Can I out smart a squirrel? Read this! (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone!

Trying to out wit and out smart squirrels is no easy job.

Our family loves to attract Chickadees (Black-Capped and Mountain, we once got Chesnut-Backed too), Red-Breasted Nuthatches (once we got a White-Breasted), Woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Pileated), Northern Flickers, and any other bird that wants to stop off at our feeders. But there is one problem, SQUIRRELS! We have a large property that is just perfect for them. They eat out of our compost and they nest in our wood box, which is fine with us, but they also love the feeders which is a problem. They will demolish all the organic peanut butter on our log in minutes! You can chase them all you want, throw snowballs at them, bang on the window, but nothing will stop their effort to get peanut butter. So, we relized we couldn't out gun the squirrels, we had to out smart them. So my mother put out a small coconut shell bird feeder in the place of a log which the squirrels can easily get too. The birds can easily get the peanut butter off of the coconut shell, but the squirells can only stare! :-O Its to small for them to jump on. So, now you might be thinking well, I won the battle, but not so fast.........

We have a traditional bird feeder, and as we figured out, the squirrels can get to it in seconds, so we hung a 'gourd' feeder (basically just a carved out gourd with a hole in it) above the other feeder. Well, the squirell made quick work of that, so we put it up higher. The squirell was then staring up at it trying to figure out "Now how can I get in it". After a little bit of thinking the squirrel made a enourmus jump and landed on the gourd, but slid off. Then came attempt two, and this time she got in the gourd successfully.

I'm still trying to think on how to make that gourd squirrel proof.

Today a pair of squirrels came up to our deck and both tryed to get on the coconut, but with no avail. When the female was thinking about how to get to the food, the male was definitely thinking about something else like "Now, I wonder if this is the right time to do it" But she wasn't in the mood. Rodents in love :-O How cute!

B.C. Birder

I think most of us have been trying to outwit squirrels for a long time. Lucky for me I live in a scrub brush area - we have no squirrels!

My garden used to be filled ith them pinching the peanuts on my Bird feders and after buying squirrel proof feeders & I've never seen them atempt to get any

Buy a squirrel feeder, give them their own food. Problem solved!

I don't think giving them their own food works cause it will just attract more and give them the wrong idea. They will always mess with the feeder with peanut butter. So the only thing to do it go squirrel proof. The options available are endless but I believe a squirrel proof pole system which you can mount multiple feeders on are the best. http://www.wbu.com/aps/ kinda pricey but you can buy it a piece at a time. good luck

It works here anyway, I've been doing it for years. Squirrels used to eat the bird food, now they don't touch it (or very rarely), and we are no where near over-run with them. Maybe a couple a day, if there is food out.

A lot less effort than spending hours attempting to squirrel proof your feeders... a futile exercise in my opinion, they are too smart!

We have squirrel proof feeders from a company called The Nuttery see here for a link. Although it is an English company, I am sure there would be similar feeders available in the States.

We also use other feeders and the squirrels try to climb the pole to get to them, but I smear the pole thickly with vaseline so they cannot get a grip and slide down again. It has to be reapplied after heavy rain, but it is cheap so that doesn't matter.

turkish van said:

Buy a squirrel feeder, give them their own food. Problem solved!

Click to expand...

We kinda do have a 'squirrel' feeder. Which is the compost, and it gets filled quite often with apple peals, old bread, squash skins, ect. But they are greedy little mongrols and have to go for the bird feeders.

In a weird way, I kinda like them around sometimes, because they are so entertaining to watch with their crazy acrobatics. |=)|

BC Birder

Yup, there is a solution.

The best and most effective thing I've found is the squirrel baffle that is on a pole and is shaped like a cylindar. The squirrels cannot get around it, and then you can put any bird feeder you like on the hook or mounted on the pole. Works very well.

Of course, this only works for squirrels who climb from below since a squirrel can jump 8 - 10 feet sideways and can climb down almost anything. So if you have the room for a pole that is at least 10 feet away from anything else, it will work wonderfully.

I have a blog that contains some squirrel-proofing tips; might be helpful:
http://squirrelproofbirdfeedertips.blogspot.com/

After years of trying to stop them and watching them destroy even supposedly squirrel proof feeders (apart from the Nuttery mentioned previously) I just put out a squirrel box at the point where all the squirrels enter my garden. Problem solved. They happily use that and never come to the other feeders. My problem's now feral pigeons using the bird table...

We have manufactured our own cylindrical baffles from 8" galvanized stove pipe. I purchase a 60" section at the home center and cut it in half to yield 2 baffles x 30" each. The cap on the top was manufactured from scrap that I had in stock. A store bought stove pipe cap would work perfectly, also. The pole is a pc of 3/4" electrical conduit. We pounded in a pc of rebar into the ground as the support and dropped a large washer or block of pressure treated wood (with a hole drilled in it) over the rebar to keep the pole from sliding down into the soil. Then, slide the conduit pole over the rebar until it hits the washer or block at the ground. Attach 2 pc of galvanized pipe strap (more home center stuff from the plumbing department) and bolt it firmly to squeeze the conduit so it won't slip down. Drop the baffle over the top of the pole.
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The file pics are bluebird houses that are being protected from predators like raccoons and snakes. Feeder protection from squirrels will require a taller pole, but the same baffle configuration.

Stovepipe Baffle... slight alteration

You can also use hardware cloth for the lid on the stovepipe. With tin snips cut the hardware cloth into an 8" circle. Place it over the stovepipe, bending the edges down so that it fits snugly into the pipe about an inch down from the top. With the tin snips, cut three tabs, about an inch wide, evenly around the top of the stovepipe and bend them down over the hardware cloth. Cut a cmall hole in the middle of the cloth to allow the assembly to slip over the box mounting pipe.

There is also a larger cone style baffle you can use that works well.

If you want the plans for either of these just email me and I will be happy to send them to you!

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