“Read this particularly if you hate squirrels:
I bought this for the squirrels, thinking the wood prop might help keep the feeder from spinning so much, and the larger grid would be easier for them. I hung it on my porch rail to discourage them hopping up to the suet I put up for birds. Mostly I am afraid they will one day knock one down and get injured. The prop does stabilize the feeder and seems to be a great solution.
Most squirrel hate is driven by marketing to get you to buy the much more expensive squirrel defeating feeders. They advertise squirrels as your and your bird's nemesis. Don't fall for that con. In reality, there is no member of wildlife that is more helpful to humans.
I know squirrels. I've studied them, rehabilitated them, learned their language and habits and most important to you, learned how clean, disease free and beneficial they are to humans. They are nature's arborists, grooming trees and feeding off everything that is harmful to them. Those clever little hands are designed to not only climb, but also to clean fungus, lichen, termites, and other parasites off of and out from under bark. And when you see them burying nuts, watch them. They don't bury to eat later. They are planting those nuts. How can you tell? They hold an acorn between stumpy thumbs, and rotate it with long and nimble fingers, sniffing it for freshness and viability, and to find the dorsal end, which they then chew off to stimulate germination. And then dig a hole and bury it.
For 30 years, I've fed them from the same bird and squirrel friendly feeders and never had a single incident where squirrels drove birds off. or hogged all the food. Nor do they destroy feeders unless you try to out-ummm-squirrel them. Did you know they fall right under primates on the evolutionary scale? they are advanced in intelligence, social skills and yes, ethics and empathy.
When I was given an orphaned squirrel to bottle feed, I went searching for information on them. It was no small feat. I discovered science overlooks common woodland animals and the only people who have studied squirrels are arborists. . Squirrels and opossum (your ground level equivalent of squirrels) are completely odorless. If you have an animal in your attic and can smell it or see their waste - those are not your problem animals - most likely it's mice or rats. If their territory is threatened and especially if they have babies, they will sometimes get into a house but rarely do damage.
So I reward mine by providing them with suet and bird seed, as well as non sugary cereals and other natural foods that have gotten pantry moths - things I'd be tossing out otherwise. If they don't eat them, they get moved to the other side of the house for my crows, who are too shy to share feeders, but love cereal, cat and dog food and peanuts.”
“This is a great feeder. I had a homemade wooden 2-cake suet feeder with a long tail prop but it was coming apart. So I bought 2 of these. We have LOTS of woodpeckers in the Ozarks. These very well designed and sturdy feeders are perfect! Triple A plus!”
