Squirrel Proof Your Birdfeeder

If you have a bird feeder at your house to attract birds, you probably have attracted some squirrels also. I love feeding and watching the birds, but the squirrels were scaring away the birds and eating most of the food. I needed to find a way to squirrel proof my bird feeder.

I love to attract birds to my yard, so this spring, my husband put up a bird feeder right outside one of our windows. This does attract many different birds to our house, which I love to take pictures of, but it also attracts the squirrels. I don’t really mind feeding the squirrels, but they chase of the birds and eat all their food. I was filling up the bird feeder everyday!

Our bird feeder first hung from a hook and small chain attached just under the overhang of our house. The squirrels would get up on the roof and manage to climb down the chain onto the feeder. We then moved the feeder closer to the house and away from the edge. The squirrels would actually get a run at the house and manage to run right up the wall and jump out onto the feeder. It’s amazing what little acrobats they are. So, that didn’t work either, but we did get a few laughs watching the squirrels.

We tried everything we could think of. We tried hanging the bird feeder as far out on a limb as possible. That didn’t bother the squirrels any, if they couldn’t walk that far out on the limb, they would actually jump from the tree trunk out to the bird feeder. I am amazed how agile they are. Of course, when they jump out onto the feeder, seeds go everywhere!

We tried different types of bird feeders. The wooden bird feeders didn’t work as squirrels can chew through wood like a little rat. We tried the plastic feeders that with smaller holes for the seed to fall through, that didn’t work either. Squirrels chew through the plastic like it isn’t even there, making larger holes they can stick their little hands through. I think we went through three bird feeders that year! The last bird feeder we bought hung from a wire instead of a small chain. The squirrels would just climb down the wire with no problem. I even sprayed the wire and the top of the bird feeder with cooking spray trying to make it too slippery for them. Now that was a show! The squirrels would slide down the wire and hit the top of the bird feeder and slide right off! We had many a good laugh over that, but what a sticky mess. Then I found out that the oil was not good for the squirrels or the birds, so I had to stop that.

I was getting desperate! I wanted a bird feeder close to the house, so I could really watch the birds, but I was getting tired of having to knock on the window to scare away the squirrels all the time. Then my ingenious husband came up with a great idea! We had recently changed out satellite service and had a small satellite dish that we weren’t using. The dish is about 16-18 inches around. He drilled a hole in the center of the dish and ran an S-hook through the hole. Then he welded it in place. (The welding isn’t really necessary, but he is a perfectionist.) Then he hung the small chain from the S-hook and hung the feeder from the chain. For the first attempt, he took the dish and attached it about two feet above the bird feeder.

It worked! The squirrels could climb down the wire, but when they hit the satellite dish, they couldn’t balance and would fall off. It only took a couple of times of them falling off before they wouldn’t try any longer. Only one problem here, when the wind blew, the bird feeder would swing around in a circle so wildly that it would sling bird food everywhere. To fix that problem, my husband moved the satellite dish further up the wire, closer to the branch it was hanging from. Now when the wind blows the bird feeder just sways slightly as it normally would. My squirrel problem was solved! Now I know not everyone is going to have a small satellite dish lying around, but even a sturdy aluminum pie plate would work.

Now life is as it should be. I have birds at my bird feeder and the squirrels are on the ground finding the bird seeds that the birds have dropped.

I hope my article has given you a good way to squirrel proof your birdfeeder and keep the birds on the feeder and squirrels off! 

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