I keep suet out year round, this time of year is great because all the baby woodpeckers are learning where it is!
Lisa

Yes, definitely put suet out in the summer, too. You may just have to replace it more often if it gets horribly hot. I've been getting all sorts of woodpeckers at my suet feeder, and lately there's been a downy woodpecker feeding its baby there, with both of them clinging to the suet holder's bars. It's so cute watching them!

For attracting other birds, I have an article that may be useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Attract Birds

To attract wildlife, you need to provide habitat, which includes nesting places. Woodpeckers need dead trees, so if you have dead trees on your property, don't remove them.

No dead trees = no woodpeckers, suet or no.

Actually, you don't necessarily need a dead tree in your own yard, as long as there's at least one nearby in your neighborhood, because we don't have any in ours, yet I get various kinds of woodpeckers at my suet every day, along with their babies now, too. And they also peck the wood on our living trees, such as our elm, for insects.

But there must be some dead trees nearby us, because Elly's right, they do need them in order to live in your area. I find that kind of scarey, because most often either the city or a homeowner has dead trees removed. If that keeps happening, besides all the developments going up, cavity nesters are really going to have problems finding nesting places!

Ahh...but naturedar, not all of us live on an acre of land. My lot is only 60x132 (with a an old house and 2 car garage on it too)....there's no way I can have leave a dead tree standing. Sooner or later they fall. As much as I would love to, it simply can't happen. The city (actually a small town of 7600) would probably come thru and take it down anyway and fine me for having a hazardous property.

Well here's a funny thing. I live in a small old suburban development. No dead trees anywhere nearby that I know of. I put out a small bird feeder filled with the usual seed mix and every night I've been throwing out a little bread too just for the fun of watching the little birds who like to eat it and guess who comes now every night for his share? The woodpecker!! Not only Mr Woodpecker but also Mrs Woodpecker comes and today this AM I went out and both came. I heard a raucous call and Mr called to Mrs and there they both were having a little bread! I sit outside under a gazebo on my back patio close to the feeder so I can watch the action and they came swooping down and each had some of the bread and they came several times. I am hoping I get to see some of their babies eventually. I had no idea they would ever eat just plain old bread if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!

There have to be dead trees somewhere. That's where woodpeckers live. They nest in dead trees and eat the grubs under the bark (except for flickers, who eat ants).

terryr, we live on a small lot too, and there's only room for one car in our small garage, so I definitely understand what you mean about lack of room for a dead tree. (We're smack dab in the city, and everyone around here has small lots like ours.) When trees die on our boulevard, the city would never consider letting it stay there, even if we protested. But someone nearby has to have a dead tree in their yard, because I've been getting various kinds of woodpeckers at my suet feeder.

What bugs me is that the power company, or telephone company, recently went through our area to trim trees that were reaching the overhead lines. They ended up chopping down some live bushes we had in our back yard that had been there for ages and used as a sanctuary for birds. And the branches were growing sideways, not up!

elly, thanks for mentioning that flickers eat ants. Didn't know that! I've heard that solitary bees, nesting beetles and carpenter ants are sometimes in cedar siding, and that becomes a feast for woodpeckers.

ghoghunter, that's amazing and delightful about the woodpeckers eating bread! I always throw some out for the birds too, but have never seen any woodpeckers eating it. I wonder if they would if I didn't have suet out. Doubt it, because they never came before I started hanging any, and just had seed feeders.

Dang it, I'm really worried about this issue of less and less dead trees being around. Even chickadees build their nests in them! But what's the solution, if don't want to drive cavity nesters out of the city and back into the woods, which are also disappearing?

Not sure that it helped much, but a few years ago when we had a dead tree, we had most of it removed but left about 4 feet of it in hopes it'd help some wildlife, at least in terms of food.

A tree does not have to be fully dead. My neighbors tree has several large diameter branches that are dead. And there are several dead branches on other neighbors trees.

I do not think that I would want to maintain a suet feeder in the summer. I guess I will need to do some research to find out their eating habits and such.

Thanks for the replies.....
Candace

I used to do the suet feeders but gave that up many years ago when I found an easier method. I use a table knife and spread peanut butter directly on the bark of a large live maple tree in the yard. There are woodpeckers and titmice feasting on it continuously, both in winter and summer. The squirrels do not find it appealing because it is too sticky for them, and other birds do not have the ability to cling to the bark.

I use suet dough now that its so hot. It doesn't melt and I have red bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays, wrens, chickadees, and brown thrashers using it. I buy mine but you can make it using 1 part peanut butter and four to five parts corn meal plus a little bird seed. I buy the hot pepper dough from Wild Birds Unlimited though because the squirels will go through all the food in a matter of minutes. I also see the red bellied woodpecker eat sunflower seeds from the bird feeder.