Tips and Tricks to Keeping Squirrels Away From Bird Feeders

I love having busy bird feeders in the Fall and Winter. Seeing an exceptionally busy feeder with a variety of species in the morning and throughout the day is fun, sometimes exciting when that new species shows up, and it is always relaxing. But what I don’t like is having squirrels steel all my birdseed!

Those little chunkers (they’re well fed in my area) will go right for any mix that contains black oil sunflower seed, and spend their time gorging themselves for what seems like hours at at time. I almost feel like I may just skip filling the feeders with seed and instead pin a $20 bill on the feeder each week.

Now, there really is only one full-proof way to keep them away, which I wrote about at great length. You basically need to respect their jumping limits, and locate your feeders accordingly. But that isn’t possible for all home and yard situations. And in my previous home as well as other times I had no choice but to try different methods to dissuade the squirrels, as they could always jump to my feeder. It just wasn’t possible to locate it out of their reach.

So, with that being said this article is going to be listing out a whole lot of different strategies one can try to keep the squirrels away, or even just slow them down a bit. I will be relaying my first hand experience in these strategies, as I’ve tried them all myself. In my experience, they work for a while, but eventually the squirrels do figure them out…Here is another bloggers account (well documented) of how squirrels defeated them time and again. So, these are fun strategies that do work, but remember, permanent solutions must respect the biological-physical limits of the squirrel! Ok – here we go….

Squirrel Baffles

Alright, so a ‘squirrel baffle’ should really be called a squirrel barrier or shield, because that is basically what it does. And they can slow down or even stop them for a while. Now, as I wrote in my squirrel-proof-birdfeeder article, if you locate your feeder 10′ away from any object they can jump from, and more than 5′ tall, then a baffle is all you’ll need to stop them completely. Still though, eventually they will find away to jump up, over, across, or down from some area and hit your feeder. The little buggers are almost like the inspiration for the Mission Impossible movie stunts. But you can see the two primary types of squirrel baffle here.

There are also baffles to put on top of a feeder. In that way when a squirrel tries to jump down to a feeder, it will hit the large plastic dome and simply slide off. This can work, but is still difficult as you need to keep the feeder away from any structure horizontally. There is also the chance that it can jump at an angle from the branch above to grab the feeder just below the baffle.

Slinky

If your feeder is on a pole, then placing a slinky over the pole can be an effective strategy that will confuse and frustrate the squirrel. As they climb the pole, when they reach the slinky it will inevitably fall down low under the added weight of the squirrel. This works great, and can be even more effective in combination with the next strategy.

Lubricate the pole!

Squirrels generally climb the pole to reach the feeder. And if you coat it with some form of lubricant…..It is hilarious. But you need to make sure you use a safe lubricat. You see, many of the options that are often suggested can be harmful to birds if it gets on their feathers. WD-40, Olive Oil, Crisco…they will cause the feathers to mat up. So, try something like un-petroleum jelly instead.

But once you do this, you will see that squirrel start their climb great only to eventually slide down. Doing this combined with a slinky is a fun and entertaining way to see the squirrel feel disappointment and shame in their inability to complete their simple, seemingly within reach goal.

But really though, you have to relubricate the pole at least every week. Even still, if the feeder isn’t mounted high enough, eventually they will just start jumping up to the feeder directly (in my experience).

Expensive squirrel-proof feeders

Look, they make mechanical ‘squirrel-proof’ feeders. The way it works is that when the squirrel places their weight on the perch, the feeder door (to the seed) closes, making it so the squirrel doesn’t get anything. This does work as long as you hang it far enough from a pole so that the squirrel can’t reach it from the pole.

But, some seed will still fall out before the door closes, and most squirrels eventually figure out that hitting the feeder can shake out some seed, and they will do this. So, while it isn’t 100% effective, it does a great job of slowing the squirrels down.

Spice it up

Did you know that squirrels don’t like spicy food? Well now you do. Mixing in some cayenne pepper to your seed won’t harm the birds, but the squirrels will hate it. This is a small amount of added expense, but will definitely help reduce the squirrels desire for your birdseed. And if you aren’t the DIY type, there are birdseed mixes that come with the pepper already mixed in.

Odors

Squirrels have noses, and certain smells they do not like. Some of these would be ammonia, or predator urine. Yes, you can buy small bottles of concentrated coyote and fox urine. This could have an effect on some of the birds though!

Trap the squirrels

Do you really want to make the squirrels go away? Then get a live trap. These cost around $50 from Tractor Supply, and they work if baited properly. A decade ago I became very adept at trapping squirrels in an old rusty trap that I still have….I would bait it with a peanut butter sandwich. The squirrels in my neighborhood were so plentiful that I could catch one an hour on a Saturday, then have my feeders be unmolested by squirrels….for about two weeks before more squirrels moved in. So, this solution is temporary, but if your local squirrels defeat all other strategies above, then this one can remove the ‘smart’ ones who have learned all your tricks.

Note – if you are going to trap the squirrels, be prepared to drive them at least 5 miles away before you release them. They can find their way back from several miles away…..

Closing

Feeding birds is a fun activity to add interest to your yard while helping your local ecosystem. Feeding birds, but not squirrels is a bit more challenging! But, these tips will hopefully help you save some money by not feeding squirrels. And, if you have any further tips, feel free to reach out and share them!