Birdfeeder Battle

[deguspice]

This round goes to the squirrel.

From Critters

Next, I'll try a squirrel baffle like this. (I'm not sure how long it'll keep the squirrels baffled.)

I could have added a baffle earlier, but I wanted to see what would happen without it.

Edit: After talking with Ann, we've decided that (for now) the squirrel(s) amuse us, so we're probably going to leave things as they are.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

for science!

next step: mount some speakers on the top of the pole, triple plastic bagged for weather, and well, have a sound played through them. like, i dunno, a fishercat screaming? or perhaps a velociraptor. at about volume 11. have video camera rolling at time ;)

#

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Wont work. Squirrels can get around that one too. Been there, done that, don't waste your money.

First of all move the feeder further from the porch railing. Squirrels can leap as far as four to five feet from one object to another. They can also jusmp that high.

I built a baffle that squirrels have yet to get around.
I took a piece of 6 inch round, metal stovepipe, it's about 4.5 feet long. Cap one end, put a hole in the cap big enough for the post holding the feeder. Put the pipe around the post. It has to go from the ground up the pole far enough that the squirrels can't jump to the top of it.
The squirrels can't get a grip on the pipe to climb it and if it's tall enough wont be able to get to the top to climb the pole. I spray painted mine brown so it would't scare the birds or glare in the sun.

Come over and take a look at it sometime. The squirrels have yet to get to the feeders since I put it up over a year ago,

I thought of using PVC, but PVC scratches and once a squirrel scratched it they would eb able to get a grip on it and climb it. The guy at Home Depot suggested the metal pipe instead.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I figure that the birds' purpose in life is to entertain the cats, and the squirrels serve the same purpose, so it's all good. ;)

sorry.

What the difference between a ornithologist and an orthinologist?
An ornithologist watches birds; an orthinologist botches words.

:D

[dpolicar]

I absolutely encourage making this more difficult in installments; that way you'll train the squirrels, and I'm on the side of the squirrels here.

Or, you could feed the squirrels too, so they don't have to use the birdfeeder.

Peanuts are popular in our yard.

[tb]

Even when there'e plenty of dropped seed and other convenient food, I've found I have to keep the squirrels off the birdfeeders anyway, because they'll chew them to bits. If they just ate the seed, I wouldn't mind. Maybe Wilmington squirrels are just more ornery.

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I've said this here before, but I'm a big fan of adding red pepper to the seed mix. It doesn't bother the birds, but it does bother the squirrels so they stay away.

Of course, once I got it in my eye (our feeder is above face level and I didn't bother taking it down for refilling) so the the squirrels still kind of won that battle.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I was adding capsasin powder to my seeds and the squirrels seemed to like it. It didn't deter them one bit.

[tb]

We have a (so-far) working squirrel baffle frotz made from a length of stovepipe hung around the feeder pole. The squirrels can't get a grip on the pipe, and if they climb the pole, they end up inside the pipe, which has a wire mesh screen on top. Would include a picture, but I'm out of town.

As donnad mentioned, the feeder has to be mounted far away from any launch points. Our other feeder, ostensibly squirrel-proof (surrounded by a large mesh heavy wire grid) hangs in the dining room window six feet or so from the porch railing. Even so, every now and then I'll come down in the morning to find a squirrel wrapped around it head-downwards trying to get seeds out, looking for all the world like a big furry sausage. All that does is scare the birds off for a while.

Oh yeah, I tried the red pepper thing. Our squirrels love the stuff.

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

We had good luck with a cheap aluminum wok lid with the little knob on top removed. The baffle has to be big enough that the squirrels can't somehow worm around it and reach the feeder anyway. Tippy helps too.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Resourceful little thing!