Preventing squirrels from raiding your bird feeder

I don't have a problem with squirrels at my feeders. Instead, I have a rabbit who comes around and eats the seed that the birds knock on the ground. In fact, one of my sons claims to have seen him chasing the birds away from the area! The snow under the feeders is becoming covered with a thick layer of rabbit droppings, which is considerably less than thrilling to have to walk on to fill them. Still, I guess I can tolerate the rabbit's presence, knowing that in the spring, he will find plenty of green growing things to eat and stop making such a mess under my feeders!

But for anyone who might have trouble with squirrels at your feeders, here are some suggestions that appeared in our free weekly advertising paper.

If your feeder is on a pole, mount about a foot of aluminum duct tubing under it. The squirrels will climb the pole, encounter the duct and climb into it, but leave when they find they have nowhere to go.

Run your feeder pole lengthwise through the center of a Slinky. Attach the Slinky to the top of the pole and let the rest of it hang. Squirrels will try to climb up the Slinky, but will get dumped back down to the ground.

Punch holes in the bottom of a few 2-liter juice bottles, large enough to get around the post of your feeder. Hang them lengthwise, securing them a few inches below the feeder with duct tape. The squirrels will slide right off.

Buy a clear plastic dome and place it directly above a hanging feeder. Squirrels planning a raid from above will slip right off. Just make sure your feeder is high enough in the air to prevent ground assaults.

Mount a feeder on top of a length of PVC pipe. Squirrels won't get any traction when they try to climb it, and will slide right off.

Switch from sunflower to safflower seed. The change is popular with cardinals, house finches, chickadees, nuthatches, and mourning doves, but squirrels won't eat safflower seed.

String wire through the tops and bottoms of 2-liter plastic soda bottles, and hang bird feeders in between or in the middle. Squirrels walking the wire to get to the feeders will roll off when they step on the bottles.

Or, you could distract the squirrels away from the bird feeders by providing them with feeders of their own. Impale dried corn cobs lengthwise on spikes driven through a wooden board. Attach the board to a tree limb or trunk where the squirrels can reach the kernels.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Hi, Cathy!

Your message has some great suggestions for those pirating squirrels. Would I be able to post your suggestions on our local nature listserver (nature NB)?

Lorelei

Feel free to repost anything that you find here. I got these suggestions from our local weekly paper.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

Lorelei,

Tell me more about this local nature list server.

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl

I have a simple method of keeping squirrels out of a bird feeder. You probably know what it is, and I probably should not detail it here in this forum. But it is effective, and I never have repeat offending squirrels.

I can guess what it might be, and I am sorely tempted to do something similar to the neighbor's dogs, who have decided that our yard is now part of their territory, and come over and bark at us, besides for leaving their calling cards. But first I will have a talk with the neighbors. They have no business letting their dogs run loose if they are not going to train them to stay in their own yard. They have 12 acres to run in, they don't need to take over our 2 besides.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

You people want to feed birds but not squirrels???

JJ, didn't you read the last suggestion? The problem is that squirrels chase the birds away from the feeders, eat the seeds, and then proceed to eat the feeders! Feeding them separately is probably the best way to handle the situation.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

No, I didn't. I had a feeling I should read the whole the thing.