Topic: squirrel proof bird feeder

[plants n pots]

I bought this bird feeder at Christmas Tree Shops because it was different and it would hold a large amount of seeds. I laughed when I saw the label - yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight - squirrel resistant, huh?



As soon as I started filling it, some of the sunflower seeds came out of the mesh holes, so even if the squirrels can't grab it through the metal mesh, they'd just have to shake it for a free meal. Well... it didn't take 1 day, and here's what I saw out the sliding doors in the kitchen!!!

Hmmmmmmmm... this is easy!!!


Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!


Oh, and by the way... I have seen this feeder for many times more the cost online than I got at CTS, so I bought another today!

[Dianna]

Lynne, I just love your pet squirrel!

That is a neat-looking bird feeder!

[Jim]

I needed one of these at the last house I lived in. I had some bird feeders out but the squirrels would empty them out within a day and eat all the sunflower seeds. I tried buying the wild bird seed without the sunflower seeds but that didn't help. They would empty them anyway as if they were looking for the sunflower seed. I finally bought a squirrel feeder and put it at one end of the yard and the bird feeders at the other.

It worked good unless I let the squirrel feeder get empty. It would hold 4 ears of corn and they could clean it in about 2 days.

of the squirrel attacking the feeder!

[plants n pots]

Well, Dianna - I wouldn't exactly call him my PET , since I try and chase him away everytime I see him out there - just didn't have the energy that day!

[plants n pots]

Ya know, Jim... I really do not WANT to feed the squirrels - we have so many here.  I'll just have to grin and bear it I suppose.

[Patty S]

Thanx for including the package pic, Lynne. Now I can see what the feeder looks like (The pics are kinda dark... & besides that, there seems to be a squirrel blocking the view!)

Ii sure doesn't look very "squirrel resistant" to me! Good thing you got it for cheeeep!

[plants n pots]

The pics are kinda dark

Patty - I think there is something wrong with your monitor - you've been saying that about many of my pictures, but they come through clear for me?!?

[Jim]

For what its worth, they are clear here too.  I keep my monitor lighter than Dianna does and they look good on hers too.  Maybe you should adjust brightness or contrast Patty.

[plants n pots]

I spilled some sunflower seeds out of the bottom of the other birdfeeder yesterday - it doesn't have drainage, and the seeds mold if left in there, especially if it gets wet. When the squirrel wasn't on the mesh feeder, which he was most of today, he was busy filling up on those.

(sorry the picture is blue - I had to take it through a double pane glass door, and I can't fix it without losing all definition.)

[jv]

Sorry Patty !!! You need to adjust your brightness on your monitor those photos could not be any more clear then they are nothing dark about them at all.

[Dianna]

Looks like you are feeding him well, Lynne!

I think you ought to just give up and buy a squirrel feeder, too, and quit trying to chase him off. Looks like he keeps coming back. Could you put a feeding station for him in a different area of the yard? Just hope he doesn't invite friends to eat supper with him.  That might get rather expensive...

[Patty S]

You can probably tell that I don't have a squirrel problem here... (probably cuz there are no squirrels here on the bluff, like there are in town) ...when I say that I can't help but feeling sorry for the poor lil' critter, seeing him forage in the snow like that!
          I think he's sorta CUTE!

When we first moved here there were Sunflower sprouts in the bird feeder, cuz apparently nobody ever cleaned it out. BG & I moved them to the garden beds & had Sunflowers growing that year! It was the only "gardening" we did together that first year, cuz I wasn't getting around very well with bad knees at the time. She sure loved "her" flowers!

(BTW... I'm responding to the light/dark issue over in the General Discussion forum, so my puter problem doesn't upstage your darling critter pics.)

[patches]

What a great topic! It's spring and my squirrels are at it again!   >: I'm searching for some nice, humane way to curb their destruction of my flowers.   

[Jim]

I have a friend that lived in the middle of town and he had the same problem.  He ended up buying a trap.  He would catch them at his house, and release them here.  There is quite a lot of forest that borders the plant, so he figured they would be ok.  He was able to cut his squirrel population in half during one summer.

[patches]

He ended up buying a trap.  He would catch them at his house, and release them here.

Oh, Jim, I know that is one solution, but it means I lose the enjoyment of watching the antics of the cute little critters.  :-\  I guess I have a love/hate relationship with them!    I've found they can be quite destructive, but the pleasure I get just from watching them sometimes makes up for all the trouble they cause.  I'm sure that's hard to understand, but I guess it's sort of a trade-off, and I would miss them if they weren't around.   

[Jim]

Right outside my office is a picnic table where some of the guys eat lunch and of course the smokers have to go out there too.  There's a small drainage ditch and a little patch of woods there too.  That's where he released them and the squirrel population is booming there.  Sometimes you can sit on the picnic table and see 6 to 8.  He got a chance to watch them just about any time he wanted.

I'm sure that's hard to understand, but I guess it's sort of a trade-off, and I would miss them if they weren't around.   

I understand it completely.  I used to love to hunt.  Now when I go hunting I have swapped a gun for a camera.

[Bonnie]

Wow Jim, you stopped looking for things to kill and started looking for things that were already dead. lol

Bonnie

[Jim]

Wow Jim, you stopped looking for things to kill and started looking for things that were already dead. lol

Yep, no need for a gun with the kind of hunting we want to do.

Back on topic here, Patti, maybe you need a feeder like the one in the 1st post.  Then maybe the squirrel would be on the feeder instead of in the flowers.

[patches]

Patti, maybe you need a feeder like the one in the 1st post.  Then maybe the squirrel would be on the feeder instead of in the flowers.

Jim, I have plenty of feeders that the squirrels can eat from, but they don't go after the flowers to eat them they just like to dig them up.  I think they like the idea that the ground is already loose so they can easily bury their acorns without a lot of extra work.  :-\