What are some suggestions to keep these damn squirrels from cleaning out the bird feeders? They have got to the point that I've watched a couple "camp out" for 10-15 minutes before I finally scared them off. I thought of getting one of those that spin if they really work.

Trap and release, or shoot them.

Our problem (we are in NC as well) was they they will empty a feeder in 5 minutes just to get to certain seeds, and doing so led to other ground vermin.

We trapped and released (about 5 miles away at a park) 10 squirrels, but they kept coming. I've shot a few, but damn they just don't learn. It got so bad a spiked a batch with hot red pepper, but they still made a mess. The neighbors stopped feeding the birds because the squirrels mess attracted rats to their back yard.

If a pellet gun is not an option, consider taking away the feeder for a few weeks.

Make them look elsewhere for their free shit.

That picture pretty much sums it up! Live in a townhome complex so shooting the little s.o.b.'s is out. I could tolerate them if they wouldn't eat so much and make it impossible for the birds to use the feeders. I may just have to take them down for a bit.

I think there was a thread on this, and someone suggested the Squirrel Tossing Feeder aka

Droll Yankee Flipper

Top 10 Squirrel Proof Feeders

Full disclosure: battling the squirrels has become as much of a hobby as feeding the birds. My wife's anti-squirrel gadgetry budget is almost equivalent to my-try-a-new-holster allowance.

My wife decided one year to feed the squirrels separately from the birds. She put peanuts in the shell out at a different spot in the yard, it sorta worked because they spent much of the day burying the ones they didn’t eat. However they knew which door she was coming out of and if they were hungry before she was ready they climbed up the screen door to let her know it was feeding time.
She also was followed by the little rodents as she walked our son to school. They actually started to scare her they were so obsessed. It took a long time for them to quit bothering her.

True story,I always feed them corn on the cob and shelled in a home made 4 inch pcv tube.
Hawks [3] moved in ,I quit feeding,to save their lives.
This year they moved into my tomatoes,no problem I thought till they got into the habit of being selective on the big tomatoes.
Back to feed store and back to feeding them corn.
If the hawks come back it is on them.

I have this Good Nature A18.

The A18 is a little spendy, but solves the issue permanently if shooting isn't an option. Bonus is that it gets mice and chipmunks as well. I leave the squirrels lay and the foxes or hawks come and get the bodies. Between the A18 and my pellet gun, I'm over 40 KIA so far. My tomatoes being decimated was the last stray for me.

do you have a welder?

Make 'em work for it?




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/hFZFjoX2cGg

No welder, but that spinning one looks interesting even if it's rather expensive.

no welder

as you look in to the yard where your feeders are located ,
is there a pole or tree on the lot lines ?

There's a big oak beside the building and a common wall behind the units where the feeders are. They are on a iron pole behind the patio and not really much space to relocate them at all so either take them down for a bit or look into that other feeder.

https://birdwatchinghq.com/squirrel-baffles/

bird feeder baffles are an easy fix

I use one and two liter bottles

I stretched a 40 ft. wire from one tree to another ,
at each end of the wire,
next to t he trees
I threaded 7 bottles on the wire.

then I hang 6 feeders on the wire.

no squirrel has ever gotten to any of the feeders.

they want nothing to do with the baffles, at all.

a cheap poll baffle would be
a rubber made trash can lid


the hardware store here gives them to me.

( people buy the cans w/o the lids.)

make a hole in the center , and push it down the pole , keep it 40 inches above the ground.

they won't be able to get around it , to the feed.

these lids also make great
roofs,

to keep the rain from spoiling the feed

keep in mind , that if the rats can jump from a wall or railing or tree , on to the feeder

then you have an additional problem.

they can always jump off,
you need to prevent them from jumping on

My roommate is suffering bad Covid-19 cabin fever and spends a lot of time watching the birds in the back yard. She's got 3 different feeders set up. The squirrels don't bother the feeders, but the birds kick a lot of seed down onto the ground and the squirrels love that shit. They also drive my dogs crazy. She complained about the squirrels. I told her to stop feeding them and they'd go elsewhere. Nope, not an option. Finally I got a couple Have-a-hart traps and baited them with peanut butter. So far we've trapped 5 squirrels and one rat and relocated them to a nice tree a few miles down the road.

I have a rimfire can waiting on ATF approval now. I REALLY wish that would happen soon so that I could send the rest of the squirrels (the ones smart enough to avoid the traps) to squirrel Valhalla.

there are ways to keep a lot of the seed from hitting the ground.

one or three of these made fit your particular application
https://www.google.com/search?...0QBA&biw=906&bih=607