Squirrel -Proof Birdfeeders?

Grrrr. No longer enjoying my peaceful cup of coffee while watching the birds... A pair of squirrels have discovered my birdfeeders and are devouring all the birdseed. Anyone have any luck with the so called "squirrel-proof" feeders?
Thanks much!

 

I've never had any luck with the squirell-proof ones. I had a platform one that had a grid that they couldn't get their hands through, they hung on to the bottom and chewed a hole through the bottom. Squirrells supposedly don't like thistle but they still chewed a hole in my Finch feeder. I've hung a dried corn holder near my new finch feeder and that seems to keep the squirrels happy.

 

I've pretty much given up. I think I've been through three or four bird feeders in the past 9 months. The most recent is one that has a weight sensitive platform that slams the door shut over the seeds if you weigh too much. Nice. Except that some godzilla squirrel has gnawed/clawed his way through the BASE of the feeder (1/4 inch thick plastic) and made a hole in the bottom. The best strategy I have is to feed the squirrels, too. I notice that if I do that they tend to lay off the bird feeder. I throw out dried corn cobs and they last about a week. The blue jays tend to like the corn cobs, too, though, and they scare away the nicer, gentler birds. So, put the corn away from the feeder.

 

We have one squirrel that likes to eat his breakfast at our birdfeeder. I don’t see him any other time of the day; maybe my cat keeps him away. I just bought some new bird food that’s made by Brown’s that’s labeled, “No Squirrels…Just Birds!” It claims to have seeds that squirrels find bitter but birds love and it has spicy chili peppers blended in which it again claims birds love but squirrels don’t.

 

I'll have to invent some red chili/jalapeno bird seed!

 

We found one at the bird feeder/enthusiast store in Leesburg in the Shopping center where Staples is at. I forget the name of the store, but they had one that we bought that is guaranteed for life. This one is based on the weight of the animal, birds can access the feed, squirrels can't.

We bought an early model, and the feed base was metal on the weight measuring part, and plastic on the inside where the feed was. Bloody squirrels chewed that within two months.

We called the companies 800 number, evidently they found out about this design flaw, and replaced the plastic part with metal. They shipped it out to us free. We still have the feeder, and no squirrel can access it.

I advise you to check that place out, they have one feeder that I call 'Whirl a Squirrel', the demonstration video is funny !! And their prices on sunflower and other bird seed is very reasonable.

 

Dang squirrels are smart individually, and even smarter when they work in tandem. I'm pretty sure my feeder is the same one that Neil has. I used to have a pair of fat squirrels. One would sit on the ground and wait, while the other ran along the fence, then took a flying leap from the fence to divebomb the weight-sensitive bar on the feeder. It gave him just enough extra "oomph" to spill the feed. Now that I finally moved the feeder away from the fence, I haven't seen any squirrels on it.

I got it at Pets, Etc., but that wild bird store in Leesburg used to carry it. That particular store closed about 8 months ago. There is another one in Reston, at the corner of Reston Parkway and Baron Cameron - same shopping center as Home Depot. (Back in the day, Hechinger's was there.) Kind of out of the way, but you could combine it with a Trader Joe's run.

 

I'm sorry to hear that, they had some nice people running that place.

 

What kind of feeder is it? If it sits atop a pole, and you can remove it, take a can (any kind - coffee, large bean can, any large can), poke a hole in the center of the bottom of the can that you can get the feeder pole through. About six inches down the pole (more or less depending on the height of the pole) wrap several layers of duct tape, place the can upside down over the pole letting it come to rest on the duct tape, replace the feeder.

The squerrels can climb the pole, but not navigate around the can.

 

It's a rectangular wood and plastic feeder that is about 12" long. It has a ledge on all 4 sides for the birds to perch. It is hanging from a metal hangar that sticks out about 2 feet from the deck. The squirrels do some sort of yoga move and hang upside down and grab the feeder with their front feet and pull it towards them. One sometimes waits on the ground to catch what spills. Little buggars.

 

Yeah .. . . . . Shotgun

 

Or a Paintball gun!

My parents had a bird feeder on a large pole in their backyard. My dad actually CUT a small tree down because the squirrels would jump from the limbs onto the feeder. After that it was birds only for a while. Wasn't long until you could sit & watch an especially industrious squirrel checking angles & distances from the taller trees. He probably checked the wind speed too. He figured out how to jump from a far away limb & get his treat.

At that point my dad said..forget it, he can have the darn seed!

 

Here's one way to squirrel proof you're back yard lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTHK2A6wfaI

 

my friend puts contact cement on it so they touch it and they get stuck on it for a minute and then get scared and never come back to the bird feeder

 

Baffles work very well - what Kaosdad was describing with the can you can mount on the pole. It also works for the raccoons except one year a baby raccoon managed to get past it and I found him straddling my bird feeder scared to death. He didn't know how to get down.

A lot of birds I want to attract are ground feeders - once in a while you will see one at the pole feeder, so I scatter peanut splits and sunflower chips along the fringes of the woods and everyone's happy.

"The Bird Feeder" in Leesburg closed their doors when their rent increased, but they have another store in Reston located at the small plaza adjacent to Home Depot.

 

I doubt he said "Darned"

 

It was more like:

 

we always hung ours from braided steel cables between two distant trees. The cable is thin as dental floss but has the tensile strenth to suspend a grown man. Squirrels can not walk a tightrope that thin and they cant jump to the feeder if it is far enough from any jumping point. The feeder needs a hook to hang it. You need a pole to get the feeder down to fill it. The pole is similar to the thing they use at clothing stores to get the clothes hangers down from the high racks. It also looks like a boat hook. Anyway, no squirrel has ever been able to crack this one.