Hello Terry, sorry that no one has answered you. What I can suggest is to make your own bird pastry. Shops own flour and fat, half fat to the flour mix and a splash of water to bind together. To this you can add almost anything you like, keeping is simple or not. Chopped peanuts, bird seed, sun flour hearts, Niger seed, suet, chopped or grated cheese, sultanas etc. Keep in the fridge for a few hours to firm up and then either mould bits to go into any type of feeder or squeeze around the branches. Sit back and wait. They love it! You will have to keep making it then!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Hello, yes. Gelatine melts so avoid this. I've baked for some time so had a few ideas to avoid buying those expensive ones sold. You can 'bake' a seed block at the lowest temp setting possible in the oven until the binder has hardened and set, but the seed not high enough to take colour (baked). I do not know if the seeds lose nutritional value, but I hoped not. Although i did it successfully, I abandoned it since the birds had more trouble pecking away at it held in a scrap feeder, so returned to loose seed in feeders. Also, too much 'tit tapping' would means seeds could fall away in chunks. Baked as a cookie, it was pretty strong and resilient, but since I did it in summer, I could not say if rain would soften the the block. It's certainly stronger than gelatine. If your block is sheltered from rain and moisture, it should last. Manufacturers use something hardcore called edible glue, something not in my pantry.
A bit like making macarons or egg white cookies, take seed and enough egg white (beat slightly, but not until foamy) to bind only and not lose shape. Spoon moistened mix onto parchment or greaseproof so your hands do not get messy whilst you shape it (not too voluminous, ie. a deep cube), as in wrapping pastry to be chilled and rolled. (Or if not too difficult, you can use utensils or a spatula to shape it freehand whilst it's lined in the tin). Shape it. Put the shaped block in its liner into suitable baking tin (I used a loaf tin) with high sides to avoid sides overheating, but a tray will be fine too. Bake at max 100 deg. or less until set; a lower temp will simply take longer. A small scrap feeder block (about 150g seed?) baked in less than 30 mins at a low setting. You can tell if you are baking too high if the seeds take colour, so reduce accordingly. Once done, it should resemble a hard pale seed brick. Tap it to check.
I hope you have more success than me.