Glenna Rose wrote:

Forget bird feeders with them around. For the most part, there is no way
of keeping the squirrels out of the feeders. For those who want to feed
the birds, I suggest the method I have found successful. I have a gazebo
bird feeder which is fastened to the top of a 6-foot length of 4-inch pvc
pipe. I've chosen black (sewer pipe) because black blends in better with

I've had pretty good luck with my two bird feeders by putting up a
metal baffle so they can't climb up the post, and of course keeping them
far enough away from jumping off points. The platform feeder that
is mounted on a 4X4 post was squirrel free for a couple of years,
but a bigger nusiance showed up. My wife came almost face-to-face
with a racoon sitting in that feeder one day. The baffle hadn't
stopped him, but cladding the post for a couple of feet under
the baffle with aluminum flashing seems to have worked. I also
enlarged the baffle at the same time. The smaller feeder is on a
1/2 inch galvanized pipe, which squirrles can climb (I found out)
but the tilting baffle on there has been working well for a couple
of years now. The squirrels can have what the birds knock out
onto the ground, and the cats keep them from getting overconfident,
though I did watch one taunting a cat as they faced each other on
the top rail of the wooden privacy fence.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.