Squirrels: Are they simply rats with higher PR? Be suggested that this isn’t secure studying materials for squirrel lovers, and even squirrel apologists. In my view, squirrels are worse than rats—smarter, extra devious, extra damaging. I’ve had them nest in my chimney, chew holes in my eaves to get into my partitions, and destroy a number of chook feeders. I even had one chew by means of a whole 4-by-2 pergola rafter to get at a suet block.
With the recognition of good chook feeders, it’s much more essential to be taught methods to maintain them out of your yard, lest they flip your funding right into a pile of chewed-up plastic bits. To make issues worse, when you stay on the West Coast like I do, you are prone to be coping with the Jap grey squirrel, which is a nonnative, invasive species that competes for sources with native species like Western grey squirrels. What’s a yard chook fanatic to do?
Fortunate for you, I have been feeding birds for nearly 25 years throughout three totally different states, and have been testing good feeders for the previous yr, combating near-daily battles with these furry neighborhood foes. I’ve tried all of it and came upon what works—and what does not—so you’ll be able to hold your sanity intact.
For extra birdy enterprise, take a look at our guides to the Greatest Good Hen Feeders, the Greatest Binoculars, and the Greatest Presents for Hen Lovers.
The Golden (5-7-9) Rule
First off, there’s a tried-and-true technique of foiling squirrels, and it is each free and innocent. Specialists discuss with it because the 5-7-9 Rule: Preserve your feeder no less than 5 toes off the bottom, 7 toes away from constructions like homes, bushes, or fences; and 9 toes away from something overhead that they might soar from, corresponding to a tree department or roof. This normally means placing your feeder on a pole with a baffle (I exploit the set above), or hanging it from a tall shepherd’s hook.
When you’re available in the market for a chook feeder, particularly a sensible feeder, it is crucial that it have the choice to hold or be pole-mounted, as a result of when you can solely mount it on a fence or a tree, you are primarily rolling out the welcome mat for squirrels. (All of the good feeders I like to recommend, together with Birdfy and Hen Buddy, embrace pole mounts.) If you wish to go the additional mile, you may as well grease your pole with Crisco, which does not final lengthy however is nice for an entertaining day or two.
Be aware that in case your good feeder does not have an connected photo voltaic panel to cost the battery, you possible will not be capable to mount it on the pole with the feeder with out some jury-rigging, so I like to recommend going for a mannequin with a built-in photo voltaic roof or no photo voltaic panel in any respect.
