FCIV 'S- Homesteader's Notebook©

Squirrels, including this red squirrel, aren't called "Houdinis of the Mammal
World" for nothing.

If I were to analyze the thousands of questions received, following over 34 years of writing nature stories, one of the top ten most frequently asked would be, "How can I keep the squirrels off my bird feeders?" Before I attempt an answer I must remind you that squirrels aren’t called the "Houdinis of the Mammal World" for nothing!

There are two important prerequisites to solving this maddening problem before delving into various solutions. One: the feeders must be far enough off the ground so that the nimble little beasts can’t jump to them from below. Five feet is a good start. Number two: the feeders have to be located far enough from trees and their branches thereby preventing the squirrels, be they red, gray, fox, black, white or flying, from leaping downward to their feast.

I simply kept watching the antics of the nimble leapers and pruning off the tree branches from which they were successfully jumping until they no longer would attempt the aerial approach. Bear in mind that we live in the middle of a woods and do not have a dearth of trees.

Originally I used inch-thick old metal water pipes on which to fasten my little platform feeders. Unfortunately those feeders were slightly top-heavy and eventually, following a brisk windstorm, I’d look outside to find all of them tilting or leaning about 15 degrees away from the prevailing winds. Finally I bought four-by-fours of treated wood and cemented them into the ground.

I buy inexpensive used aluminum printing sheets and nail them neatly to the posts. Heavy galvanized metal is next used to form cone-shaped baffles that are firmly screwed to the posts about four feet above the ground. Occasionally a raccoon has gotten past both the lower metal-covered post and the baffle forcing me to also wrap metal around the wooden post directly above the baffle and right up to the bottom of the wooden feeding platform.

There are plenty of so-called "Hilarious" bird feeders on the market that are designed to automatically close when the weight of the creature wanting seeds exceeds that of a normal bird. The weight-tolerance can even be adjusted to prevent heavier birds, such as jays and doves, from emptying out the feeder. I’ve seen them work very well for nearly all squirrels but eventually there comes along a brilliant-minded gray squirrel that somehow figures out a way to fool the experts.

Some folks have come up with an excellent and inexpensive system of erecting their bluebird houses making them inaccessible to, for example, snakes, raccoons, mice, squirrels and feral cats. First you take a five-foot length of half-inch concrete reinforcing rod, called "Rebar," and pound it at a right angle around a foot or more into the ground. You can obtain Rebar from your nearest lumberyard.

Next you slide over the Rebar a five-foot section of one-half inch (inside dimension) electrical conduit pipe, obtainable from any hardware store. You’ll have to use your ingenuity to prevent the pipe from twisting on the Rebar and for attaching your feeder to the top of the pipe. Get clamping and feeder-mounting ideas and help at the hardware store.

A long time ago, having a high population of red squirrels, all very capable of getting into most of our bird feeders, I devised what I referred to as "Dave’s Squirrel-proof Feeder." A wide-mouth gallon glass jar, rigged very simply with a crude wire harness and suspended from a thin heavy wire running from our woodshed to a nearby quaking aspen tree would, without a doubt, conquer the feisty inventive red squirrels. It worked – for about ten minutes!

Admittedly the birds, especially the nuthatches, chickadees and even the grosbeaks, used that feeder a lot and it really did keep the blue jays out. Not once did we see them enter this glass feeder. Since then I’ve seen where people take two large juice cans with both ends intact, punch a hole in the exact center of both ends, thread the cans onto the wire, one on each side of a suspended feeder, and – presto – the squirrels keep rolling off the can as fast as they try to reach the feeder.

Please don’t get me wrong – we’ve enjoyed squirrels through the years but prefer to keep them either on the ground or in the trees!

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