Is letting squirrels rampage your bird feeder good or bad?

They're tearing up my bird feeder but they look hungry. What should I do?Is letting squirrels rampage your bird feeder good or bad?
I'll probably get blasted for this answer ~ but one year, I had neighbor ';feel sorry'; for the poor starving squirrels and put out buckets of food for them. Within 2 years, my yard was overrun with about 300 squirrels, some who had managed to chew their way into the soffits and in my attic where they went after the insulation, the roof trusses, and even the electrical wire.





Apparently, squirrels have this built-in instinct for propagation and in lean years, have fewer litters and fewer babies. When there is a hefty supply of food, they can have up to 3 litters in a year and lots of babies who are ready to breed after 4 months.





Squirrels are remarkably resourceful, and will happily graze on dried berries, tender twigs, roots, spilled bird seed, and other things in the yard. They are after the bird seed because it's easy pickins' and I certainly would not encourage them to rampage the feeder. You may have to hang these instead from the eaves or on a shepherd's hook feeder, or even invest in a squirrel-proof feeder.Is letting squirrels rampage your bird feeder good or bad?
Make the bird feeder squirrel proof, then feed them separately. I have my bird feeders on tall shepards hooks about 7' in the air. I grease the poles with vaseline, and the squirrels cannot climb up to get the seeds. Absolutely hysterical to watch them slide down the pole the first few times they try. They get it after a while and leave them alone. I made separate feeders for the squirrels on the other side of the yard. To get the shepard's hooks up higher, I drove pipes in the ground then put the hooks on them.
I agree squirrels should be fed at their own feeder. Remember, squirrels like to hoard food. So the more food you put out the more they will hoard. I like to feed whole corn on the cob staked out for the squirrels. It slows the little guys down so that the feed lasts longer. I don't like to use any petroleum products where animals can get into it. There is no way for the animals to get it off themselves without licking it. Read the back of any petroleum product and it will tell you it is for external use only. I like to use the shepard's hooks and put a metal slinky (the child's toy) on the pole. Make sure it is metal, the plastic they will chew through. Tape or wire the slinky high enough so that it touches the ground, but has enough spring that the squirrel's weight sinks more and more of the slinky to the ground when they try and climb the pole. It frustrates the squirrel and does not harm them.
I agree with the other person--feed them separately. They like corn, where most birds do not eat corn. Local feed stores or places that sell bird seed sell stuff for squirrels. They make bird feeders, too, that close when something heavy like a squirrel gets on them, virtually closing off the food supply to the squirrels.





I also toss apple cores and stale bread and such into the yard. Ground feeding birds and squirrels love that sort of thing, and within hours it is completely gone. Hope that helps.
Get the Squirrel Go Round.


I am watching one now and they are great and will slack off the bird feeder.





http://www.heritagefarms.biz/squirrelfee鈥?/a>