Squirrels and sugar water (1 Viewer)

Vik · Jul 2, 2004

Has anyone ever had a problem with squirrels drinking hummingbird sugar water? Our hummingbird feeders are becoming useles. They must be taken down at night becausw of raccoons and now, during the day, there is at least one squirrel drinking the water. We will lose the birds and my summer will be ruined. Any thoughts?

KC Foggin · Jul 2, 2004

Hi Vik and on behalf of the staff here at BirdForum.net, a warm welcome to you.

Thankfully, that is one problem I don't have with the squirrels. ...yet. What about trying to hook up some sort of baffle above the feeder. I know it's a pain but I know how much waiting on the hummers arrival can mean.

robinm · Jul 2, 2004

Welcome to BirdForum, Vik

Vik said:
Has anyone ever had a problem with squirrels drinking hummingbird sugar water? Our hummingbird feeders are becoming useles. They must be taken down at night becausw of raccoons and now, during the day, there is at least one squirrel drinking the water. We will lose the birds and my summer will be ruined. Any thoughts?

Don't have many problems with raccoons in this part of England.

gthang · Jul 2, 2004

Not too good here. After putting out the hummer feeder, the squirrels just got a lot more daring. First they broke the finch feeeder after sending it tumbling to the ground below, and then dragged it a few yards from where the hanger was. Then one squirrel actually got inside the "squirrel-proof" cage (AAAAARRRRGH!) and continued to do this.

Finally, while doing some yard work, noticed the hummer feeder laying on the ground. when I got to the feeder, I realized it was broken in two, unusable...

after the hummer feeder, I took everything down, put them inside, and the squirrels are at my patio door, trying to get more food.

The squirrels have since disappeared, but I wonder, what the heck was going on with those thigns? They were even trying to get into our shed!

Is sugar water like an illegal drug of sorts with squirrels?

Vik · Jul 3, 2004

KCFoggin said:
Hi Vik and on behalf of the staff here at BirdForum.net, a warm welcome to you.

Thankfully, that is one problem I don't have with the squirrels. ...yet. What about trying to hook up some sort of baffle above the feeder. I know it's a pain but I know how much waiting on the hummers arrival can mean.

Your suggestion of a baffle is the best suggestion so far. I have little hope, of course, because I think squirrels have the highest IQs on the planet. But i'm going to give it a try. Thanks.

Vik · Jul 3, 2004

robinm said:
Welcome to BirdForum, Vik

Don't have many problems with raccoons in this part of England.

You don't know what you are missing. Pests but beautiful little pests. And they do like sugar water -- as well as everything else one feeds birds! Vik

Vik · Jul 3, 2004

gthang said:
Not too good here. After putting out the hummer feeder, the squirrels just got a lot more daring. First they broke the finch feeeder after sending it tumbling to the ground below, and then dragged it a few yards from where the hanger was. Then one squirrel actually got inside the "squirrel-proof" cage (AAAAARRRRGH!) and continued to do this.
Finally, while doing some yard work, noticed the hummer feeder laying on the ground. when I got to the feeder, I realized it was broken in two, unusable...
after the hummer feeder, I took everything down, put them inside, and the squirrels are at my patio door, trying to get more food.
The squirrels have since disappeared, but I wonder, what the heck was going on with those thigns? They were even trying to get into our shed!
Is sugar water like an illegal drug of sorts with squirrels?

I refuse to give up, at least not yet. But we have had supposedly squirrel-proof feeders prove to be useless, and now this with the sugar water. You are on to something; it's probably an illegal drug for squirrels! Vik

snowyowl · Jul 3, 2004

I had squirrels get into the walls of our old farm house. I had to live trap them and move them to a wooded area several miles away. That year I moved 17 of the little dears.
You can usually rent or borrow live traps from the local humane society.
If you don't want to take that approach, then the baffles should take care of the problem provided the feeders are at least six feet from anything the the squirrels can jump from and placed high enough to prevent the squirrels from jumping on the feeder or feeder pole from the ground.
I use only one squrrel proof feeder and it has been 100% effective to date. Its made by (I think) Squirrelbuster and allows the weight to be varied to not only prevent squirrels but so that you can also excluded larger birds like Blue Jays and Grackles.

gthang · Jul 3, 2004

Yeah, but here's how we have our "squirrel-proof" feeder set up:

We had a nice-looking pole that was just too short. When we test-fitted the feeder on it, the bottom of it was halfway from the ground. So Dad decided to drill two holes in the deck railing to support the pole. This way, no bears were able to get to it, unless they had really high IQs and climbed up the steps (When we had construction done on our home, we had to move the steps, so we have a railing blocking the entry from the steps). it was just far enough away that squirrels couldn't jump to it from a tree. We never had problems with the squirrels as much as we did when we put the hummer feeder out...

Anyway, because it was just the right height from the deck railing, all a squirrel had to do to get to the feeder was jump up onto the pole, which we made really slick, and keep jumping up until they got to the feeder. We never had any squirrels getting inside the cage until after we put the hummer feeder up...

So now we have no feeders, therefore no birds coming, and this really have me <bleep>-ed off.

snowyowl · Jul 4, 2004

Come on, Gthang! Use your imagination. I bet that you can come up with a feeder set-up that the squirrels can't get into.

Vik · Jul 4, 2004

snowyowl said:
I had squirrels get into the walls of our old farm house. I had to live trap them and move them to a wooded area several miles away. That year I moved 17 of the little dears.
You can usually rent or borrow live traps from the local humane society.
If you don't want to take that approach, then the baffles should take care of the problem provided the feeders are at least six feet from anything the the squirrels can jump from and placed high enough to prevent the squirrels from jumping on the feeder or feeder pole from the ground.
I use only one squrrel proof feeder and it has been 100% effective to date. Its made by (I think) Squirrelbuster and allows the weight to be varied to not only prevent squirrels but so that you can also excluded larger birds like Blue Jays and Grackles.

Thanks. We are going to try the baffle approach. We are in the woods and i think it would be hopeless to try to catch the little devils. Too many. Thanks for the tip. Vik

Vik · Jul 4, 2004

gthang said:
Yeah, but here's how we have our "squirrel-proof" feeder set up:

We had a nice-looking pole that was just too short. When we test-fitted the feeder on it, the bottom of it was halfway from the ground. So Dad decided to drill two holes in the deck railing to support the pole. This way, no bears were able to get to it, unless they had really high IQs and climbed up the steps (When we had construction done on our home, we had to move the steps, so we have a railing blocking the entry from the steps). it was just far enough away that squirrels couldn't jump to it from a tree. We never had problems with the squirrels as much as we did when we put the hummer feeder out...
Anyway, because it was just the right height from the deck railing, all a squirrel had to do to get to the feeder was jump up onto the pole, which we made really slick, and keep jumping up until they got to the feeder. We never had any squirrels getting inside the cage until after we put the hummer feeder up...So now we have no feeders, therefore no birds coming, and this really have me <bleep>-ed off.

Your sad story is ruining my day! The squirrels will positively inherit the earth!

Vik · Jul 4, 2004

snowyowl said:
Come on, Gthang! Use your imagination. I bet that you can come up with a feeder set-up that the squirrels can't get into.

You are a born optimist. I heard Lillian Stokes say "never say never with squirrels." I will keep trying to outwit these guys but I have little hope. Vik

gthang · Jul 5, 2004

the best way to outwit these guys is to use numbers: most particularly the number 12, 22 (hint hint!)

shelley810 · Jul 5, 2004

Ok, I can relate to this dilemma.
For the first time I had a squirrel that got into the oriole feeder....everynight, knocked it down. But he left all my hummingbird feeders alone (yep, all...I have one in the front of the house with 5 surrounding my patio garden) They are on double shepards hooks that are slicked with carnuba wax (non toxic to animals and a bonus is that the ants can't go up the pole either!!) The squirrel would have to cross alot of open yard before getting to the hummingbird feeders. So I guess what my suggestion for the sugar water problem, would be to move your feeder onto metal, wax it up good and provide a little squirrel treat station farther out in the trees (maybe with their own oriole feeder??!!)...
Good Luck.
Shelley
By the way. I took oriole feeder down (they were fine with just the grape jelly) for a while and relocated it on the other side of my tree, away from the back platform feeder that the tree rats like to go to anyway. Working so far, but when they want sugar, they'll get into it again! Now I have to contend with the house finches and their many babies drinking all the oriole's sugar water!!

Vik · Jul 10, 2004

KCFoggin said:
Hi Vik and on behalf of the staff here at BirdForum.net, a warm welcome to you.

Thankfully, that is one problem I don't have with the squirrels. ...yet. What about trying to hook up some sort of baffle above the feeder. I know it's a pain but I know how much waiting on the hummers arrival can mean.

I tried to answer you before but I am still learning how to manuever around the threads. In any case, we've moved the hummingbird feeders and are using a baffle. A good suggestion. THANKS. :clap:

Vik · Jul 10, 2004

Squitrrels and sugar water

shelley810 said:
Ok, I can relate to this dilemma.
For the first time I had a squirrel that got into the oriole feeder....everynight, knocked it down. But he left all my hummingbird feeders alone (yep, all...I have one in the front of the house with 5 surrounding my patio garden) They are on double shepards hooks that are slicked with carnuba wax (non toxic to animals and a bonus is that the ants can't go up the pole either!!) The squirrel would have to cross alot of open yard before getting to the hummingbird feeders. So I guess what my suggestion for the sugar water problem, would be to move your feeder onto metal, wax it up good and provide a little squirrel treat station farther out in the trees (maybe with their own oriole feeder??!!)...
Good Luck.
Shelley
By the way. I took oriole feeder down (they were fine with just the grape jelly) for a while and relocated it on the other side of my tree, away from the back platform feeder that the tree rats like to go to anyway. Working so far, but when they want sugar, they'll get into it again! Now I have to contend with the house finches and their many babies drinking all the oriole's sugar water!!

I cannot believe what we all go through for birds! In any case, we have moved the feeders on to metal and are using a baffle. So far so good. Thanks for you suggestions. Vik

Vik · Jul 10, 2004

robinm said:
Welcome to BirdForum, Vik

Don't have many problems with raccoons in this part of England.

Raccoons. You don't know what you are missing. Pests. But beautiful.
Vik

shelley810 · Jul 10, 2004

Vik said:
I cannot believe what we all go through for birds! In any case, we have moved the feeders on to metal and are using a baffle. So far so good. Thanks for you suggestions. Vik

You got that right!
Beating the squirrels (and rabbits in the gardens) is nothing to the length I won't go thru to attract and keep bluebirds in the yard!
A most captivating family bird.
Shelley

gthang · Jul 10, 2004

One time at night I was waiting to bring my cat in, so I knocked on the sliding glass door the cats like to enter/leave the house from. suddenly, I saw movement by the feeders, and the banded tail told me it was a raccoon!

Never seen a raccoon on my feeders before...

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