Comments on: How to Keep Squirrels off a Bird Feeder

on 8/20/2008 We have a feeder hooked on our house under a winder so we can enjoy the birds closer. After 3-4 season the Squirrels have found a way to get to it. I'm trying the hot pepper next.

on 1/14/2008 You don't have to use a squirrel-proof feeder. Start with a branch hook high in a tree, attach a thin wire (I use welding wire) to the branch hook and hang your feeder from that wire. If the wire hangs at least 4 feet down from the nearest branch and 5 to 6 feet from the trunk of the tree, the feeder is safe. The squirrels can't climb down the thin wire and can't jump over from the trunk. You must use a wire and not rope or chain, the rope or chain gives them something to grip as they try to climb down. I've done this to my feeders and have not seen one squirrel on them. To help reach the feeders for refilling, use an extension hook like the one found at www.thehandyhook.com

on 11/14/2007 Squirrels ate the $12 baffle I bought, so I drilled a hole in a big plastic bowl, mounted it under the feeder and slathered it with non-toxic Graffitti Remover. One bite and they don't come back!

on 7/22/2007 I have the solution and it WORKS!! Buy a Yankee Flipper bird feeder at www.yankeeflipper.com or go to your local bird store. When the squirrel jumps on it spins them around and they fling off. It doesn't hurt more than their dignity. Some are determined and try several times but will give up. I fee the squirrels cracked corn, bread and sometimes give them sunflower seeds. They actually knock on the slider when they need food. They haved not bothered my feeders. So between using the flipper and feeding them, we all live in harmony. NOW if I can only find the solution for the grackels!!!

on 6/15/2007 My husband has tried every single one of these suggestions and none of them has worked. At best, they provide a slight delay until the squirrels figure it out. I see no reason to even bother; the squirrels aren't eating all the food, every bird we get gets plenty to eat, but he can't stand the thought of the squirrels managing to outsmart him. At this point, I figure I'm just going to have his name changed to Elmer Fudd and leave it at that. :)

on 8/8/2006 I have tried to out smart the squirrels, and I think I might have found an answer. What I did was, I took aluminum pie plates and nailed them to my tree (where I have a bird feeder and also where I have a suet feeder). Just make sure where you nail them is where the squirrel jumps to get on your feeder.

on 8/8/2006 Hang a child's toy slinky, the metal kind, around the pole of your bird feeder. The squirrels can't climb up it.

on 8/8/2006 The Shepard's hook alone does not keep squirrels off. They climb it as easily as they climb trees. I know, I have a Shepard's hook. I tried putting a baffle on it - that didn't work. I used Crisco shortening - ever see a squirrel slide down a pole? They could make great fireman with their pole sliding techniques.

on 7/2/2006 I put cayenne pepper or chili powder in with the food the birds eat. Rodents can't stand the taste of pepper.

on 3/12/2006 Squirrels ate everything in my garden. Last year I planted peppermint and they stayed away. Try planting it at the base of your bird feeder.

They also hate pepper, spray a little Tabasco Sauce- rabbits also stay away.

on 3/28/2006 I had a tough time discouraging squirrels from helping themselves to my wooden bird feeder, until I hit on this idea: I mounted the feeder on an 8-foot length of 1-1/2 NPS galvanized steel pipe, set the pipe in quick-setting concrete so that the bottom of the feeder is about 6 feet off the ground. The squirrels can climb the pipe (and some still do) but I attached a 2-foot length of 6-inch diameter stove pipe to the underside of the feeder such that it is concentric with the pipe. A couple small metal brackets and some screws did the trick. The squirrels run up the pipe, but are foiled in their quest for food because they can't get a purchase on the larger-diameter stove pipe, and can't figure out how to get at the feeder. The feeder is far enough away from trees that the squirrels can't leap onto it from on high. Now my feeder is reserved for the birds, and the squirrels are fed by an ear of corn on a tree a distance away. They scavenge for dropped seeds under the feeder, but not one has figured out how to get past that stove pipe. It was entertaining, even comical, to watch them when I first put the stove pipe on the feeder. They'd scamper right up that pipe...into a tunnel...and come back down a moment, look up at the full bird feeder, go back up the pipe again, no doubt figuring there had to be a way to get to that food.

on 1/16/2006 I've tried everything to divert squirrels from ordinary as well as squirrel-proof feeders. They always find a way in. When my daughter kept pet rats, I watched the remarkable intelligence of these large rodents. If they can be trained, so can squirrels. At last I devised a nearly perfect solution. Stick a dried bamboo pole, with a diameter of slightly more than a CD, into a thorny cactus plant. At intervals on the pole, put CDs, shiny side up. Stick several CDs into the cactus plant, just for good measure. Hang your feeder at the top of the bamboo with a CD on top of it.
These healthy, fat Northern California brown squirrels simply cannot figure out how to negotiate CDs, plus if they try and fall, they will not like falling onto a cactus plant. It takes some time for the greedy ones to learn, but they do. They will still hang around to catch the spilled sunflower seeds on the ground.

on 11/22/2005 We've noted that squirrels are very territorial. Though several squirrels try to feed in our courtyard, only one does so regularly. He drives the rest off.

We decided that he deserved to eat and set up a special basket on the fence in his path. We found he liked sunflower seed and would eat from there instead of the bird feeders. Similarly, we set up a basket for the jays with peanuts. Seven or eight different jays use it. They actually take turns in some sort of pecking order. It's definitely not first come first serve, but it is very orderly.

on 11/22/2005 Use metal hanging posts about 5-6 feet tall and put Vaseline on the rods. The post needs to be located away from a place squirrels can use as a jumping point, such as trees or fences. The Vaseline makes it impossible for them to climb the metal rods. Soon they will quit trying.

on 11/22/2005 When using an aluminum pie plate to keep squirrels off your birdfeeder make sure the feeder is away from the tree quite a bit, as the squirrels will jump onto the side of your birdfeeder.