Droll Yankees Flipper

Want to deter squirrels from your wildlife feeders? Tired of squirrels eating you out of house and home, decimating your birdseed?

The following methods, in order of (arguably) most effective, are the best ways to deter squirrels.

1. Squirrel Eradication

If you're admirer of wildlife in any form, you may want to give this method of keeping squirrels away a pass.

Solve squirrel problems around the home by killing them humanely.

Hire an exterminator, or know your local laws. Use a method that doesn't endanger others (people or animals).

2. Inaccessible Food

Prevent squirrels from accessing food by using squirrel-deterring feeders or by careful feeder placement.

Careful Feeder Placement

If you can, locate the bird feeder eight feet (preferably ten feet) away from squirrel jump-points. These include not only the ground, tree limbs, and deck railings, but also windowsills, doorways, planters, and statues.

Squirrel-Deterring Feeders

Not every "squirrel-proof" feeder deters squirrels.

All are imperfect, but the best, in order, are feeders with weight-senstive mechanisms, feeders with a good baffle, or the right kind of caged feeder.

Weight-Sensitive Mechanism

Brome Squirrel Buster Plus

Feeders with weight sensitive mechanisms (usually hanging feeders) are sometimes motorized, sometimes not. You can adjust most to fine-tune the feeder to the weight of the squirrels you have.

Not all weight-sensitive mechanisms are the same. Wildlife fans reviewed the Brome Squirrel Buster Plus tube feeder well. They also liked the hopper feeder,
Homestead Super Stop A Squirrel.

Baffle-Protected

Pole and Baffle Set

Use a feeder with a good baffle placed correctly.

It can be tricky to find the right baffle and place the feeder and baffle where squirrels can't get to the feeder.

Caged Feeder

Use the right kind of caged feeder like the Duncraft Bird Sanctuary (although squirrels may shake the seed out anyways).

Even the best caged feeder may not prevent small or baby squirrels from accessing the feed unless placed far enough away from a jumping point.

3. Distasteful Food

Discourage squirrels providing food they, hopefully, will find distasteful and repellent.

• Squirrel Away, a concentrate repellent powder made from the spicy part of hot peppers, or other similar products may discourage squirrels and will not harm birds.
• Thistle seed (a.k.a. nyjer seed) seems to be less preferred by squirrels than most other wild birdseed. They will still eat it if extremely hungry, but it won't be gobbled like other birdseed.

Other Tips

While no perfect solution exists to rid your feeders of squirrels, please be aware:

• Do not trap and relocate the squirrel. Translocation is not humane.
• Do not place poison -- or anything a critter might eat that can kill it -- out for squirrels. Other critters will eat and die, and your squirrel may die somewhere you can't get to it.
• Animal scents, sound emitters, and other devices aren't very effective for very long.

See Also

See my other articles on protecting your plants or house from squirrels.

This article, much-updated, appeared in its original form on 11/15/07.