlings are stripping a cage in a day. Log, holes on the underside, no dowels. Switch to plain suet rather than a fruit or peanut blend at the same time. Full approach in stopping starlings.
• The feeder hangs over a deck, patio or path. Log. Crumbs are the problem and a cage produces them by design.
• You want the widest species list for the least money. Cage and cakes. Eleven of the thirty-four species in our dataset use a suet cage, and it is the cheapest fat you can buy.
• You want flickers. Cage with a long tail prop. No standard log gives a flicker enough to brace against.
• Mild autumn, low traffic. Log loaded one hole at a time, or a half cake in a cage. Both beat putting out 11 oz that will sit for three weeks.

When the format is not the answer#

If your daytime highs are above about 70 °F, neither format should be out. Plain rendered suet softens and can smear onto the head feathers of a clinging bird, and matted feathers insulate badly. No-melt dough stretches that to roughly 85 to 90 °F and no further. In the Deep South and the desert Southwest that makes suet genuinely seasonal, which is covered in summer feeding.

If you are in bear country, the question is not cakes or plugs, it is whether fat should be out at all. Suet is the single most attractive feeder food to a bear, and the guidance in bears at feeders overrides everything on this page from spring through autumn.

And if birds are simply ignoring the suet you have out, the format is rarely the fault. Check the fat for rancidity first, then check the cage: the greasy film on unwashed wire goes off faster than the cake does, and a rank cage will put birds off perfectly fresh suet. The cleaning routine takes five minutes with hot water and detergent.

Frequently asked questions#

Are suet plugs better than suet cakes?

Better at some things, worse at price. A plug in a drilled log presents fat inside a hole in wood, which is close to how a woodpecker or nuthatch naturally forages, and there is no wire grid for crumbs to fall through. That means almost nothing lands on the ground, which matters if starlings, grackles or rodents are picking up spillage. What you pay for it is roughly 70% more per ounce of fat than the same blend in cake form. Cutting your own plugs from a cake removes that penalty entirely.

Do suet plugs keep starlings away?

The log helps, the plug does not. What actually excludes a starling is the absence of anywhere to stand. A log with plug holes drilled straight into the side and no dowels below them forces a bird to cling to bark, which woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and titmice do all day and starlings sustain only briefly. Add perch dowels under the holes, as many logs come with, and you have built a starling feeder. Drill the holes on the underside of a hanging log for the strongest exclusion.

How many suet plugs does a log feeder hold?

Most hanging logs have three holes, some have four to six. A standard hole is about 1 in across and 2.5 in deep, holding roughly 2 cubic inches of fat, which is about 2 oz. Three plugs is therefore around 6 oz, a little over half a standard cake. In cold weather with a busy woodpecker crowd a three-hole log runs about four to seven days. Do not fill every hole in mild weather: partly filled logs stay fresher and you waste less to rancidity.

Can I make suet plugs from a suet cake?

Yes, and it is the cheapest way to run a log feeder. Put the cake in the freezer for 20 minutes so the fat is hard, then cut it into batons roughly 1 in square and 2.5 in long with a stiff knife. Press each baton into a hole with your thumb and trim it flush. Work cold: warm suet smears rather than cuts, and it will not hold its shape in the hole. One 11 oz cake yields about 15 batons, so roughly five refills of a three-hole log.

Which format is less messy?

Plugs in a log, by a wide margin. A wire cage holds the cake against an open grid, and as a seed or peanut blend dries out it crumbles through the wire. Those crumbs land in the grass, where they draw starlings, grackles and, at night, rats and mice. A log holds the fat inside solid wood on every side but one, so there is nothing to fall. If you feed suet over a deck, a patio or a tidy lawn, this difference is worth more than the price gap.

Do plugs go rancid faster than cakes?

Slightly slower, because a plug in a hole has less of its surface exposed to air and light than a cake pressed flat against an open cage. Neither is immune. Rancidity is oxidation and it runs faster the warmer it gets, so the real control is temperature and turnover. Rendered fat that smells of old paint or stale oil has turned, whatever shape it is in. In a warm shoulder season, load fewer holes and refresh more often rather than filling everything.

Sources and further reading

1. Feeding Birds Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch Suet as a feeder food, the species that take it, and degreasing and cleaning suet feeders
2. Bird Feeding and Care National Audubon Society General feeder and food guidance