Rating

This is the best squirrel proof type of bird feeder there is – as far as I have been able to determine in several decades of trying to find such an article. I have owned many other types, including the Hertitage green metal monster weighted-perch feeders. I don’t know how stupid your squirrels are, but here they just hang by one foot from the hanger or the perch joint of the Heritage feeders and stick their heads into the slot, holding the feeder open with their stout necks while they gorge themselves. Poles don’t stop them. Greased poles don’t stop them. Silicone spray and WD-40 don’t stop them. They just keep working at it until they wear the stuff out.

This style of feeder, where the feeder itself is inside a substantial baffle, is the closest thing to squirrel proof I have found. I own several in different sizes. To successfully deter squirrels, look for these features: The baffle should be far enough from the tube or feeder that a squirrel absolutely cannot reach the feeder within. Ideally there should NOT be a tray on the bottom of the feeder. Spilled seed should be able to fall through to the ground for the ground feeding birds. If there is a tray, squirrels will just keep coming back for the seed they can reach near the edge, and so they will hang on the feeders preventing birds from coming.

Lately my squirrels have figured out how to chew the top of the plastic feed tube that extends above the baffle, just under the metal cap, until they open up the entire top of the feeder. If the manufacturers would fit a metal ring around the top of the feed tube, they could make this feeder even more squirrel-”proof”.

Anyone who succeeds in devising a truly squirrel proof platform or perch type feeder should be awarded some kind of Nobel Prize!