If you have squirrels stealing your bird seed this could be of interest

[doctoroe]

Squirrels stealing your birdseed?

[Brooklyn1]

Bird seed is cheap, squirrels need to eat too.

[Dan Espen]

a load of crap.

I've seen squirrels climb right over shields 3 times that size.

Anyway, squirrels go with the whole deal. Feed birds, you're going to feed the squirrels. If nothing else, the birds throw the seeds everywhere. If you don't keep the area clean you're going to feed a lot of other animals, including rats.

[Brooklyn1]

>What a load of crap.

At night the deer lick up every seed they find on the ground, rabbits too. In season the Canada geese are the cleaners. Squirrels have to wait their turn.

[mj]

So are you telling me that the bird feeder I have in my rose garden is attracting the deer that are eating the roses? MJ

[Brooklyn1]

Very likely.

[Dan Espen]

Every little bit of food helps, but I think the deer like roses even without a seed side dish.

[Brooklyn1]

True. But variety is even more attractive. If you have deer about you might want to consider fencing your roses. All my susceptible shrubs, small trees, etc. are fenced. I've learned that they don't eat spruce, foxglove, daffodils, etc. so those I plant wherever. I have one hybrid rose bush, it's fenced. There are several wild rose bushes about in hedgerows, the deer won't bother with those thorns. Butterfly bush is supposedly not eaten by deer so I will plant one this spring as as test. Forsythia is safe too. However once one deer finds your bird seed it will return several times each day looking for more, and soon others will follow suit.

[Frank]

My butterfly bushes have not been eaten. I'm getting tired of fencing everything off and refuse to do it any more and wife won't let me shoot the deer.

Squirrels and racoons have been cleaning out my bird feeder. Last half cup of seed I put out had a tablespoon of hot pepper flakes added to it and they ate it any way.

[Dan Espen]

Back when I didn't have a fence the deer ate the Forsythia too. But the Forsythia new growth kept pace with the destruction.

Nothing works better than a fence.

[Brooklyn1]

Agreed. Everything else is just a waste of time, effort, and money.

[Billy]

I hang bu bird feeder from a tree branch. It has the cowl to make it difficult for squirrels, and rats, but the central axis of the bird feeder, its supply of seeds, is surrounded by a wire cage that will only allow access to a bird about the size of a chickadee. I did have trouble with a rat before he came to an ugly end. Fortunately, I had the feeder on a pully so that I could lower it to refill the seed. I let the feeder half way down, and and my problems were cured. I presume it was just too much of a hassle for him, what with having to go up and down a wire cord to get to the feeder.

[Paul M. Cook]

cannot defeat squirrels. They will always figure out a way. I get 2 pound bags of bird seed at Lowes for about 10 bucks. It's just easier to feed everyone. I like the squirrels. They don't eat the birds like the crows do.

Paul

[Brooklyn1]

>You cannot defeat squirrels. They will always figure out a way. I get 2

I've never seen crows eating live birds. Crows are carrion eaters. Crows don't eat bird seed either. I toss out meat trimmings, the crows clean it up within minutes. Crows don't eat where they find food, as soon as they can pick off small enough bits they carry it off to a safe place, crows also prefer to eat solitary.

Five dollars a pound is some mighty pricy bird seed. I buy 40 pound bags of high quality bird seed at Agway for $35... I get the Ultimate:

also buy 50 pound bags of cracked corn for $15 to throw on the ground for squirrels and other critters Squirrels and larger critters prefer to eat off the ground, as long as there's food on the ground they leave the seed in my feeder alone alone. I also feed suet, woodpeckers and starlings prefer that. I also buy day old baked goods, all the critters eat that. I buy carrots for the deer too. I don't put anything edible in my trash, even meat drippings get poured onto the frozen ground. Meat bones ane poultry carcasses all gets eatten, whatever scraps I put out by morning they're gone. Even crumbs from a package of crackers makes a meal for some small critter. I even clean my toaster outside.

[Don Wiss]

Yes you can. An Absolute II Squirrel Proof Feeder from Duncraft will be squirrel proof for about 10 years. Then one figures it out and they all learn how to get at the feed. At this point you have to relocate all the squirrels in the territory to across some body of water. That will wipe out the knowledge. You will then have another 10 years.

However, if you continue relocating squirrels, after a few years they figure out that something is wrong with the territory and they stay away. That solves the digging up of the window boxes.

As pointed out that is expensive. I pay $75 for 50 pounds of hulled sunflower seeds from Anderson Seed. It includes delivery. Their consumer website:

Winter has been so warm I will only go through 125 pounds.

As for why hulled? I started with regular sunflower seeds, but all the hulls made a huge mess.

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Dan Espen]

Cute trick.

Squirrels have a life span of 6 years, yet it takes them 10 years to figure the feeder out. How does that work?

Looking at the picture, all the squirrel has to do is hang onto the house, not the platform.

[Billy]

It's all a matter of the superior mind winning out.

[Don Wiss]

I dunno. I can only go by my experience.

The only way they can get to the feed is to hang onto the pole and reach under the bar that pulls down.

After the first season, when I relocated* more than 40 squirrels, it was interesting to watch. At first the newcomers to the territory didn't realize it contained food. Then one got on the top and slide off and fell

6' to the deck. After another month one tried and pulled on the bar, and of course it closed.

But I still had the problem of dug up window boxes. So I continued. This Winter there have been no squirrels at the feeder at all. And only a few times have I seen one or two pass by on the telephone/cable wires. I guess periodically one comes over to check out the territory. Come early Summer there will be new ones. The ones born this year won't necessarily know to avoid the territory. If I want to keep my window boxes undug, those will have to also be relocated.

• I have a trailer for my bicycle. I do not contribute to global warming to do this. And I get some exercise.

Once I was bicycling back and a fellow could see the trap in the black plastic bag. He pulled alongside to chat. He told me about the time they hung a feeder at the end of a long wire. He said the squirrels would slide down the wire and bang their head on the feeder. But this did not stop them.

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[kate]

Yes, it's called feeding the squirrels. They like peanuts a lot.

[Billy]