Squirrels: Are they simply rats with higher PR? Be suggested that this isn’t secure studying materials for squirrel lovers, and even squirrel apologists. For my part, 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 hen feeders. I even had one chew via a complete 4-by-2 pergola rafter to get at a suet block.
With the recognition of sensible hen 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 reside on the West Coast like I do, you are more likely 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 hen fanatic to do?
Fortunate for you, I have been feeding birds for nearly 25 years throughout three completely different states, and have been testing sensible feeders for the previous 12 months, combating near-daily battles with these furry neighborhood foes. I’ve tried all of it and discovered what works—and what does not—so you possibly can maintain your sanity intact.
For extra birdy enterprise, take a look at our guides to the Finest Sensible Fowl Feeders, the Finest Binoculars, and the Finest Presents for Fowl Lovers.
The Golden (5-7-9) Rule
First off, there’s a tried-and-true methodology of foiling squirrels, and it is each free and innocent. Specialists seek advice from it because the 5-7-9 Rule: Preserve your feeder no less than 5 ft off the bottom, 7 ft away from constructions like homes, timber, or fences; and 9 ft away from something overhead that they might soar from, similar 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.
If you happen to’re out there for a hen 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 sensible feeders I like to recommend, together with Birdfy and Fowl Buddy, embrace pole mounts.) If you wish to go the additional mile, you too can grease your pole with Crisco, which does not final lengthy however is sweet for an entertaining day or two.
Word that in case your sensible feeder does not have an hooked up photo voltaic panel to cost the battery, you probably 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.