You know the old saying “Innocent until proven guilty?”
That does not apply to our squirrels. We have about six of them.
It is a war. Me against the little bird seed sucking buggers. They were leaping out of the branches and landing on the feeders and getting their fill. We trimmed the branches. They were climbing the poles. BUGGARS. I read in Mother Earth News that Crisco on the poles would make the poles too slippery for them to climb. That worked for a few days…it was so satisfying to watch them slide down:) Then they started running up a nearby tree trunk and flew through the air with the greatest of ease and most of the time landed on the top of a feeder…while they were up there they ate all the sunflower hearts.
I purchased three squirrel baffles at $20.00 each. You can add that up yourself.
The other day one used that solar light as a springboard to catch the bottom of the feeder on the far right and then pulled himself up and eventually flew through the air to one of the house feeders for the sunflower hearts. BUGGAR.
No don’t go all squirrely on me, this guy/gal is a shameless thief.
Chance does a good job of keeping them out of the yard, but it has turned too cold for him to be outside on squirrel patrol all day long.
I watch the squirrels from the kitchen and dining room windows. Sometimes I open the window and holler at them. They have gotten used to me rapping on the window…that used to scare them…not so much anymore.
My next step? I am going to buy another feeder one that dumps them off…and see what happens then. I am going to move that Solar Light and shorten the hanger on the far right thistle feeder.
Last year our squirrels were well behaved. I don’t know where this bunch of ill mannered hoodlums comes from.
This is a Black Squirrel he/she lives across the road. Too bad he doesn’t become a sail squirrel running back and forth across the road all day long.
I am about at my wits end…I welcome suggestions. We want to keep feeding the birds, and we don’t mind the squirrels as long as they stay on the ground:)
As hubby would say, "Get the gun" No he doesn't shoot grey squirrels, but those little red devils know better than to come around!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh I hear you all to well, have the same Squirrel headache. Tried the grease thing on the pole to works for a bit. At wits end, Francine.
ReplyDeleteI actually stopped feeding the birds because the squirrels were attracted to the feeders. That, and my neighbors were complaining about all the bird seed shells. I did it during late summer when they were not breeding and there was plenty of food around. I miss them sometimes, but I sure don't miss the squirrels. The last straw was when the squirrels started tearing up my outdoor furniture to make nests for themselves! :-)
ReplyDeleteI remember some slides from a birder's program showing a squirrel flat against his window pane because it was trying to get to one of those feeders that attach to windows with suction cups. They are inventive when they set their minds on food.
ReplyDeleteI watched a video once of one of those feeders that flings them off. Funniest thing I ever saw. Don't know if they really work though. I've battled squirrels more than once. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I think we have all done battle against the squirrels (or the voles, or the pocket gophers....etc). My neighbors in SC gave up and put up squirrel feeders with corn. I'm not sure whether it kept them away from the bird feeders, but the corn was easy picking, so it might work - maybe they'd get so fat they couldn't leap to the bird feeders! (You could move to the open plains.... we have not squirrels! However, we have our own set of vermin to deal with!!)
ReplyDeleteI have one little red squirrel and that's bad enough.I'd like to be patient enough with my garden hose and give him a good bath. I've got close to him and he really doesn't like water.However, it's too cold to have the hoses out now. Use your squirrel gun!
ReplyDeleteWe have only one, but he is mean, and nasty, a real bully. He is constantly chasing off the doves, the quail. [all 50 of them at one time] and now he is attacking Phil the Pheasant, who is oh...20 times larger then him. What the heck, I am hoping that the little brat has a heart attack after running up and down the tree all day.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, at least you can move feeders, I have no idea what we can do with the suet on the trees, and for the ground feeding quail.
Jen
I've got them, too. I'm pretty sure they have a nest in one of the trees in front of the house.
ReplyDeleteWe have a battery of baffles above our three feeders. Peter made most of them out of some plastic cutting boards and a couple of plastic toboggans. That plus cutting away nearby branches was working until yesterday. We pulled into the driveway and there was a squirrel on the suet feeder. Grr.
ReplyDeleteWell, don't know how it will work for feeders, but I've heard that moth balls help keep them out of nut trees. I made a couple of net bags. They worked for one tree, but not the other. They do have to be replaced (the moth balls, so I made the 'bags' so they could be easily refilled) every 4 or 5 days, depending on your weather. I put 4 or 5 mothballs in them.
ReplyDeleteYou could grease the tops, and maybe even the rims. I think their weight would work more against the squirrels than the birds, but I'm not sure about that.
Of course, you could always at the fat little buggars to the menu, too.
Good luck!
We have the gray squirrels here. I must say the one in your picture looks healthy. Looks like he is getting plenty to eat. It is a never ending battle here too.
ReplyDeleteWe used baffles above feeders that hung from the eaves, and we do have a fancy squirrel proof feeder that closes when anything heavier that a little bird sits on the feeding bar. We have not used feeding poles.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. I guess you just need to invite messy birds who spill enough to keep the squirrels happy.
They are so destructive! They have chewed up wood platform feeders and any feeder with any bit of plastic on it, which is most of them. They pull all metal feeders right out of the trees and shake out the food on the ground. I have bought 4 different kinds of baffles, and they have chewed on those. I finally have something that sort of works, feeders hung from a long clothesline in any area without low branches, with a baffle above each feeder and careful spacing of the feeders. This works until the snow gets too deep and they can jump up from below. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeder that totally "baffles" the squirrels. They leave it alone now.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I had to laugh...I really did laugh out loud when you said you were going to get a feeder that dumps them off...I know...But it is a funny I could just see them flinging to the ground!!!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I must be the only one who just loves squirrels. Not that I wouldn't try to keep them away from the bird feeders--but I would do it more to enjoy their intelligent antics on figuring out how to get around anything I would contrive to keep them away in our battle of wits--LOL! They are so smart! Like crows. Love crows, too. But, myself--I would just put out a lot more food to keep everybody happy.
ReplyDeleteWhen my dad (who hates squirrels) in his squirrel battle saw them flying through the air to land on the top of the bird feeder--well, he put some pieces of wood with huge nails sticking up like spikes on the top of the bird feeder prayed he'd find an impaled squirrel--but they were too smart for him. Not even a drop of blood to be had. ;)
I guess our cats keep them at bay here. Have friends battling them nearby, but our feeders are safe...until I just jinxed it...
ReplyDeleteIrma Rombauer had a recipe for squirrel in The Joy of Cooking. Chance could eat for free. You could add tanning hides to your craft adventures list. Just sayin', if something is eating the stock or the feed, if it's legal, we blast 'em.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't do that, then what about tight wires that would clothesline them in mid air?