my dad lives out in BFE, and he thinks the SPCA guy over the mountian is catching the nuisance squirrels and letting them loose in his back yard.

dad has a huge bird feeder arbor and stuff, picture windows, books and binoculars for bird watching.

but a squirrel can clean out one bird feeder an hour.

so even with over a half a dozen feeders, the squirrels keep them empty.

he had 3 squirrels out there this morning at a time, then another later on.

his dog is pretty sorry too, don't do much. my dog hates squirrels. she would NOT put up with that crap. is there any breed of dog that HATES squirrels?

what are options:
--motion detector sprinkler system?
--ultrasonic stuff?
--electric fence (cow type) and chicken wire?

anybody got ideas to save the little squirrels?

 

I heard of bird feed with pepper seeds mixed in. Tree rats seems to stay away from peppers.
I prefer the .22 pellet rifle method.......

MikeyB

 

There are feeders with spring loaded tops. If a squirrel lands on top of it, it closes off the feeder, 'til they are off of it.

 

As to dogs that hate squirrels Hybred Wolf with a large percent of wolf in it.Got a few here that will ruin a squirrels day.Pellet gun works as well wont scare the bird away either.

 

You could put a "Rat guard" on the pole that holds the bird feeder. Basically looks like the cone that goes around a dogs neck to prevent them from biting at their stiches (or to stop them from licking themselves ).

Ships use them on the mooring lines ... for the rats..... not to keep the sailors from biting at their stiches (or to stop them from licking themselves ).

Anyway ... if it was big enough, they wouldn't be able to climb past it and it would provide for some entertainment watching them try.

PISTOL

 

I like pistols idea from an animal rights perspective, but personally I would go the .22 pellet route for some good fun! That's how the air rifle manufacturers market them "for rodent and pest control". I believe, in this case, that the squirrels are pests and should be dealt with accordingly! Oh, if your dad is up for it squirrels make good snacks too and done properly can be skinned and ready to be cooked in under 5 minutes!

 

I string my feeders on a rope between trees, then I slide two pieces of copper tubing over the rope and then add two pieces of pvc over the copper with two washers at both ends with the feeders in the middle and when the squirrels climb across they usually get the front two claws on the pvc , but when those back two get on they go for a ride it will spin them off before they know what hits them and it is as fun to watch them as the birds , I mess with them as some feeders are on poles and I use vaselin with cayenne pepper mixed in etc.etc. The rope and pipe is by far the funniest but they learn fast and give up and it is boring till the next newbie comes along. Goodluck,,Rick

 

this thing is cool, if you find the site of the company that makes it, see if they have a video, i seen it in a store this spring, funny as h*ll

http://www.northwestnatureshop.com/d...uards/216.html

 

A friend just told me that if the feeder is mounted on a pole, a 5 gal. water cooler jug with the bottom cut out of it and fitted over the pole below the feeder will keep them from climbing up (they end up inside the open part of the jug and can't climb around it). A variation off of the "rat guard" that Pistol mentioned. It won't work if there are trees close enough for them to jump to the feeder.

 

with all the dam gun nutz around my folks house Dad has resorted to leavin the rimfire in the closet and likes to trap them instead. nice, quiet, humane..... then he takes the trap and drops it in about a foot of water; lather rinse repeat. he catches about 6 tree rats a week.

 

I prefer the pellet gun approach. My experience has been that once you keep them off the bird feeder, they will move on to better things, such as the house. Blue Healers are great squirrel chasers. My dog Gus don't like no limb chickens.With the pellet gun and Gus, I have established a squirrel free zone around the house.

wk

 

he didn't want to kill the squirl and that kinda leave us gun nuts out. If you dont kill it, your torturing it with a gun.... maybe fire blanks at it..

 

Put some peanut butter on a balloon.

 

Red, wazzat do?

make a big pop & scare them to death?

guess you guys are right, they are rodents and killing them is only way to keep the birds fed.

it would be different if they did something valuable with the seeds,but they just bury them all and ain't no way they could eat them all, much less remember where they are

 

I guess we shouldn't fool with mother nature.

This topic brings back memories of a call years ago.

This elderly guy was so POed at the squirrels robbing the bird feeder. He had evidently tried several means, and they continued to raid it. He finally resorted to electrifying it with 110v/AC.
That apparently worked, and I don't know how many were zapped.

This worked until the day he forgot to unplug his set-up before filling the bird feeder. Yes, he ended up electrocuting himself, and fatally.

Guess the squirrels won this one.