Do squirrel-proof bird feeders really work?

[mtnsnake]

Does anyone have a squirrel-proof bird feeder that really works like it should? The kind you can hang in a tree? I've been looking at the kinds that are weight sensitive, but I wonder how they work when everything gets freezing and icy. In fact, I wonder how they really work at all.

Anyone have any experience with squirrel-proof feeders, good or bad?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Mine works

It's the kind that has a rounded cap at the top.

[Philostopher]

2. Well, the one we have kept the squirrels ...

from eating the food directly out of the feeder.

Unfortunately, squirrels are crafty little devils -- they figured out if they hung off the perch and swung the feeder back and forth, the feed would spill out onto the ground. So they'd hang off the bar and swing the feeder back and forth until it had emptied out on the ground, then drop to the ground and eat all the birdseed.

We also tried one of the ones that had a dome over the top. We hung it in the tree. They figured out they could jump off the trunk of the tree and, again, shake the feeder until the feed spilled out on the ground.

I don't know if there is any truly squirrel-proof feeder, as long as the feed can be shaken out of it.

[mtnsnake]

8. Wow I never thought of that

the shaking thing, that is.

[barb162]

17. I let the squirrels eat the seed. They are so fascinating to watch

and my cats like watching the squirrels as much as the birds. I have a pair of squirrels come every day and they are so darn amazing and acrobatic. I just buy a lot of extra bird seed.

[Philostopher]

19. We did that for a couple of years.

But I think they were insourcing squirrels from Idaho by the time we quit -- I stood at the window with the cats one day and counted nine squirrels and four chipmunks eating the seed off the ground. The only birds who'd come back, once they'd been bullied by the squirrels, were the chickadees and sparrows -- and I get plenty of them in my front yard without a feeder.

[barb162]

21. what you described sounds like my house. Chipmunks live

under my front doorstep and I have sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, etc. I also have rabbits that wait around the deck for me to start getting the seed out. Four were lined up side by side watching me , waiting for me to get my act together.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Don't risk it. Evolution works.

The likliest result is generations of smarter squirrels. In 500,000 years, they'll take over.

[BigMcLargehuge]

4. they work well until the springs rot

then they don't work at all. Ours rotted in under two years. And replacing the springs is a nightmare.

[City Lights]

5. I've had success with the type that is attached to a pole.

I've never tried any that work with feeders that hang in a tree.

[mtnsnake]

10. I had one that was on a pole with a squirrel baffle on it but

you couldn't keep it near trees or the squirrels would jump over to it. The birds didn't like it either because there were no branches nearby the feeder for them to go back and forth on.

Then a deer knocked the whole thing over last year, pole and all, and broke my feeder.

[happyslug]

6. I saw a BBC special on Grey Squirrels and bird feeders

And the fact was "Squirrel-Prof" bird Feeders makes it more difficult for the squirrels but not impossible.

They even had a squirrel go through a series of "barriers" to get a a feeder, and it took the squirrels only weeks to figure out how to use the system (and once found out used constantly). This included having to float through a plastic tube on a plastic raft, go up and down on another pole, use his weight to push a pole to the next pole etc.

The point was Squirrels will get to your bird feeders, you can make it more difficult and maybe the difficulty will be more than another source of seeds, but if the squirrels want the seed from your bird feeder he will get.

[Archae]

9. I have those on tape.

"Daylight Robbery," 1 and 2.

I have them taped off the Discovery Channel.
VERY entertaining stuff, watching those stinkers get to the birdseed.

[madrchsod]

11. great program. the ability of squirrels

to figure out how to defeat all obstacles was truly amazing.

[Kat45]

12. Yeah, I saw that show.

Those guys are smart.

[mtnsnake]

14. They're almost as smart as that octopus I saw on the Discovery Channel

I think it was an old Jacques Cousteau show, "Octopus Octopus"

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. Maybe --

But have you ever seen an octopus rob a bird feeder?

[Petrushka]

7. The ones we have work . . .

. . . not only keeping squirrels from the feed but, also, heavier birds (such as pigeons). We've been using them for about 5 years.

[mtnsnake]

13. Do you know the brand name of it by any chance?

or can you describe what it looks like or how it does its thing? Is it a tubular kind, or conventional feeder?

[Petrushka]

20. Can't remember the brand name . . .

. . . but we purchased them for about 19-dollars at (heh!) Wal-Mart. They're house-shaped, made of redwood--with a glass front--and they have a flat metal bar-like gizmo that metes out a little birdseed when a bird lands on it. They can be hung from a tree-branch or put atop a pole. (We prefer to hang them.) They've survived 50 MPH wind gusts and an ice storm--thus far! :)

[alphafemale]

15. I heard something about mixing hot-pepper seeds or cayenne in the mix.

Makes the mix unpalatable to squirrels, but the heat-factor undetectable to birds.

[Dr.Phool]

16. My wife mixes cayenne pepper

with the bird seed. The birds love it, and the squirrels can't stand it. Always remember to stand upwind when you sprinkle it in.

Other than that my Golden Retriever and Lab have thinned out the squirrel population.

[barb162]

18. Squirrels are TREE RATS (giggle)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. Squirrels are clever li'l boogers.

If the baffles baffle them, they'll resort to tactics like the guy in this pic:

[reality_bites]

23. At least one type of squrriel proof feeder does not work.

It's the kind that when the squirrel puts it's weight on the feeder, the door where the seed comes out closes.

I've seen squirrel get around this restrition by hanging from the tree, post or whatever the feeder is hanging on. This puts no weight on the feeder, so the door doen't close.

I will say that i think itt's possiblke to make the feeder work right by mounting iut a different way/

[Lex]

24. Mine works and it looks like this

[Petrushka]

25. Picture the same bird-feeder made of redwood. Yep! They work!

[cabbage08]

33. The same one we have had for years

Works great and can be set by weight to keep the blue jays off it

[mtnsnake]

34. Thanks, I think I'll be looking for that one or the same one in

redwood.

[Az]

26. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

To sumarise... LOL.

[soothsayer]

27. Squirrels can outsmart any feeder

Might take 'em a little while, but they'll get that bird seed.

[underpants]

28. Exactly there is no such thing

unless you have some lazy squirrels

[soothsayer]

29. My mom has the fattest squirrels you've ever seen cuz she feeds

them tons and tons of nuts to keep them out of the feeders, and they STILL raid the birdfood!

[2bfree]

30. I have tried tons of stuff.........

but the little devils still find a way to eat all the food! I wouldn't mind that but they spill the seed on the ground and waste it. Ugh!

[2bfree]

31. Also...........

They drive my little rat terrier crazy, I swear they sit on the roof and throw acorns at him!