Update on bird feeder

[hrhofmann]

My PVC pipe-based bird feeder was spray-painted in a camoflouage(sp?) mixtu re of red, green and brown, and the birds liked it. So did two squirrels w ho actually ate into the PVC pipe around the four openings in the bottom si des of the feeder. I had reused the old plastic opening moldings into the PVC pipe to make it easier for me. The squirrels actually ate some of the black moldings in addition to scratching the PVC vertical pipe.

So, yesterday I took the metal from the side/vertical of a large can of hai r spray and cobbled together two pairs/sets of moldings. Birds seem to lik e it and the squirrels seem to have given up since the new home-made moldin gs extend 1/4 inch back from/beyond the openings in the PVC pipe. To get a t anything other than the food thru the small openings, they will have to d o some serious digging into the smooth PVC pipe surface. Time will tell.

[SeaNymph]

Glad to hear the color change worked out. I dislike squirrels getting into my bird feeders, so I made it so they can't. Sounds like you've found a way to do that as well.

[Frank]

I thought the greased rod would keep squirrel away but it didn't:

Wife enjoys the squirrels but I hung this feeder from a tree in the front yard but it still wrecked it.

[hrhofmann]

I'll post/let everyone know what happens in about a week or so after the sq uirrels have a chance to gnaw thru whatever they decide tastes good. Sprin g is definitely here in the Chicago suburbs, the grass is green, tulips and daffodils are showing buds, the maple trees and pussywillows are starting to bud, and the worms are crawling over both dirt and blacktop. So, there should be a good choice of foods available for them to gnaw on.

[Paintedcow]

They sell Squirrel Guards, which is sort of an inverted metal funnel. They go around the pole. Of course you have to make sure the squirrels cant get to the feeder from the top, such as a tree or roof. Search the web for these. You can probably make your own too.

[Art Todesco]

Squirrels will learn, over time, how to beat it. If it is possible, they will then remember and go through it like nothing. Google "squirrel learns obstacle course" and there are many funny videos of what was supposed to be squirrel proof feeders. BTW, my wife used to just sets up several feed stations, some for birds and some for the rodents with cute tails and all seem to coexist. Where we live not, in western NC, squirrels are not the problem ... bears are. Some friends put out bird feeders everyday and then at dusk take them in before the bears destroy them.

Another story about squirrels. When living in the Chi area, we had a screened in porch. The 1st winter we didn't bother closing the screen doors as there were no bothersome insects. Well, one day I came home from work and turned on the yard flood lights to let the dog out and nothing. The breaker was tripped and would not reset. I later discovered that the squirrels had come into the porch, crawled up into the eve openings and gnawed through the romex feeding the floods. They took about 3 or 4 feet of insulation off the wires and because the switch was off, didn't get zapped. So after that, the doors were always closed all winter long.

[Micky]

Will do.

LOL. Once my dining room light and range hood light didn't work. I thought I had mice that had eaten the wire. Turned out, 3 months earlier, I had disconnected them for some reason.