After all my experiments, this really works on New Orleans squirrels--who ought to be used to hot condiments (alive or dead).
Get the economy size bottle of powdered cayenne pepper and sprinkle it over your bird seed each time you put out out. One bite, and the squirrel's gone to greener pastures. The birds don't taste it. zemedelec
I understand that stuff can injure the birds.
Since that PEPPER stuff injurues ME it sure hurts them birds worse,,, Id say find a better idea, Your house may have 2 squirrels but 100 birds . Find a better way, like a squirrel proof pole. Or else you are messing with a hundred birds insides
I understand that birds lack a key enzyme that kicks off the pain sensation. See:
The > > After all my experiments, this really works on New Orleans
Just be sure to stand back and hold your breath when sprinkling. I tried that a while back and got a wiff of it when sprinkling it into our face-level bird feeder. Not pleasant.
Paul
That is my understanding as well. The problem, as I understand it, is the stuff is no good for the birds and can injure them if they get too much.
How do you understand this to be true?
RB
Joseph Meehan wrote:
If I thought the pepper really hurt the birds, I'd send it into retirement in my spice cabinet. Please tell me (book and page, or Web page) where you found your information,
It's interesting how a substance can have no effect on one omnivore (humans) yet kill another with a small amount (dogs). I am speaking, of course, of chocolate. zemedelec
Check out this squirrel-proof bird feeder:
According to Doug Miller :
It seems to be the one that is most often recommended, but I have seen videos showing that the critters can outwit it as well. It just takes two, one on each side. ;-)
Yeah, but where's the entertainment value in *that*? ISTM that the Yankee Flipper is almost worth the price just for the fun of watching it work!
Here's one:
Oops, I meant to say when I posted the above citation (ichy trigger finger, I guess), that the website (and the Cornell study it is based on) does not show conclusively that pepper is harmful, but rather that the possibility of damage to the birds is unknown. The WBU site suggests using other methods until more is known about the long-term effects. Also points out potential issue with children touching the pepper.
On the other hand, I really don't like squirrels.
According to Joseph Meehan :
Heh.
We've had them for nigh on 6-7 years now suspended off a clothesline. Yes, smaller red squirrels have managed to steal some through extraordinary gymnastics. But not enough to matter, and it's entertaining to watch.
The big black squirrels simply fail to get anywhere with them.
Raccoons have done better - they crawl along the clothesline, and sometimes they shake it so much that the feeder "bounces" off the cable. That was easily fixed. No problems since.
According to Doug Miller :
That's nothing. There is a two part BBC special on black squirrels and bird feeders (watched it in Plymouth Maine while waiting for the ferry to Yarmouth ;-).
Hysterically funny. Featuring:
- The automatic anti-squirrel water canon.
- The automatic anti-squirrel jack in the box
- The squirrel olympics, parts 1 and 2. Where over a period of 6-8 weeks the squirrels manage amazing feats of learning and physical prowess to bypass all sorts of obstacles - the squirrel spaceship, maze, the squirrel high jump, etc.
Highly recommended. I just wish I could find it on video.
According to Chris Lewis :
Ah:
We have one and the damn varments hang by their rear paws from the roof to clean it out.
Finally cured that by swabbing vaseline on the roof.
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