Squirrels and birdseed, a fun revenge

Jessie

Jessie

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Of course, everyone who has bird feeders have squirrels.
I know they have to eat also, but they clean out the feeder or spill it all on the ground when eating.
I started spiking my bird seed with cayenne pepper. The birds are not affected by it but the squirrels most definatley are.
I'll spritz my sunflower feeders with water and sprinkle the pepper on it for a good coating.
The squirrels will get on it....for a minute, and then run straight to the bird bath for several minutes of drinking.
They don't come back much afterwards either.
I hope I've finally found a less than lethal means of discouraging them.
 
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Wife bought me a Flipper. Only got to see one squirrel try it. Flipped him off twice. Went up the pole a third time, looked at it and went back down.
 
We had a family of squirrels nesting in the space between the siding and the firebox of the fireplace. I couldn't get to them, and I really didn't want to hurt them, but I had to get rid of them. I finally broke down and got a live trap. It took a while to lean how to properly set the trap, and my wife got a lot of laughs when the squirrels got the bait, without tripping the trap.

Did you know that you cannot superglue pecans together, or to a piece of wood? I think it might be due to the oils in the shells. I finally used 21st century technology and used some small zip ties to tie them onto clothespins, and clipped the clothespin to the bait bar of the trap.

I told my wife that I could screw up a 1,000 times, but the squirrel only had to screw up once. Finally, success! I was able to capture daddy squirrel and his two daughters and relocate them far from our home. Unfortunately, mama squirrel was dumb enough to stay exposed on a tree limb long enough for her to fall prey to an air rifle.

Regards,

Dave
 
I usually don't mind the squirrels at out feeder but this winter they were getting out of hand. We were going through 5 gallons of sunflower seeds every other day. I got some live traps and started trapping and relocating them. After trapping 20 of them I didn't seem to be making any progress so I decided to start shooting them. I shot 20 more. I still have 1/2 dozen or so coming around but I can live with that.
 
arjay said:
I've used starter fluid (ether) to get them out of walls [emoji1]
suspended a bird feeder from a beam using a pulley and 30 lb test.Drives the buggers nuts trying to get to it lol
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]

The fishing line looks like a plan. I was gonna try braided steel wire. I've got a seed feeder and 3 suet feeders hanging from a tree about 30' from the house. Over the last 2 years using my Sheridan Silver streak .20, I may have inflicted a couple tree rats with non life threatening wounds. I have however killed the steel shed behind the tree. It must have 30 holes thru it. I used to hang feed corn from chains with springs in the chains for the squirrels but that just supplies them with a snack after they clean out the feeders.
Before I saw this post my next plan was to dig a hole below the feeder all the way to China. When the squirrel falls off the feeder into the hole we'll see how he likes life under communist rule.
 
Jessie said:
I started spiking my bird seed with cayenne pepper. The birds are not affected by it...
Click to expand...

You are wrong there. A bird's digestive system isn't nearly as robust as a squirrel's (rodent). People who train Peregrine falcons (much bigger than your ordinary backyard bird) learned the hard way that ordinary hamburger meat prepared with spices that humans like will kill a falcon...just not immediately. And falcons are meat eaters.

You see squirrels head for the bird bath. You also probably see the birds fly off after eating. What you don't see is what happens to them hours or days after eating your peppered bird seed. A lot of them probably die.

You should stop doing that.

(Now we'll maybe have ten people come along and say how they see birds eat so and so with no ill effects. Good for them.)
 
It's a loosing battle, but still fun to play.

IMG_00801_zpsdq26bpbp.jpg
 
I stretched a wire between two trees 20' apart and hung the feeder from that. On the wire is two pie plates like rat deflectors on a ship's hawser. A ferrule with nuts tightened down to the pie plate holds it in place but lets it rotate.

I still get a few on the feeder but most don't like to fall off the wire more than once or twice.

I also have a dog that patrols the back yard. She doesn't like squirrels.

Mostly the squirrels just pick up the seed that the birds leave on the ground. I'm OK with that.
 
Refugee Squirrels

This is a true story. But first, You need to know that Long Island, running east and west, is bordered on the north by Long Island Sound and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, Long Islanders are always referring to the North and South Shores as geographic markers.

I'm in my dentist's chair, on the North Shore, overlooking a bird feeder. I complimented my dentist on the attractive birds visiting the feeder. He then tells me he's plagued with squirrels raiding the feeder. He says he sets traps and when he catches a squirrel, he takes it with him approximately 25 miles to the South Shore, where he releases it unharmed.

About two years later, I'm attending a social on the South Shore with some fellow high school alumni. The subject of destructive squirrels comes up. One gent said he was at war with them. He said that he sets traps for squirrels and when he catches one, he uses it as an excuse to drive up to the North Shore to visit his mother, releasing the squirrel in the process.

The best part is, that my dentist and my former classmate, live close to the Meadowbrook Parkway, a major north-south route. I should have introduced there men to each other so that they could have met at mid-island and merely trade squirrels.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that these men just might have trapped and transported the very same squirrels!
 
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federali said:
This is a true story. But first, You need to know that Long Island, running east and west, is bordered on the north by Long Island Sound and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, Long Islanders are always referring to the North and South Shores as geographic markers.

I'm in my dentist's chair, on the North Shore, overlooking a bird feeder. I complimented my dentist on the attractive birds visiting the feeder. He then tells me he's plagued with squirrels raiding the feeder. He says he sets traps and when he catches a squirrel, he takes it with him approximately 25 miles to the South Shore, where he releases it unharmed.

About two years later, I'm attending a social on the South Shore with some fellow high school alumni. The subject of destructive squirrels comes up. One gent said he was at war with them. He said that he sets traps for squirrels and when he catches one, he uses it as an excuse to drive up to the North Shore to visit his mother, releasing the squirrel in the process.

The best part is, that my dentist and my former classmate, live close to the Meadowbrook Parkway, a major north-south route. I should have introduced there men to each other so that they could have met at mid-island and merely trade squirrels.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that these men just might have trapped and transported the very same squirrels!
Click to expand...

Now that's funny - I don't care who you are.

Relocated squirrels allegedly don't do well. But I would rather relocate a squirrel than needlessly kill it. The three I relocated I separated by several miles, and from three different directions.

Regards,

Dave
 
federali said:
This is a true story. But first, You need to know that Long Island, running east and west, is bordered on the north by Long Island Sound and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, Long Islanders are always referring to the North and South Shores as geographic markers.

I'm in my dentist's chair, on the North Shore, overlooking a bird feeder. I complimented my dentist on the attractive birds visiting the feeder. He then tells me he's plagued with squirrels raiding the feeder. He says he sets traps and when he catches a squirrel, he takes it with him approximately 25 miles to the South Shore, where he releases it unharmed.

About two years later, I'm attending a social on the South Shore with some fellow high school alumni. The subject of destructive squirrels comes up. One gent said he was at war with them. He said that he sets traps for squirrels and when he catches one, he uses it as an excuse to drive up to the North Shore to visit his mother, releasing the squirrel in the process.

The best part is, that my dentist and my former classmate, live close to the Meadowbrook Parkway, a major north-south route. I should have introduced there men to each other so that they could have met at mid-island and merely trade squirrels.

I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that these men just might have trapped and transported the very same squirrels!
Click to expand...

Great story
 
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