We've tried almost everthing to keep squirrels out of our bird feeders. We distanced the feeders from trees to keep squirrels from jumping onto the feeders. But the squirrels still empty the feeders in record time. We found that they can climb every hangar or pole imaginable.
There's no stopping their grip on virtually any surface so we tried a "moving surface" to shake up their confidence a bit. We hung a Slinky® toy on the top of the pole and let it sag down. The squirrels find its movement unnerving and have not climbed the Slinky® protected pole.
We are now able to fill our feeders and let the birds empty them in their own time. We still scatter some seed on the ground. The birds and squirrels seem to share that without much conflict but the feeders are off limits.
Slinky® is available in toy stores and cost less than three dollars each.
This is our first summer with this and we wonder if the squirrels will learn to ignore it when it begins to rust. We'll keep you posted here.
