I recently put up a pole type bird feeding station. I was sooooo proud of it... new feeders all filled up with all sorts of goodies for birds (and a cute solar light on top). Next morning... it had been ransacked! My guess is that a raccoon helped himself to the suet... and not just the cake, but the entire holder was missing. Lesson learned. No more suet. Next morning, I'm certain a squirrel or two decided to dine at my new establishment. They didn't tear anything up, just emptied out the feeders. The war was on! They can help themselves to the other feeders, but this one is going to be off limits. So I look online at all of the baffles and gadgets they sell to keep squirrels out. I came across a nifty suggestion. And cheap. But will it work? Oh what the heck, it's only $3.00 might as well try. What kind of gadget, you ask? Yep, regular old kids toy. So I took everything off the pole and slid this onto it. And guess what? It's been a week and not one single sign of a squirrel in the feeders! wooohoooo!!! I love it when a cheap solution actually works! But I know it's only a matter a time until the little bandits figure out a way around this, so I did order a baffle to have on hand if/when that day arrives. In the meantime, I've REALLY been enjoying watching all of the birds gather. And now I'm on the lookout for another feeder to add where I had the suet feeder.
I'd love to have a camera out there to watch them jump on it only to be lowered right back to the ground.
Squirrels and chipmunks are really smart...I can put them off for a while when I try new things but there is always one in the group that figures it out. That is a terrific idea, I hope they can't figure it out for a long time. I am not sure if I could find a slinky around, I haven't been in the toy department for many years...
I'm going to have a look for a slinky or two around here. I get so tired of having my feeders gnawed on by squirrels. Every 'squirrel proof feeder I've got they manage to find a way to get to the food. Their latest trick is to simply remove the whole feeder from its hook, drop it on the ground and eat to their hearts content.
Well... the joy of it didn't last too long. I was watching the feeder the other day and along comes a squirrel. He was happily eating off the ground and I was hoping to see him try to go up the pole and "ride" the Slinky. Well, all he did was jump up high enough where there wasn't any "slink" in the Slinky and just used it to hold onto while he reached out to grab the feeder. I could see this helping out IF there was a pretty long/tall pole - so he would have to grab the lower part of the Slinky. But then, you'd have to get a ladder to get to the feeders. So I installed the store-bought baffle yesterday. Not sure I have high hopes for it either. This is the one I got. I can just see him hopping on top... hopefully it's out of his leaping range. But I doubt it. The baffle ended up being free because of several problems with the order... so I won't feel bad if it doesn't work... just chalk it up to "learning".
I have never tried the baffles...I hope it works for you.... Eileen...I have my feeders in the pergola where I feed the birds, hanging on a chain. On the ends of the chain is a hook, like you would find on the end of a dog chain. That hooks hold the feeder so the squirrels can't knock it off....I have used the chains and hooks for years and they have not learned to undo them yet. I hope this helps. It also helps to keep other feeders from being stolen by the larger critters.
I started having problems with the chipmunks climbing the pole to get the Blue Jays peanuts so my husband put a funnel under the feeder and it works. We couldn't figure out why we were going through so many peanuts until we caught him in the act...
Thanks for the suggestion Sherry but these little grey devils somehow open the clip on the chain and feast on the peanuts. However, at last, I appear to have defeated the squirrels. Nothing I tried was working so I've had to resort to paying out for a more expensive feeder that, so far, seems to be holding its own against these sneaky little rodents. Fingers crossed they're not plotting a way to get into it too.
Your bird feeding pole is really pretty, especially the light! The squirrels and chipmunks are a pain at times and I hope your baffle works for you though I actually miss them as I have never seen them around my yard. I think there are too many cats in my neighborhood.
I only put Safflower seeds in the feeders now, Squirrels and Grackles do not eat them but Dove, Sparrows of all ilks and Cardinals do. I do have a platform feeder where I put a wild bird seed mix for the Starlings, Red-Wings and Dove and two containers that hold peanuts for the Blue Jays and Squirrels. The Grackles were my biggest problem, I started out filling feeders with only Black Oil Sunflower seeds and those birds could empty a large feeder in less than 30 minutes, then sit in the tree and squawk at me I hadn't refilled it.
Cherylad that was a great idea with the slinky. I have had to take in my suet every night as the raccoons would eat the whole thing. Yes we all have our challenges with feeding our much loved feather friends. So of them we do not want to see at our feeders like Toni said about the grackles. I have a stationary feeder in the front flower bed mounted on a 4x4 wooden post. Well let me tell you the squirrels and raccoons had no problem getting in it. I have gone to a bird supply store to see about buying a baffle like the one in Cherylads picture. The price almost made me faint. So then I set my little brain to work to see if I could come up with a similar idea, but a lot cheaper. Yum urika, I was at Menards looking for something else and I happened to walk past their stainless steel single walled vent piping. The kind one would use one a cloths dryer vent. I bought two, 2ft length pieces. I then placed them around the wooden post and snapped them together and placed the top one over the bottom one. Then I took 4 L-shaped brackets and some sheet metal screws and mounted the top one to underside of my wooden platform bird feeder. Tadah! No more raccoon in my feeder. I can see where they have tried to crawl up it as they leave little dirty foot prints on the outside of the pipe. But the squirrels can still jump up in the feeder. So I put the hanging feeder that looks like a raccoon in a tree out in the front yard, I had posted about one time. They love it, and have been leaving my other feeder alone. Plus the birds like to us it also. Speaking of chipmunks. I really do not like those little critters at all. They love safflower seed. They are always collecting it from under my feeder that the morning doves drop on the ground. Then they bury them in my potted plants on my front stoop. So I had to take them in as they where constantly digging in them. Next year in spring I plan on trapping those little critters and moving far, far, away from my yard.
