Hello, you don’t have to feed birds fat based products; it’s just a food that’s high in energy, which the birds like, especially in winter. I know some people use the vegetarian suet instead to make their own fat balls and suet blocks. I’ve seen Atora and Tesco vegetarian suet (other manufacturers available), which may solve you problem and the birds seem to like it just the same. I have to admit I don’t know what the difference is, apart from the animal based products removed, but it might be worth looking out for it in your local supermarket. You may find that you have to feed your own fat balls and blocks in the winter, as it will stay solid in the colder temperatures and less likely to go rancid or cause the birds any problems with grease on their feathers during the spring and summer. If you want to avoid this type of food altogether, sunflower hearts, peanuts and niger seed are all oil-rich and high in protein, which you could feed instead.
Thanks Debs, that's really helpful. I have been feeding sunflower hearts just recently and they adore them (although they are expensive and they get through them incredibly quickly!). Might be worth it though, if I knew they were getting the right nutrition, without my having to buy animal products. Nuts they seem not so keen on, which is why I had moved to fat balls and suet nibbles. Will look into niger seeds as well.
If you’re going to go with niger seed, it’s worth getting the appropriate feeder and seed tray. The niger feeder has slots in the feeding hole to reduce the amount of seed blown out of the port. I found the small plastic seed tray catches most of any stray seed, and you can get more birds feeding at any one time. My best to date was two adult Goldfinches and three juveniles - fantastic! I’ve added a couple of links to our web site, where you can view the niger feeder and seed tray.
shopping.rspb.org.uk/.../rspb-easy-clean-nyjer-feeder-small.html
shopping.rspb.org.uk/.../bird-feeder-seed-tray-small.html