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Message Board>
Squirrels
lovebirds
1 post
Aug 08, 2007
5:36 PM
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I was just reading the messages and they reminded me about a problem I had this spring with squirrels. I had both a flat bottomed seed feeder and a suet cage hanging for the birds. I had some lovely flickers on the suet block before the squirrels found it and kept trying to feed from it. There was a wooden top to it so they had a really difficult time with it until they chewed the leather strap that was holding it on to the branch. Once it was down, they had no problem pulling the suet out of the cage to eat. I do not have a pole that is long enough to hang the suet cage from, (all of the ones I've seen are usually really close to the ground once anchored) and I have found that the squirrels have no problem climbing and hanging on to the pole anyways. How can I put the suet cage up and try to prevent the squirrel attacks??
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sweetpea
1 post
Aug 25, 2007
3:15 PM
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We have successfully kept the squirrels away from our suet and tray feeders by hanging them on strong wire strung between the house and the shed. The secret is to take two empty 2 litre pop bottles (make a hole at the bottom of each one) and thread the wire through the neck of each bottle and through the newly made hole in the base, and then thread both bottles, neck to neck, onto the wire. Now place your hanging feeder between the two bottles. When the squirrel goes along the wire and reaches one of the bottles, the bottle spins around and around and the squirrel falls off. It only takes a few tries and the squirrel realizes it's no use trying to go along the wire any more. As the wire is higher than me, I hook a straightened coat hanger over the wire (between the two bottles) and then hang the feeder from that. Squirrels can fling themselves downwards only, so be sure that there are no trees near the hanging feeder. Found this great solution on a British website. Good luck!
Last Edited on 25-Aug-2007 3:20 PM
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Raven48
1 post
Jan 21, 2008
5:35 AM
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The solution by Sweetpea is a great one. The squirrels do indeed get frustrated and soon leave the feeding line alone. I have used the domes (baffles) with great success, but the 2 litre bottle is one of the best yet.
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