Tips on Hanging Your Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
Many squirrel-proof bird feeders are hanging feeders. People don’t often realize that even the best squirrel-proof bird feeder must be hung properly to be effective.The average gray squirrel is a very clever fellow. Not only can he jump 10-12 feet horizontally and 4-5 feet straight up, he can shimmy along almost anything. I had to chuckle when a read a squirrel-proof bird feeder review in which the reviewer complained that a squirrel chewed the feeder’s plastic baffle (it was the Opus Copper Triple Tube Feeder). The funny thing is, he blamed himself for hanging it with a rope that wasn’t thick enough.
In addition to being extremely agile, the squirrel is also very clever. If he is dumped, flipped, or otherwise denied access to bird seed, he’ll try his best to figure out why and get around it.
With that said, here are a couple of basic points to keep in mind.
1. If your feeder is the kind that has a built-in dome baffle on top, make sure you hang it at least 10-12 feet away from anything the squirrel can launch himself from horizontally. This means the trunk of a tree, a deck railing, a hammock stand, etc. Also make sure that you hang it at least 4-5 feet off the ground, or else he’ll just jump up to it.
2. If your feeder is the kind that uses the squirrel’s weight to deny access, such as the Droll Yankee Flipper or Bouncer and you are hanging it from a pole, keep in mind that the squirrel might be smart enough to climb part way up the pole and reach the feeder with his paws. That way he never actually puts his weight on it. To get around this, find a pole that has long arms which hold the feeders out of the squirrel’s reach. You can also get a squirrel pole baffle, but if you do this, you really don’t need a squirrel-proof bird feeder at all; any hanging feeder will do.
