I have one of the squirrel-proof feeders with a spring-loaded feeding
platform that can be set to close when a (heavy) squirrel gets on it. It is
quite effective, and it can be comical watching squirrels try to get around
it. However, chipmunks weigh about the same as cardinals, for instance. So
the spring can't be set to keep chipmunks out, and they are much more of a
problem than squirrels. They will keep coming, removing seeds, and taking
them away to bury them, until the feeder is empty. A baffle is about the
only way.

Steve

wrote in message ...
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.