Posted on 05/23/2015 11:41:36 AM PDT by Textide
My Dad's been experimenting with ways to prevent squirrels from accessing his bird feeder. Mounting it in another place would be too easy.
Any other ideas?
Watch out. They’ll come back with spanners and blow torches. ;)
Was going to recommend the feeder that closes up when sufficient weight is put on the perch-bar, but after seeing some of the other solutions presented on this thread, I’ll defer to them - the closing-feeder doesn’t give near the joy of seeing a startled squirrel flying through the air I’m thinking some of the others do......
Just invest in a Wild Bills Bird Feeder. Not only do squirrels give up, they don’t come back. If they touch the right place on the perches, they get a “static correction” (via a 9v battery good for 6 mo). As a plus, it’s hilarious to see how fast a squirrel will leap off. Chipmunks are especially entertaining. During the next 2 weeks your squirrel traffic will lessen to the point that only the odd itinerant squirrel will ever climb up. And then not for long, ha ha. Change the battery twice a year and your problem is solved.
Haven’t seen many squirrels here in the Tucson area. I think ours are mostly on the Senate side in Washington DC although a few are reported to be congregating around City Hall.
We just picked up a miniature pinscher/Boston terrier mix (20 pounds of insanity) from a shelter. Squirrels don’t DARE step into the yard. Of course baby birds are fair game, too.
Maybe if the squirrels thought there was a dog around they’d stop.
Must have been a small squirrel. We have the small red squirrel who doesn’t bother the feeder and the larger fox squirrel which we have in abundance. They are like feral hogs. They clean up the seeds the other birds drop and so do the turkeys and occasional deer. Feeder is only about 8 feet from the house.
There is a kind of seed that birds love and squirrels hate. It is safflower seed, if you can find it. I have watched squirrels come to the feeder, get a seed and then spit it out. They don’t come back.
This worked for us.
Squirrel Solutions Seed Saver 200
http://birding.about.com/od/FeederReviews/fr/Squirrel-Solutions-Seed-Saver-200.htm
It’s sold on Amazon
Great story well told.
Cardinals like it....but it is sooooooooooooooo expensive. I can barely afford sunflower seed these days.
I've got three that come on to my back deck railing: Lucy who will feed from my hand, shorty who has only half a tail and will run away for a distance and return to the seed I put on the rail, and Hoppy who has a deformed hind leg ......
Gotta love waking up at 3 AM seeing deer eyes under the bird feeder.Waving your hands don’t work because they walk up to the picture window thinking you are throwing food.
Yes safflower seed is about half the cost of black oil seeds but considering the squirrels don’t waste it by scraping it out of the feeder, it lasts twice as long. I just have trouble finding it.
Sorry, I meant safflower seed is TWICE the cost of black oil seed.
Fried squirrel is delicious. We used to hunt and eat them when I was younger.
I have a different set up..a mandarin hat clear cover over the top of a Wildbird Tube feeder. They slide down the cover and fall to the patio. I have to reposition the feeder on the limb as they figure out just how to leap for the rungs after days of falls.
I will never totally defeat them but right now it’s working 95% of the time..It’s always obvious when they win.
Feeder seed level tells all.
The videos are a hoot.
Tell me about you Vamo and you experiences with it.
I have a Whispercat with the built in suppressor. It is still way too loud.
Feed the squirrels. It is hard being a squirrel.
Besides they are funny.
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