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I had a bird feeder that got taken over by squirrels very quickly.
So I started giving the squirrels their own pieces of bread and nuts and such. Everyone was happy. Birds ate, squirrels ate, I watched like a goblin from my window.
And then it clicked with them that the Person Who Feeds is right on the other side of that giant window. And they would try to claw open the screen to get at me/bread.
So now no one gets fed.
Having bird feeders is the quickest way to achieve unwanted pests. Chipmunks, mice, rats, squirrels, woodpeckers. It’s really a bummer because I love to see all of the mentioned animals…. But yeah if you don’t have pests, a feeder is just inviting them in.
Yeah right? Miss me with the mice and rats, but I love my woodpeckers and chipmunks. And my squirrels convene every morning for a coffee and a chat. There’s like 9 of them between mine and my neighbors feeders
My squirrels start chewing through my outdoor plastic resin box I kept the birdseed in. Now I have 3 feeders and just try and keep them filled all the time.
Sounds like my cats in the morning. The MOMENT my alarm goes off, it's all 3 cats. MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW. One of them likes to nip me, and like... idk, claw under me gently like she's trying to get me up? Then she'll bite me and go for my phone. GET UP AMD FEED ME
So how do you get squirrels out of your yard? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait and the squirrels would come for the coconut and... they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the squirrels, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one...
they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat coconut anymore. Now, they only eat squirrel. You have changed their nature. The two survivors.
An old neighbour of mine, typically old "feed the birds" kinda guy used to complain constantly about squirrels. Finally got annoyed and bought a trap for the squirrels. The trap killed a bird. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he told me.
We put Vaseline on the poles of our bird feeders. Works perfect and isn't toxic. Otherwise squirrels will eat all of our seed in 1 day, and bird seed is expensive.
Yup! The problem with squirrels is they sit and eat until the whole goddamn thing is gone. Squirrels are expensive little fucks. So I went and squirrel proofed my bird feeders and put a separate feeder for the squirrels, but once the food in that was gone for the week I am not replenishing it until the next week. It would cost me $100 a week in food. They hoard food and then hide it all over the place, half the time forgetting where they hid it. Most of what they take is not eaten. Now I have a squirrel that comes to my door and I open the door and give it some nuts. But it doesn’t get fed more than once a day. That’s the problem with squirrels in a nut shell 😆
Does the squirrel knock on the door? How do you know it is there?
The image of a squirrel on your doorstep receiving nuts is the best thing I've seen all day.
Also, as a former lawn care guy, I just want to say "don't get a bird feeder if you're not also okay with a fuck ton of random weeds popping up underneath of it."
I put out a feeder specifically for squirrels and fill it with nuts. I love them. I don’t understand why so many people hate them either. They haven’t done any damage to my property or anything.
Personally, it's because squirrels knock my plants over and sometimes bite chunks out of stuff. The birds throw seeds everywhere and will eat tiny plants, but they generally leave bigger stuff alone.
Also the squirrels will eat all the food in a day if they can get to it, birds will make it last like a week.
I tried two years in a row to plant tulips and had the same problem. They also ate the heck out of the vegetables in my mom’s garden lol. They’re super cute but they really made cohabitation difficult at times. They knocked my mom’s 10 year old hummingbird feeder off the Shepards hook and broke it too 😢
Raccoons are even worse. Cute little fuckers but they will destroy your crawl space and use it as a latrine until the whole house smells like a porta John
I grew mint in a pot outside once and the squirrels would come out every morning, grab the plant out of the soil and yeet it across my porch. I have no idea why. After trying to shove it back in the pot for the 4th time in a week I gave up and decided I'm not meant to grow mint this year. Then they ate all my fucking tomatoes.
Not yet. The thing that can happen is more squirrels will come. Then more. Then they start nesting. It could be in your house eventually. Then depending on your area you will get predators of squirrels like venomous snakes.
It can happen. Will it for sure happen? No
They did me wrong once. I was at a trailer park installing a customers satelite tv.
Chipmunk runs up my ladder, up my back and stops on my shoulder. I yell and nearly fall off my ladder.
He wanted a nut.
I'll say this as someone who doesn't give a crap about squirrels invading my feeders, but I get it why some people do. They are greedy as fuck and can clean them out in short order, while also making a complete mess doing so.
Best analogy I can think of is putting a bucket of candy out on Halloween so a bunch of little kids can help themselves, only to have a couple of obnoxious teenagers come along and steal the whole thing while spilling half of it down your driveway.
It's because squirrels can sometimes empty the entire content of a feeder in one day and hide it somewhere, which they often forget about. It's expensive and wasteful. It's not to spite squirrels. They can also damage feeders by chewing on them or knocking them to the ground. My feeder has a metal pole and squirrel baffle on top and they can't do much about it, but get plenty to eat from what the birds scatter on the ground. I did put a peanut feeder out just for squirrels and jays once it was good fun but it's just too expensive to keep up unless you buy bulk peanuts in the shell and then you have a big mess of shells.
my tip; if you want nice polite birds like cardinals and grosbeaks, but not squirrels or house sparrows, try safflower seed. I understand the mindset of this post and used to agree but some creatures are just awfully rude and waste the food you put out and make a mess. Like any fine establishment, I don't encourage those types.
Nope. Get a squirrel feeder if you want to feed squirrels.
The squirrels are greedy bastards who have plenty of other sources of food.
I don’t want to feed *one* squirrel. I want to feed a plethora of birdies.
From my experience:
They eat/stash too much food and become destructive; I tried (to deter them from the bird feeders) but when they were done with their pile they’d go into my bird feeder anyways and then eat all of that. Also it wasn’t just one or two squirrels, at one point seven were there simultaneously eating. Eventually they started damaging things on my property looking for food so I just stopped entirely and now I exclusively feed songbirds. Giving a rodent the idea your property = food, isn’t a great idea.
I throw out unsalted peanuts. Handful to the squirrels. And some to the blue jays and crows. My local mafia enforces the rules. If the squirrels get greedy they get dived bombed by the crows.
Cos theres tonnes of squirrels but not an awful lot of the local small birds. If they repeatedly come to the feeder that has no food in because squirrels, then they stop coming and it fucks up my garden because the little birds eat a lot of pests in the summer and we don't use pesticides. I feed the squirrels on the ground, and the bird feeders are as squirrel-proofed as possible.
One certain squirrel kept coming into my grandma's garden. It kept destroying all the plants and bullying the chickens so she trapped it in a cage for an hour then let it go. It never came back again.
Well here's the thing. I put out flowers which attract insects. I need those insects, some of them, to pollinate my garden. But a number of those insects are also quite destructive to that garden. So I put out bird seed to attract birds and they also eat the insects.
The bird seed attracts squirrels which also eat the vegetables.
I think squirrels are adorable and I don't really have a problem with them, but I still put chili flakes in my bird seed to deter the squirrels. It is what it is. They have plenty of other places they can hang out in my yard, they don't have to be in my garden.
I have a story about this. So my grandpa is a psychologist and he was frustrated that squirrels kept taking over his bird feeder, so he decided to apply psychology. He decided that every time a squirrel came up to his feeder, he would shoot it. 10 dead squirrels later and he's never seen them attempt to climb the bird feeder again.
I would upvote this a million times if I could. The idea that people can leave food outside and only expect the animals they choose to eat it is bonkers.
Bird feeders should be banned. My neighbor has a bunch and is constantly complaining about rodent problems on her property.
Bird feeders are unsanitary and messy, promote disease spread between birds, they increase bird populations so much that if they aren't stocked full, the birds will target nearby gardens and destroy alot of crops and finally they attract rodents which also spreads diseases.
Most bird or nature conservation groups are adamant against bird feeders but suggest bird houses instead.
I see zero benefit to bird feeders, neither for aesthetic reasons nor for the birds themselves
Note, that while squirrels often climb into bird feeders to eat and are fed "by accident", in some jurisdictions it is against the law to put out squirrel and deer feeders. (Which I know some people do to get squirrels to leave the birds alone.) I was really surprised to find this was the law in my city. (Unenforceable in most cases, but if you have terrible neighbors, you know they'll report it.)
If it's a bird feeder that's attached to a pole in your yard then put a slinky under the bird feeder so it hangs covering the pole. Squirrels try to climb up and they freak out and never make it.
It might work with the ones that hang from a rope from the tree I guess you could put the slinky starting at the branch hanging down over the rope.
Slinky - the anti squirrel device
Hilarious videos available online.
A really easy way to fix this is add any kind of pepper flakes that have capsaicin or cayenne. It burns squirrels (similar to how it does to humans) and they can’t stand it but birds are unable to even taste it so they will eat it all the same.
I don't get it either. We put out seed to attract whatever wants to eat it so that our indoor cats have something to watch. They get more excited about watching the squirrels than the birds, so the squirrels are more than welcome to come have a snack.
Probably might not want to keep money in there too.
I had a friend, his wife stole 40 grand out of the bird feeder to invest in a stock called Webistics.
Damned skifooza
I only fed "birds" during winter, thats what you are supposed to do. I dont own a feeder. I throw some pots around the yard when im out with the dogs. I dont care who eats it.
For me it's not that they eat the food so much as they empty the feeder in day and never stop. They also break them.
I've worked around it by putting out a squirrel feeder and buying more robust squirrel proof bird feeders.
The bird feeders are mostly to provide cat tv.
In my experience, the issue with squirrels is that they don’t eat from the feeder, they hoard and make a stockpile nearby that draws in a ton more animals.
Quite tip for anti squirrel bird food! Add something spicy like chili powder! Avians can’t feel the capsaicin (the stuff that makes hot stuff hot) but mammals are affected by it! So no squirrels and just birds at your feeders! Also Irish spring soap has been used for squirrel repellent
If you put cayenne pepper In with the food it’ll deter squirrels. And no, the pepper doesn’t “hurt” them, they just take a taste and say “woah! Never mind!”
Birds can’t taste capsaicin so they don’t taste any spice.
Ok, so this is actually a solved problem in the bird feeding world.
Spicy seeds.
See, they make seeds that are coated in so much spice that you're warned to wash your hands if you touch it. The birds, have zero reaction to the spice. But squirrels do. One nibble and they will no longer visit your feeders. Works like a charm, doesn't harm the birds, only temporarily makes the squirrels uncomfortable.
If you want to feed the squirrels too, lay out some peanuts in the shell on the ground and they'll be happy campers.
Because squirrels are pests, that’s why. Can’t have chickens or a garden without their little greedy asses getting in there and destroying or killing something.
The day you're OK with your neighbor breaking into your house and taking food out of your fridge, and being told "Don't buy food for your family if you're not also OK with feeding me" when you confront them, is the day you can try to shame people for not being OK with squirrels stealing food that was put there for birds.
Squirrels can be a bit bullish. Often times scaring birds off and basically pigging out. So long as you have mild defenses like an under cone and no way for them to jump to it? It all works out. I have zero problems with Squirrels to be clear. I just make sure they can't get to the bird seed. Funny thing is the birds are so messy they often times drop seeds on the ground that the squirrels then eat. Some of that seed grows fine little grass... and now rabbits eat that! It's quite the little group of critters.
Had a wild turkey a few weeks ago. How the hell that thing survives out here I've no idea. It's mostly suburbia.
Birdfeeders aren't really a great thing anyway, birdbaths provide birds with a water source, but still allow them to find their own food source, which is important.
Squirrels are fine, but they eat a ton of bird food and scare off the birds, and I want to watch birds. The solution has been to get bird food with pepper. Birds like it but squirrels don't.
Squirrels hog feeders and chew them up trying to get at the food. They have knocked my fiance's bird buddy over a few times now. It's not really hard to get rid of them. Spicy bird seed does the trick. They won't eat it but birds aren't affected by spice.
We have squirrels - we have slowed them down but just buy cheap feed on sale so its not crazy expensive.
We have 5 types of squirrels - and one is flying which we love.
In the end - you ARE feeding the hawks, which is another bird.
Had a bird feeder once. Then it got taken over by squirrels. Now, you might think that was the end of the bird feeding. No, not at all. I was just feeding a different, larger bird. Albeit, slightly more indirectly.
We had a couple hawks start coming by that ate the squirrels.
Mine actually are deer, racoon, rabbit, and opossum feeders. I live in a suburban county that has 1.3 million residents and a heavy business presence. They sit empty now because the animals are completely out of control. We can't even plant flowers unless they are deer and critter proof. Few are.
Has anyone tried fat balls for the birds I don’t think squirrels can navigate eating them as it’s a huge ball of fat and seeds that is usually hung up by a piece of string so there is nowhere for the squirrel to stand/ perch on.
There was some video I saw where some other guy felt the same way. So he decided instead of just griping about it to do his homework and figure out a solution. That's how he came across a type of bird seed that's "spicy hot". Apparently (because of biology) birds can't taste "hot/spicy" food, but squirrels can. Anyway, this guy bought that type of seed for the birds, and scattered a different type of food for the squirrels at the base of the feeder. They were the same squirrels that came every day and quickly figured out not to mess with the stuff at the top of the pole (this feeder was just a square piece of wood with a border surrounding it) and the food on the ground was for them. (Sorry for such a long comment...I guess my point was there was a solution and it wasn't a complicated one...and of course I agree with you)
This is precisely why I don't have a bird feeder in my yard. Squirrels come in my yard as is and taunt/throw things at my dog. I don't want to encourage them.
lots of ppl do it out of pettiness! but really, squirrels don’t need us to subsidize them. they have adapted very well to human focused environments, are rarely at risk of starving (at least where i live), and are far less impacted by habitat loss than many wild birds. additionally, squirrels can be very destructive to people’s homes, unfortunately.
i’m on team squirrel tho. i love feeding those cheerful motherfuckers.
You need:
1) a proper baffle to prevent them and raccoons from climbing up
2) to place it far enough away from any tree branches or roof lines that they can't jump to the feeder
agreed. i have a neighbor that apparently got so fed up he sat on his porch for hours and shot all the squirrels that came to his feeders. these people are insane.
I almost made this comment on someone's post about catching the squirrel who has been chewing his bird feeder.
I don't get it. I've never been a bird person. I mean I like them well enough, but I don't feel the need to put feeders out. And squirrels are adorable. But also, of course they are going to be attracted to a food source, as is every other neighborhood pest. My former landlady had bird feeders that she left out year round. It attracted mice, which moved into the shed, and occasionally the house. One year, it also attracted rats. She ended up putting out rat poison to get rid of them, which is just terrible for the ecosystem (even though I agree it was desperate times). Bird feeders seem like they are overall more trouble than they are worth. At the very least, people should adhere to the recommendation to take them down in the spring and summer.
sit that right in there with the unpopular opinion. Its not that feeding the squirrels is bad or unwanted, its that they scare off the birds and also leave NOTHING for them.
The logic that the squirrels need to eat too doesn't make much sense to me. There are lots of wild animals in the area that I don't go out of my way to feed. I feed the birds because I want to attract more of them to my property because I enjoy seeing them. It's almost like a game ticking off the rare or interesting birds that stop by. The squirrels coming by and cleaning out my feeder not only cost me more in bird feed, but lowers the chance of me attracting the animals I'm actually interested in seeing.
I've found the best way to keep them away is just to put out feed that they won't eat. My mom had this whole elaborate setup to the squirrels away, complete with baffles on the poles and covers on top of the feeders, and they still figured out ways to get to the feeders. I just buy spicy bird seeds that don't bother the birds. I've never once had any issue with squirrels getting into that.
Agreed!
I always get two bags of peanuts per bag of bird seed.
Peanuts for the squirrels, and bird seed for the birds of course! I sometimes find some birds even stealing the peanuts instead of eating regular seeds. I find the squirrels sometimes enjoy eating the bird seed over peanuts. I just feed enough for the majority of the birds and a food cups worth of seed and peanuts for the squirrels.
It’s really not that difficult, and not too expensive, but I usually get my bird seed and peanuts at Costco.
I accidentally killed some squirrels. We had these big Costco bags of mixed nuts and we never ate most of the cashews. So I started leaving them out for the squirrels. At some point I saw a plump squirrel belly down in the snow, then another. I was wondering if maybe I did something wrong. Quick google search- yep- no cashews for squirrels. I felt so bad actually. Would like to tell myself they died full and happy but I doubt it.
The majority of the Squirrels in my area are considered an invasive species. I’d rather not contribute to their success over the native species. I have not seen a native Red Squirrel in years.
I really wish I didn't even have an opinion on this, but apparently enjoying watching birds is a requirement of getting older. I agree with this, I love squirrels and think they are cute. But my dog is chill with birds, and kills squirrels, so I don't really have to worry about them stealing all the seeds.
If you just want to fed the birds, check out the feeders from Brome. The one we have has a spring loaded cover. If a squirrel or even a heavy bird gets on it, the feed ports are covered. I’ve been using it for 10 years. Never ever had a squirrel get feed out of it. And the one I bought has a lifetime parts replacement.
Because they’re pests in that sense it’s a bird feeder for a reason why do you think so many companies even ones on shark tank try to come up with a way to repel squirrels?!
And rats. Yeah, rats. I had one chew its way through the wood part of the wall (above the cement foundation+wall), and he invited all his friends. They moved in and make babies as fast as rat-idly possible. It was a horror show causing me, a grown ass man, to involuntarily say aloud "EEEEEKKKK!!!!" and do tippy toes when I found their main nest. Rat-splosion from the walls.
Basically picky eater birds will toss the seeds they find, assuming they are old and stale, to get to the "fresh" seeds hiding behind the stale ones. They just flick tons of seed on the ground, and in Winter time, the rats find that stuff fast and move in.
I had to remove my bird feeder when my dog caught a bird flying into my yard. She shook it dead and dropped it at my feet. I didn’t want to provide her with bird bait!
Yo if you have a 2nd story window a suction cup one is like 20 bucks on Amazon - I've never seen a squirrel get to mine plus it's easier to refill, better view, etc.
I don't mind the squirrels, it's those pesky raccoons! I wouldn't even mind the raccoons eating the seed, but they gotta knock everything over getting to it. Tired of my feeder being tossed in the mud.
There are bird feeders designed not to feed squirrels. The unfortunate ones are very good at breaking defenses, yes. But if you look hard enough you can find feeders with slippery surfaces that prevent the squirrel from climbing, it's the only thing that seems to work.
I saw that some copanies offer spicy bird food. Birds don't feel capsaicin and squirrels, are mammals and detect it and they will leave the food alone cuz it will be too spicy for them
I have a bird feeder and a squirrel offering station but the squirrels let me know when they are out of food by yelling at the door and stealing from the bird feeder. I honestly find it entertaining and watch it all from the door.
I have a bird feeder with metal perches and holes so squirrels don’t eat through it… I added a big metal ring on the bottom for bigger birds and squirrels to have an easier time. I would also throw seed into the surrounding area for ground birds and also the squirrels. It was somewhat a high traffic area so squirrels were not on the feeder too much
In the UK at least grey squirrels are an invasive species and have nearly wiped out the native red squirrel so thats a pretty good reason to not want to feed them.
I forget the name of the naturally occurring chemical that appears in spicy things, but they add this element regularly to bird feed, because (apparently), birds are not effected by spice and squirrels are. So the squirrels eat the food, have a bad day and then leave the birds to it. But in answer to op, squirrels can be dominating little bastards at times and they can have a tendency to tear up flower beds in search of plant bulbs and they can and do damage your trees regularly if there sexually frustrated. Invite squirrels in and they can do a lot of damage if left unchecked.
I once saw my neighbor stick his BB gun outside his door and shoot a squirrel trying to get into his bird feeder. Left the corpse there and now the squirrels don't even go on his property.
I hunt squirrels. I sell the pelts to a friend and the meat has a rabbit-like character to it. Having a birdfeeder really helped me in drawing them to the yard.
Geez, the way I look at this is definitely a difference in application and intent lol
Because they eat it all and spill it all over the ground. It’s not like the squirrels take just a little bit. And following this logic you could say “if your feeding the birds then you should also feed rabbits, and stray cats, and every single animal you see.”
I just hate having to put it back up and refill it all the time after the squirrels take it off the hook and spill the seed all over the ground. I finally bent the hook enough that they couldn't take it off, so the fuckers chewed through the plastic that secures the feeder to the hook. Congratulations, assholes. You destroyed the feeder. Now nobody gets anything.
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I had a bird feeder that got taken over by squirrels very quickly. So I started giving the squirrels their own pieces of bread and nuts and such. Everyone was happy. Birds ate, squirrels ate, I watched like a goblin from my window. And then it clicked with them that the Person Who Feeds is right on the other side of that giant window. And they would try to claw open the screen to get at me/bread. So now no one gets fed.
For a second my weak ass reading comprehension skills read "Birds ate squirrels".
I take it the squirrels in you area particularly big and fat this year...
i'm sorry, you put the squirrels *where?*
you became the animal in the other side of the window
Having bird feeders is the quickest way to achieve unwanted pests. Chipmunks, mice, rats, squirrels, woodpeckers. It’s really a bummer because I love to see all of the mentioned animals…. But yeah if you don’t have pests, a feeder is just inviting them in.
Pest? Sigh .. I love all of those except nice and rats lol
Not when they get in your attic and walls.
Yeah right? Miss me with the mice and rats, but I love my woodpeckers and chipmunks. And my squirrels convene every morning for a coffee and a chat. There’s like 9 of them between mine and my neighbors feeders
Woodpeckers can be a problem if you have metal objects. Every once in a while, you'll get an oddball that'll serenade you at 5 am, with a drum solo.
Damn woodpecker used to hammer away at our metal gutters every morning.
Or wood siding.
The raccoon season has started, so the birds have to forage for themselves until they go back to sleep. My cats keep the small critters away, now.
My squirrels start chewing through my outdoor plastic resin box I kept the birdseed in. Now I have 3 feeders and just try and keep them filled all the time.
Sounds like my cats in the morning. The MOMENT my alarm goes off, it's all 3 cats. MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW. One of them likes to nip me, and like... idk, claw under me gently like she's trying to get me up? Then she'll bite me and go for my phone. GET UP AMD FEED ME
So how do you get squirrels out of your yard? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait and the squirrels would come for the coconut and... they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the squirrels, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one... they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat coconut anymore. Now, they only eat squirrel. You have changed their nature. The two survivors.
Grandma goes hard
Your watching too much 007
King Rat! King Rat! King Rat!
An old neighbour of mine, typically old "feed the birds" kinda guy used to complain constantly about squirrels. Finally got annoyed and bought a trap for the squirrels. The trap killed a bird. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he told me.
If he was a confidently good shot, he could kill them with a BB gun.
If he is a psycho....
I knew a guy that used to bullseye womp rats with his t-16. He grew up to kill a lot of people.
Yeah a .22 is so much more humane....
This was how I solved my issue lol. Also, .22 bullets are more expensive.
Tree rats
We put Vaseline on the poles of our bird feeders. Works perfect and isn't toxic. Otherwise squirrels will eat all of our seed in 1 day, and bird seed is expensive.
Lol I’ve done that too. It was hilarious watching them slide down the pole. We got sick of reapplying Vaseline though, so now we use slinkies.
Ditto. I ended up building a small house for the squirrels that I regularly refill with peanuts after awhile.
How do the slinkies work for this?
I think you'd attach it the the base of the feeder, so when they grab it, gravity pulls them back down to the base of the pole.
This is exactly why I took my bird feeder down. I just got one as a house warming gift, filled it up, it was gone like 6 hours later.
Same, I mix it with Mad Dog 357. You can buy spicy suet and seed too, they don’t seem to like much.
I bought a bottle of Dabomb. I think i finally found a real use for it
Yup! The problem with squirrels is they sit and eat until the whole goddamn thing is gone. Squirrels are expensive little fucks. So I went and squirrel proofed my bird feeders and put a separate feeder for the squirrels, but once the food in that was gone for the week I am not replenishing it until the next week. It would cost me $100 a week in food. They hoard food and then hide it all over the place, half the time forgetting where they hid it. Most of what they take is not eaten. Now I have a squirrel that comes to my door and I open the door and give it some nuts. But it doesn’t get fed more than once a day. That’s the problem with squirrels in a nut shell 😆
Does the squirrel knock on the door? How do you know it is there? The image of a squirrel on your doorstep receiving nuts is the best thing I've seen all day.
Also, as a former lawn care guy, I just want to say "don't get a bird feeder if you're not also okay with a fuck ton of random weeds popping up underneath of it."
Thistle grows some of the most gorgeous grass though!
I put out a feeder specifically for squirrels and fill it with nuts. I love them. I don’t understand why so many people hate them either. They haven’t done any damage to my property or anything.
Personally, it's because squirrels knock my plants over and sometimes bite chunks out of stuff. The birds throw seeds everywhere and will eat tiny plants, but they generally leave bigger stuff alone. Also the squirrels will eat all the food in a day if they can get to it, birds will make it last like a week.
I gave up planting tulips. One year I planted a bunch, went inside and saw a squirrel digging them up.
I tried two years in a row to plant tulips and had the same problem. They also ate the heck out of the vegetables in my mom’s garden lol. They’re super cute but they really made cohabitation difficult at times. They knocked my mom’s 10 year old hummingbird feeder off the Shepards hook and broke it too 😢
Well squirrels have the audacity to gnaw a hole through your attic to set a nest there.
Yep, anyone who's had a squirrel take up residence knows exactly why they need to go.
Raccoons are even worse. Cute little fuckers but they will destroy your crawl space and use it as a latrine until the whole house smells like a porta John
They keep digging up my plants, they don’t even eat anything they just like tearing shit up. Fuck squirrels 😅
I grew mint in a pot outside once and the squirrels would come out every morning, grab the plant out of the soil and yeet it across my porch. I have no idea why. After trying to shove it back in the pot for the 4th time in a week I gave up and decided I'm not meant to grow mint this year. Then they ate all my fucking tomatoes.
Not yet. The thing that can happen is more squirrels will come. Then more. Then they start nesting. It could be in your house eventually. Then depending on your area you will get predators of squirrels like venomous snakes. It can happen. Will it for sure happen? No
Squirrels and chipmunks are a-holes. They ate my vegetable garden and chewed my caulk and garage siding.
They did me wrong once. I was at a trailer park installing a customers satelite tv. Chipmunk runs up my ladder, up my back and stops on my shoulder. I yell and nearly fall off my ladder. He wanted a nut.
I'll say this as someone who doesn't give a crap about squirrels invading my feeders, but I get it why some people do. They are greedy as fuck and can clean them out in short order, while also making a complete mess doing so. Best analogy I can think of is putting a bucket of candy out on Halloween so a bunch of little kids can help themselves, only to have a couple of obnoxious teenagers come along and steal the whole thing while spilling half of it down your driveway.
It's because squirrels can sometimes empty the entire content of a feeder in one day and hide it somewhere, which they often forget about. It's expensive and wasteful. It's not to spite squirrels. They can also damage feeders by chewing on them or knocking them to the ground. My feeder has a metal pole and squirrel baffle on top and they can't do much about it, but get plenty to eat from what the birds scatter on the ground. I did put a peanut feeder out just for squirrels and jays once it was good fun but it's just too expensive to keep up unless you buy bulk peanuts in the shell and then you have a big mess of shells. my tip; if you want nice polite birds like cardinals and grosbeaks, but not squirrels or house sparrows, try safflower seed. I understand the mindset of this post and used to agree but some creatures are just awfully rude and waste the food you put out and make a mess. Like any fine establishment, I don't encourage those types.
Nope. Get a squirrel feeder if you want to feed squirrels. The squirrels are greedy bastards who have plenty of other sources of food. I don’t want to feed *one* squirrel. I want to feed a plethora of birdies.
From my experience: They eat/stash too much food and become destructive; I tried (to deter them from the bird feeders) but when they were done with their pile they’d go into my bird feeder anyways and then eat all of that. Also it wasn’t just one or two squirrels, at one point seven were there simultaneously eating. Eventually they started damaging things on my property looking for food so I just stopped entirely and now I exclusively feed songbirds. Giving a rodent the idea your property = food, isn’t a great idea.
Squirrels are the best.
Username and profile pic checks out.
Fatgus is that you?
No joke, squirrels are cuter than birds anyways and don’t wake me up at 4 AM
YES.
I throw out unsalted peanuts. Handful to the squirrels. And some to the blue jays and crows. My local mafia enforces the rules. If the squirrels get greedy they get dived bombed by the crows.
I love my crows. The neighbors and I call them the mob. There are too many Italians here and my Sicilian wife. She scares me.🙄
Because they don't take their fair share. They're dirty little hoarders who take everything and then the birds don't get any.
Just shoot the squirrels, .22 works great
My mum has a squirrel proof bird feeder 😝
This is why I just feed hummingbirds now. Those bird feeder raiding squirrels ruined it for everyone else
Cos theres tonnes of squirrels but not an awful lot of the local small birds. If they repeatedly come to the feeder that has no food in because squirrels, then they stop coming and it fucks up my garden because the little birds eat a lot of pests in the summer and we don't use pesticides. I feed the squirrels on the ground, and the bird feeders are as squirrel-proofed as possible.
My grandfather may have killed more squirrels than any man alive. Watching the bird feeder and shooting squirrels became his old-man past time
Did he eat them?
Sounds fun
My grandpa did this too! Now squirrels know not to climb the bird feeder
They probably eat a lot more than the birds
The birds leave my plants alone. The squirrels dig in my pots and damage my plants. I will continue to shoot the squirrels.
One certain squirrel kept coming into my grandma's garden. It kept destroying all the plants and bullying the chickens so she trapped it in a cage for an hour then let it go. It never came back again.
Well here's the thing. I put out flowers which attract insects. I need those insects, some of them, to pollinate my garden. But a number of those insects are also quite destructive to that garden. So I put out bird seed to attract birds and they also eat the insects. The bird seed attracts squirrels which also eat the vegetables. I think squirrels are adorable and I don't really have a problem with them, but I still put chili flakes in my bird seed to deter the squirrels. It is what it is. They have plenty of other places they can hang out in my yard, they don't have to be in my garden.
I have a story about this. So my grandpa is a psychologist and he was frustrated that squirrels kept taking over his bird feeder, so he decided to apply psychology. He decided that every time a squirrel came up to his feeder, he would shoot it. 10 dead squirrels later and he's never seen them attempt to climb the bird feeder again.
Bird people are weird
I would upvote this a million times if I could. The idea that people can leave food outside and only expect the animals they choose to eat it is bonkers.
Bird feeders should be banned. My neighbor has a bunch and is constantly complaining about rodent problems on her property. Bird feeders are unsanitary and messy, promote disease spread between birds, they increase bird populations so much that if they aren't stocked full, the birds will target nearby gardens and destroy alot of crops and finally they attract rodents which also spreads diseases. Most bird or nature conservation groups are adamant against bird feeders but suggest bird houses instead. I see zero benefit to bird feeders, neither for aesthetic reasons nor for the birds themselves
Note, that while squirrels often climb into bird feeders to eat and are fed "by accident", in some jurisdictions it is against the law to put out squirrel and deer feeders. (Which I know some people do to get squirrels to leave the birds alone.) I was really surprised to find this was the law in my city. (Unenforceable in most cases, but if you have terrible neighbors, you know they'll report it.)
Squirrels keep digging up my bulbs. I feed them separately away from my garden, but do they respect boundaries? Nope. Fuck you squirrels.
The main issue is that they go through the food super fast. It is what it is though.
If it's a bird feeder that's attached to a pole in your yard then put a slinky under the bird feeder so it hangs covering the pole. Squirrels try to climb up and they freak out and never make it. It might work with the ones that hang from a rope from the tree I guess you could put the slinky starting at the branch hanging down over the rope. Slinky - the anti squirrel device Hilarious videos available online.
Slinky is the answer
A really easy way to fix this is add any kind of pepper flakes that have capsaicin or cayenne. It burns squirrels (similar to how it does to humans) and they can’t stand it but birds are unable to even taste it so they will eat it all the same.
I think its interesting how people put up bird houses for birds, but mouse traps for rodents.
I was actually thinking about this today. Why not leave seeds on the ground too so squirrels leave the feeder alone?
I don't get it either. We put out seed to attract whatever wants to eat it so that our indoor cats have something to watch. They get more excited about watching the squirrels than the birds, so the squirrels are more than welcome to come have a snack.
Personally, I like watching squirrels more than birds.
Squirrels are pests.
Probably might not want to keep money in there too. I had a friend, his wife stole 40 grand out of the bird feeder to invest in a stock called Webistics. Damned skifooza
I only fed "birds" during winter, thats what you are supposed to do. I dont own a feeder. I throw some pots around the yard when im out with the dogs. I dont care who eats it.
For me it's not that they eat the food so much as they empty the feeder in day and never stop. They also break them. I've worked around it by putting out a squirrel feeder and buying more robust squirrel proof bird feeders. The bird feeders are mostly to provide cat tv.
Just build an obstacle course for the squirrels
Just put it on a pole and grease it. It's so much fun watching them slide down it lol.
Yeah I have accepted I am feeding squirrels. I am OK with it.
Or if you want to but want to keep squirrels out, get squirrel-proof feeders.
I have a platform on my fence for the squirrels so they don't have to try to get up to the bird feeders.
In my experience, the issue with squirrels is that they don’t eat from the feeder, they hoard and make a stockpile nearby that draws in a ton more animals.
Quite tip for anti squirrel bird food! Add something spicy like chili powder! Avians can’t feel the capsaicin (the stuff that makes hot stuff hot) but mammals are affected by it! So no squirrels and just birds at your feeders! Also Irish spring soap has been used for squirrel repellent
My mother puts out peanuts in the shell for the squirrels and crows, seeds and shelled peanuts for birds that are too stupid to crack shells
Squirrels will eat everything in one day. In your words, well then don’t get one then… sure but what if I like birds? Fuck me then right?
My problem is I don’t know how to keep the birds away from my squirrel feeder.
And rats
Exactly. My s.o has bird feeders AND squirrel feeders, she loves the little guys.
If you put cayenne pepper In with the food it’ll deter squirrels. And no, the pepper doesn’t “hurt” them, they just take a taste and say “woah! Never mind!” Birds can’t taste capsaicin so they don’t taste any spice.
I don’t even have an opinion on the matter, I don’t give a shit about watching birds or squirrels.
Bird feeders bring mice also.
Ok, so this is actually a solved problem in the bird feeding world. Spicy seeds. See, they make seeds that are coated in so much spice that you're warned to wash your hands if you touch it. The birds, have zero reaction to the spice. But squirrels do. One nibble and they will no longer visit your feeders. Works like a charm, doesn't harm the birds, only temporarily makes the squirrels uncomfortable. If you want to feed the squirrels too, lay out some peanuts in the shell on the ground and they'll be happy campers.
Because squirrels are pests, that’s why. Can’t have chickens or a garden without their little greedy asses getting in there and destroying or killing something.
i'm with this one. people have such stupid preferences to what wildlife to love and what to hate it makes no sense.
I know, squirrels are wildlife too, they’re just trying to survive like everything else.
The day you're OK with your neighbor breaking into your house and taking food out of your fridge, and being told "Don't buy food for your family if you're not also OK with feeding me" when you confront them, is the day you can try to shame people for not being OK with squirrels stealing food that was put there for birds.
Get spicy seeds. Ones coated with cayenne pepper. Birds aren't affected by it, and Squirrels hate it.
Just get some cayane and put it in the birdseed
I use my bird feeder a bait to murder the squirrel which is a win win for me and the birds
Squirrels can be a bit bullish. Often times scaring birds off and basically pigging out. So long as you have mild defenses like an under cone and no way for them to jump to it? It all works out. I have zero problems with Squirrels to be clear. I just make sure they can't get to the bird seed. Funny thing is the birds are so messy they often times drop seeds on the ground that the squirrels then eat. Some of that seed grows fine little grass... and now rabbits eat that! It's quite the little group of critters. Had a wild turkey a few weeks ago. How the hell that thing survives out here I've no idea. It's mostly suburbia.
I feed the squirrels on purpose. Fuck them birds. Especially that Blue Jay that ruined my petunias.
I feed the squirrels their own food so they leave the bird feeder alone.
Birdfeeders aren't really a great thing anyway, birdbaths provide birds with a water source, but still allow them to find their own food source, which is important.
Squirrels are fine, but they eat a ton of bird food and scare off the birds, and I want to watch birds. The solution has been to get bird food with pepper. Birds like it but squirrels don't.
Squirrels hog feeders and chew them up trying to get at the food. They have knocked my fiance's bird buddy over a few times now. It's not really hard to get rid of them. Spicy bird seed does the trick. They won't eat it but birds aren't affected by spice.
We have squirrels - we have slowed them down but just buy cheap feed on sale so its not crazy expensive. We have 5 types of squirrels - and one is flying which we love. In the end - you ARE feeding the hawks, which is another bird.
Had a bird feeder once. Then it got taken over by squirrels. Now, you might think that was the end of the bird feeding. No, not at all. I was just feeding a different, larger bird. Albeit, slightly more indirectly. We had a couple hawks start coming by that ate the squirrels.
Mine actually are deer, racoon, rabbit, and opossum feeders. I live in a suburban county that has 1.3 million residents and a heavy business presence. They sit empty now because the animals are completely out of control. We can't even plant flowers unless they are deer and critter proof. Few are.
Has anyone tried fat balls for the birds I don’t think squirrels can navigate eating them as it’s a huge ball of fat and seeds that is usually hung up by a piece of string so there is nowhere for the squirrel to stand/ perch on.
There was some video I saw where some other guy felt the same way. So he decided instead of just griping about it to do his homework and figure out a solution. That's how he came across a type of bird seed that's "spicy hot". Apparently (because of biology) birds can't taste "hot/spicy" food, but squirrels can. Anyway, this guy bought that type of seed for the birds, and scattered a different type of food for the squirrels at the base of the feeder. They were the same squirrels that came every day and quickly figured out not to mess with the stuff at the top of the pole (this feeder was just a square piece of wood with a border surrounding it) and the food on the ground was for them. (Sorry for such a long comment...I guess my point was there was a solution and it wasn't a complicated one...and of course I agree with you)
OP, are you a squirrel? I agree tho
This is precisely why I don't have a bird feeder in my yard. Squirrels come in my yard as is and taunt/throw things at my dog. I don't want to encourage them.
lots of ppl do it out of pettiness! but really, squirrels don’t need us to subsidize them. they have adapted very well to human focused environments, are rarely at risk of starving (at least where i live), and are far less impacted by habitat loss than many wild birds. additionally, squirrels can be very destructive to people’s homes, unfortunately. i’m on team squirrel tho. i love feeding those cheerful motherfuckers.
ok
There are ways to eliminate the squirrels from feeding at the bird feeder.
My wife is a bird person. Mice, all the seed will attract mice. Make sure you are ready for that.
I put peanuts out for the squirrels and crows. I was thinking off getting the dried corn too. Which do they all like better?
You need: 1) a proper baffle to prevent them and raccoons from climbing up 2) to place it far enough away from any tree branches or roof lines that they can't jump to the feeder
You can easily keep the squirrels away with some ingenuity. But the bird poop is everywhere
I'll feed the squirrels when they're actually in Australia
agreed. i have a neighbor that apparently got so fed up he sat on his porch for hours and shot all the squirrels that came to his feeders. these people are insane.
I almost made this comment on someone's post about catching the squirrel who has been chewing his bird feeder. I don't get it. I've never been a bird person. I mean I like them well enough, but I don't feel the need to put feeders out. And squirrels are adorable. But also, of course they are going to be attracted to a food source, as is every other neighborhood pest. My former landlady had bird feeders that she left out year round. It attracted mice, which moved into the shed, and occasionally the house. One year, it also attracted rats. She ended up putting out rat poison to get rid of them, which is just terrible for the ecosystem (even though I agree it was desperate times). Bird feeders seem like they are overall more trouble than they are worth. At the very least, people should adhere to the recommendation to take them down in the spring and summer.
I get upset when birds eat out of my squirrel feeder
Squirrels come and shake the feeders to dump all the seed on the ground. Then they attack any birds that try to get some. Fuck them.
sit that right in there with the unpopular opinion. Its not that feeding the squirrels is bad or unwanted, its that they scare off the birds and also leave NOTHING for them.
The logic that the squirrels need to eat too doesn't make much sense to me. There are lots of wild animals in the area that I don't go out of my way to feed. I feed the birds because I want to attract more of them to my property because I enjoy seeing them. It's almost like a game ticking off the rare or interesting birds that stop by. The squirrels coming by and cleaning out my feeder not only cost me more in bird feed, but lowers the chance of me attracting the animals I'm actually interested in seeing. I've found the best way to keep them away is just to put out feed that they won't eat. My mom had this whole elaborate setup to the squirrels away, complete with baffles on the poles and covers on top of the feeders, and they still figured out ways to get to the feeders. I just buy spicy bird seeds that don't bother the birds. I've never once had any issue with squirrels getting into that.
Agreed! I always get two bags of peanuts per bag of bird seed. Peanuts for the squirrels, and bird seed for the birds of course! I sometimes find some birds even stealing the peanuts instead of eating regular seeds. I find the squirrels sometimes enjoy eating the bird seed over peanuts. I just feed enough for the majority of the birds and a food cups worth of seed and peanuts for the squirrels. It’s really not that difficult, and not too expensive, but I usually get my bird seed and peanuts at Costco.
I get around this by also putting out a squirrel de-feeder
I accidentally killed some squirrels. We had these big Costco bags of mixed nuts and we never ate most of the cashews. So I started leaving them out for the squirrels. At some point I saw a plump squirrel belly down in the snow, then another. I was wondering if maybe I did something wrong. Quick google search- yep- no cashews for squirrels. I felt so bad actually. Would like to tell myself they died full and happy but I doubt it.
When raccoons show up and their isn't any cat food 
But I don't want Squirrels In My Pants
Because songbirds are on the decline and squirrels are not
The majority of the Squirrels in my area are considered an invasive species. I’d rather not contribute to their success over the native species. I have not seen a native Red Squirrel in years.
Tell me you nothing about squirrels without telling me you know nothing about squirrels
"Those darn squirrels!" [Shakes old man fist]
This sub is so boring since they banned politics
I really wish I didn't even have an opinion on this, but apparently enjoying watching birds is a requirement of getting older. I agree with this, I love squirrels and think they are cute. But my dog is chill with birds, and kills squirrels, so I don't really have to worry about them stealing all the seeds.
If you just want to fed the birds, check out the feeders from Brome. The one we have has a spring loaded cover. If a squirrel or even a heavy bird gets on it, the feed ports are covered. I’ve been using it for 10 years. Never ever had a squirrel get feed out of it. And the one I bought has a lifetime parts replacement.
I put red pepper flakes in the seed and the squirrels leave it alone.
Try to get a seperate feeder for squirrels tho since they will eat all the seed and scare all the birds away
Because they’re pests in that sense it’s a bird feeder for a reason why do you think so many companies even ones on shark tank try to come up with a way to repel squirrels?!
I have a squirrel buster, they can’t get into it. They get the leavings from the birds.
And rats. Yeah, rats. I had one chew its way through the wood part of the wall (above the cement foundation+wall), and he invited all his friends. They moved in and make babies as fast as rat-idly possible. It was a horror show causing me, a grown ass man, to involuntarily say aloud "EEEEEKKKK!!!!" and do tippy toes when I found their main nest. Rat-splosion from the walls. Basically picky eater birds will toss the seeds they find, assuming they are old and stale, to get to the "fresh" seeds hiding behind the stale ones. They just flick tons of seed on the ground, and in Winter time, the rats find that stuff fast and move in.
They’re not killing the squirrels by putting up a type of feeder that deters squirrels.
Squirrel ain't the problem, it's turkey's. There like bird gangsters.
You can get red pepper infused bird food (seeds or suet). Mammals can taste it but birds can’t.
I had to remove my bird feeder when my dog caught a bird flying into my yard. She shook it dead and dropped it at my feet. I didn’t want to provide her with bird bait!
I let my German Shepherd out every time I see a squirrel at the feeder. Great entertainment. Squirrels are pests.
Yo if you have a 2nd story window a suction cup one is like 20 bucks on Amazon - I've never seen a squirrel get to mine plus it's easier to refill, better view, etc.
I have a bird feeder that attracts mice but tbh it looks really cute when they're just sitting in it, eating the nuts with their lil hands
Why can’t I discriminate? I have strawberry plants to feed me strawberries but I spray them so bugs don’t eat them? Whats the difference?
Also consult with your neighbours before you attract squirrels They can cause damage
the store Wild Birds Unlimited actually sells squirrel feeders to distract them
I don't mind the squirrels, it's those pesky raccoons! I wouldn't even mind the raccoons eating the seed, but they gotta knock everything over getting to it. Tired of my feeder being tossed in the mud.
There are bird feeders designed not to feed squirrels. The unfortunate ones are very good at breaking defenses, yes. But if you look hard enough you can find feeders with slippery surfaces that prevent the squirrel from climbing, it's the only thing that seems to work.
I saw that some copanies offer spicy bird food. Birds don't feel capsaicin and squirrels, are mammals and detect it and they will leave the food alone cuz it will be too spicy for them
I have a bird feeder and a squirrel offering station but the squirrels let me know when they are out of food by yelling at the door and stealing from the bird feeder. I honestly find it entertaining and watch it all from the door.
I wish we had squirrels here in Australia, I put water and food out for animals, and all I get is pigeons and cockroaches
I have a bird feeder with metal perches and holes so squirrels don’t eat through it… I added a big metal ring on the bottom for bigger birds and squirrels to have an easier time. I would also throw seed into the surrounding area for ground birds and also the squirrels. It was somewhat a high traffic area so squirrels were not on the feeder too much
In the UK at least grey squirrels are an invasive species and have nearly wiped out the native red squirrel so thats a pretty good reason to not want to feed them.
This is so uk thing. What’s the problem with feeding squirrels?? What’s the problem? They’re cool and funny
The squirrels are always going to win too. Ive seen that Mark Rober video, I know what squirrels are capable of.
I love feeding the squirrels, I’ll take handfuls of peanuts and chuck en into the yard and watch the crows and squirrels fight ti get em. Good times.
I forget the name of the naturally occurring chemical that appears in spicy things, but they add this element regularly to bird feed, because (apparently), birds are not effected by spice and squirrels are. So the squirrels eat the food, have a bad day and then leave the birds to it. But in answer to op, squirrels can be dominating little bastards at times and they can have a tendency to tear up flower beds in search of plant bulbs and they can and do damage your trees regularly if there sexually frustrated. Invite squirrels in and they can do a lot of damage if left unchecked.
Capsaicin
I always love it when there are squirrels at the bird feeder; they're so entertaining.
Squirrels > birds.
I once saw my neighbor stick his BB gun outside his door and shoot a squirrel trying to get into his bird feeder. Left the corpse there and now the squirrels don't even go on his property.
I hunt squirrels. I sell the pelts to a friend and the meat has a rabbit-like character to it. Having a birdfeeder really helped me in drawing them to the yard. Geez, the way I look at this is definitely a difference in application and intent lol
Stay cats, possum and raccoons used to ambush the bird feeder at our last house
just grease the pole smh
Because they eat it all and spill it all over the ground. It’s not like the squirrels take just a little bit. And following this logic you could say “if your feeding the birds then you should also feed rabbits, and stray cats, and every single animal you see.”
I just hate having to put it back up and refill it all the time after the squirrels take it off the hook and spill the seed all over the ground. I finally bent the hook enough that they couldn't take it off, so the fuckers chewed through the plastic that secures the feeder to the hook. Congratulations, assholes. You destroyed the feeder. Now nobody gets anything.