dont get a bird feeder if you're not also okay with feeding squirrels, amirite?

I had a bird feeder that got taken over by squirrels very quickly. So I started giving the squirrels their own pieces of bread and nuts and such. Everyone was happy. Birds ate, squirrels ate, I watched like a goblin from my window. And then it clicked with them that the Person Who Feeds is right on the other side of that giant window. And they would try to claw open the screen to get at me/bread. So now no one gets fed.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

For a second my weak ass reading comprehension skills read "Birds ate squirrels".

by Consistent_Book 1 week ago

Having bird feeders is the quickest way to achieve unwanted pests. Chipmunks, mice, rats, squirrels, woodpeckers. It's really a bummer because I love to see all of the mentioned animals…. But yeah if you don't have pests, a feeder is just inviting them in.

by Ok-Patient 1 week ago

The raccoon season has started, so the birds have to forage for themselves until they go back to sleep. My cats keep the small critters away, now.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Pest? Sigh .. I love all of those except nice and rats lol

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Not when they get in your attic and walls.

by Ok-Patient 1 week ago

Yeah right? Miss me with the mice and rats, but I love my woodpeckers and chipmunks. And my squirrels convene every morning for a coffee and a chat. There's like 9 of them between mine and my neighbors feeders

by Electronic-Ask4441 1 week ago

Woodpeckers can be a problem if you have metal objects. Every once in a while, you'll get an oddball that'll serenade you at 5 am, with a drum solo.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Or wood siding.

by Ok-Patient 1 week ago

you became the animal in the other side of the window

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My squirrels start chewing through my outdoor plastic resin box I kept the birdseed in. Now I have 3 feeders and just try and keep them filled all the time.

by bryana00 1 week ago

So how do you get squirrels out of your yard? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait and the squirrels would come for the coconut and... they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the squirrels, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one... they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat coconut anymore. Now, they only eat squirrel. You have changed their nature. The two survivors.

by zuladietrich 1 week ago

Your watching too much 007

by Marcelina13 1 week ago

Ok sir

by zuladietrich 1 week ago

Grandma goes hard

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Sounds like my cats in the morning. The MOMENT my alarm goes off, it's all 3 cats. MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW. One of them likes to nip me, and like... idk, claw under me gently like she's trying to get me up? Then she'll bite me and go for my phone. GET UP AMD FEED ME

by Anonymous 1 week ago

An old neighbour of mine, typically old "feed the birds" kinda guy used to complain constantly about squirrels. Finally got annoyed and bought a trap for the squirrels. The trap killed a bird. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when he told me.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

If he was a confidently good shot, he could kill them with a BB gun.

by Potential-Low 1 week ago

If he is a psycho....

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Exactly.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

His name? Ronald Reagan

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yeah a .22 is so much more humane....

by rempelchaya 1 week ago

This was how I solved my issue lol. Also, .22 bullets are more expensive.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Tree rats

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Shut up I'd save a squirrel over a person who says this kind of thing.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I mean I love squrils up that's basically what they amount to, they are tree dwelling rodents that are indeed similar to rats

by rempelchaya 1 week ago

A true definition of irony.

by Edgar30 1 week ago

We put Vaseline on the poles of our bird feeders. Works perfect and isn't toxic. Otherwise squirrels will eat all of our seed in 1 day, and bird seed is expensive.

by ConsiderationDue 1 week ago

Lol I've done that too. It was hilarious watching them slide down the pole. We got sick of reapplying Vaseline though, so now we use slinkies.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Ditto. I ended up building a small house for the squirrels that I regularly refill with peanuts after awhile.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Same, I mix it with Mad Dog 357. You can buy spicy suet and seed too, they don't seem to like much.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This is exactly why I took my bird feeder down. I just got one as a house warming gift, filled it up, it was gone like 6 hours later.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I put out a feeder specifically for squirrels and fill it with nuts. I love them. I don't understand why so many people hate them either. They haven't done any damage to my property or anything.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Well squirrels have the audacity to gnaw a hole through your attic to set a nest there.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yep, anyone who's had a squirrel take up residence knows exactly why they need to go.

by ArmKey9305 1 week ago

Oh no, How DARE other creatures want to LIVE.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They can live... just not with me, find your own home lol

by rempelchaya 1 week ago

Cool, I'm sure CNN wants to buy your story and air it....

by rempelchaya 1 week ago

You are calling them invaders when YOUR HOUSE was built where these animals lived....

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Is it either paying rent, or a fluffy puppy? If neither, it doesn't get to live in my house

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Your house was built where THEY lived. You don''t own Earth buddy

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Cool well I hope you keep your door wide open and encourage wild animals to roam throughout your house since you likewise don't own Earth either

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I definitely don't kill animals that show up, no. And I certainly Don't consider them invaders

by Anonymous 1 week ago

How many squirrels and birds are in your living room at the moment?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Personally, it's because squirrels knock my plants over and sometimes bite chunks out of stuff. The birds throw seeds everywhere and will eat tiny plants, but they generally leave bigger stuff alone. Also the squirrels will eat all the food in a day if they can get to it, birds will make it last like a week.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I gave up planting tulips. One year I planted a bunch, went inside and saw a squirrel digging them up.

by Select_Software 1 week ago

I tried two years in a row to plant tulips and had the same problem. They also ate the heck out of the vegetables in my mom's garden lol. They're super cute but they really made cohabitation difficult at times. They knocked my mom's 10 year old hummingbird feeder off the Shepards hook and broke it too 😢

by Devenbrekke 1 week ago

Not yet. The thing that can happen is more squirrels will come. Then more. Then they start nesting. It could be in your house eventually. Then depending on your area you will get predators of squirrels like venomous snakes. It can happen. Will it for sure happen? No

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Sounds like free food to me

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Squirrels and chipmunks are a-holes. They ate my vegetable garden and chewed my caulk and garage siding.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Same! I love "my" squirrels! I have a raised garden bed that I don't really plant anything in. The squirrels LOVE to use it to bury their peanuts. It's cute seeing their faces covered in dirt as they try to cram as many as they can into the little holes they dug. Plus, the squirrels are my favorite part of the morning. I love seeing them waiting patiently by my kitchen window or my back door, eager to get their breakfast. :>

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Nope. Get a squirrel feeder if you want to feed squirrels. The squirrels are greedy bastards who have plenty of other sources of food. I don't want to feed one squirrel. I want to feed a plethora of birdies.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Thistle grows some of the most gorgeous grass though!

by Halvorsonjaeden 1 week ago

I love Bull thistle. Too bad it's invasive where I live

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Squirrels are the best.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Fatgus is that you?

by Current_Beautiful473 1 week ago

Username and profile pic checks out.

by Mysterious-Cress-358 1 week ago

No joke, squirrels are cuter than birds anyways and don't wake me up at 4 AM

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My grandfather may have killed more squirrels than any man alive. Watching the bird feeder and shooting squirrels became his old-man past time

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Did he eat them?

by Mundane-Ocelot-8554 1 week ago

Sounds fun

by AstronomerIcy 1 week ago

My grandpa did this too! Now squirrels know not to climb the bird feeder

by Anonymous 1 week ago

The birds leave my plants alone. The squirrels dig in my pots and damage my plants. I will continue to shoot the squirrels.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

One certain squirrel kept coming into my grandma's garden. It kept destroying all the plants and bullying the chickens so she trapped it in a cage for an hour then let it go. It never came back again.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They probably eat a lot more than the birds

by Regular_Shoe_6564 1 week ago

My mum has a squirrel proof bird feeder 😝

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I throw out unsalted peanuts. Handful to the squirrels. And some to the blue jays and crows. My local mafia enforces the rules. If the squirrels get greedy they get dived bombed by the crows.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I love my crows. The neighbors and I call them the mob. There are too many Italians here and my Sicilian wife. She scares me.🙄

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This is why I just feed hummingbirds now. Those bird feeder raiding squirrels ruined it for everyone else

by gloverlouie 1 week ago

Note, that while squirrels often climb into bird feeders to eat and are fed "by accident", in some jurisdictions it is against the law to put out squirrel and deer feeders. (Which I know some people do to get squirrels to leave the birds alone.) I was really surprised to find this was the law in my city. (Unenforceable in most cases, but if you have terrible neighbors, you know they'll report it.)

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Same here with the bulbs.

by Select_Software 1 week ago

The main issue is that they go through the food super fast. It is what it is though.

by george96 1 week ago

If it's a bird feeder that's attached to a pole in your yard then put a slinky under the bird feeder so it hangs covering the pole. Squirrels try to climb up and they freak out and never make it. It might work with the ones that hang from a rope from the tree I guess you could put the slinky starting at the branch hanging down over the rope. Slinky - the anti squirrel device Hilarious videos available online.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Slinky is the answer

by Kooky_Paramedic3629 1 week ago

I feed squirrels and birds equally. Scatter nuts/seeds on the ground and that keeps them off the feeder. Those buds are cuties

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Completely agree, squirrels are awesome. It's just like don't buy a dildo if you're not okay with your bf using it

by BluebirdMiserable 1 week ago

Squirrels are pests.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Hater.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Doesn't make me wrong!

by Anonymous 1 week ago

How? Or why?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

They damage roofs, they damage siding, they damage trees, they scare away native birds, they damage electrical wiring, they damage gardens.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Oh okay I see. I've yet to own my own place & live in the south so I've always wondered why my family hates having squirrels outside. I've only ever seen them as cute harmless yard ornaments 😭

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I live in the Midwest and I have spent literally thousands and thousands of dollars because of squirrels. The siding on my house, the roof on my shed, and two lawnmowers lost to the little bastards. They absorb pellets on my property at any opportunity.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Ok... You got me curious. How did they muck up two lawnmowers?

by Complex_Shallot_5371 1 week ago

They carry fleas and are a major source of transmission of fleas to household dogs.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

One of my best friends has a little picnic table with bird seed set up for the squirrels in her backyard. She knows them all by name and hand feeds some of them.

by InternetShot 1 week ago

Probably might not want to keep money in there too. I had a friend, his wife stole 40 grand out of the bird feeder to invest in a stock called Webistics. Damned skifooza

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I only fed "birds" during winter, thats what you are supposed to do. I dont own a feeder. I throw some pots around the yard when im out with the dogs. I dont care who eats it.

by No-Attitude-1049 1 week ago

And lots of luck keeping them out, anyways. I've seen them come ten feet down a wire to get to the bird feeder. I wouldn't dream of shooting them unless I was going to eat them, and they eat the intact seeds from the ground that the birds drop which is fine.

by Apprehensive-Main707 1 week ago

We have a family of squirrels living in the tree by the bird feeder. I have a BUNCH of pecans left over from a couple years ago. The squirrels get a handful of pecans and a pile of sunflower seeds every time I feed the birds. My cats really enjoy watching the squirrels and birds. The rodents are much more entertaining!

by Fearless_Sorbet379 1 week ago

My cat would go on a killing spree if I did that. We don't have squirrels in my area, though. The closest thing is mongooses, which are as pestilential as squirrels can be. Because nobody can get anything right, mongooses were purposely introduced to deal with the rat problem. Trouble is, they forgot that mongooses are active during the day and rats at night.

by Mundane-Ocelot-8554 1 week ago

Did I say something wrong? Weird.

by Mundane-Ocelot-8554 1 week ago

Well here's the thing. I put out flowers which attract insects. I need those insects, some of them, to pollinate my garden. But a number of those insects are also quite destructive to that garden. So I put out bird seed to attract birds and they also eat the insects. The bird seed attracts squirrels which also eat the vegetables. I think squirrels are adorable and I don't really have a problem with them, but I still put chili flakes in my bird seed to deter the squirrels. It is what it is. They have plenty of other places they can hang out in my yard, they don't have to be in my garden.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Just build an obstacle course for the squirrels

by Helgarodriguez 1 week ago

Just put it on a pole and grease it. It's so much fun watching them slide down it lol.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Yeah I have accepted I am feeding squirrels. I am OK with it.

by Ekiehn 1 week ago

Or if you want to but want to keep squirrels out, get squirrel-proof feeders.

by Majestic_Analysis 1 week ago

I have a platform on my fence for the squirrels so they don't have to try to get up to the bird feeders.

by thad89 1 week ago

In my experience, the issue with squirrels is that they don't eat from the feeder, they hoard and make a stockpile nearby that draws in a ton more animals.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Quite tip for anti squirrel bird food! Add something spicy like chili powder! Avians can't feel the capsaicin (the stuff that makes hot stuff hot) but mammals are affected by it! So no squirrels and just birds at your feeders! Also Irish spring soap has been used for squirrel repellent

by Signal_Chard_2460 1 week ago

My mother puts out peanuts in the shell for the squirrels and crows, seeds and shelled peanuts for birds that are too stupid to crack shells

by Anonymous 1 week ago

My problem is I don't know how to keep the birds away from my squirrel feeder.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

And rats

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Exactly. My s.o has bird feeders AND squirrel feeders, she loves the little guys.

by cameron19 1 week ago

If you put cayenne pepper In with the food it'll deter squirrels. And no, the pepper doesn't "hurt" them, they just take a taste and say "woah! Never mind!" Birds can't taste capsaicin so they don't taste any spice.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Bird feeders bring mice also.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Ok, so this is actually a solved problem in the bird feeding world. Spicy seeds. See, they make seeds that are coated in so much spice that you're warned to wash your hands if you touch it. The birds, have zero reaction to the spice. But squirrels do. One nibble and they will no longer visit your feeders. Works like a charm, doesn't harm the birds, only temporarily makes the squirrels uncomfortable. If you want to feed the squirrels too, lay out some peanuts in the shell on the ground and they'll be happy campers.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Because squirrels are pests, that's why. Can't have chickens or a garden without their little greedy asses getting in there and destroying or killing something.

by Funny-Quantity 1 week ago

I have a story about this. So my grandpa is a psychologist and he was frustrated that squirrels kept taking over his bird feeder, so he decided to apply psychology. He decided that every time a squirrel came up to his feeder, he would shoot it. 10 dead squirrels later and he's never seen them attempt to climb the bird feeder again.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

i'm with this one. people have such stupid preferences to what wildlife to love and what to hate it makes no sense.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I know, squirrels are wildlife too, they're just trying to survive like everything else.

by Hopecrist 1 week ago

The day you're OK with your neighbor breaking into your house and taking food out of your fridge, and being told "Don't buy food for your family if you're not also OK with feeding me" when you confront them, is the day you can try to shame people for not being OK with squirrels stealing food that was put there for birds.

by larue28 1 week ago

Get spicy seeds. Ones coated with cayenne pepper. Birds aren't affected by it, and Squirrels hate it.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Just get some cayane and put it in the birdseed

by Malindaterry 1 week ago

I use my bird feeder a bait to murder the squirrel which is a win win for me and the birds

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I feed the squirrels their own food so they leave the bird feeder alone.

by Special_Mixture 1 week ago

Birdfeeders aren't really a great thing anyway, birdbaths provide birds with a water source, but still allow them to find their own food source, which is important.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Squirrels are fine, but they eat a ton of bird food and scare off the birds, and I want to watch birds. The solution has been to get bird food with pepper. Birds like it but squirrels don't.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Squirrels hog feeders and chew them up trying to get at the food. They have knocked my fiance's bird buddy over a few times now. It's not really hard to get rid of them. Spicy bird seed does the trick. They won't eat it but birds aren't affected by spice.

by nestor51 1 week ago

We have squirrels - we have slowed them down but just buy cheap feed on sale so its not crazy expensive. We have 5 types of squirrels - and one is flying which we love. In the end - you ARE feeding the hawks, which is another bird.

by Severe-Volume 1 week ago

Had a bird feeder once. Then it got taken over by squirrels. Now, you might think that was the end of the bird feeding. No, not at all. I was just feeding a different, larger bird. Albeit, slightly more indirectly. We had a couple hawks start coming by that ate the squirrels.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Squirrels are no problem. Bought the Anti Squirrel Spinner feeder. Works well and very entertaining. They never give up!

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Has anyone tried fat balls for the birds I don't think squirrels can navigate eating them as it's a huge ball of fat and seeds that is usually hung up by a piece of string so there is nowhere for the squirrel to stand/ perch on.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

OP, are you a squirrel? I agree tho

by Anonymous 1 week ago

This is precisely why I don't have a bird feeder in my yard. Squirrels come in my yard as is and taunt/throw things at my dog. I don't want to encourage them.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Bird people are weird

by Anonymous 1 week ago

ok

by florenciodooley 1 week ago

There are ways to eliminate the squirrels from feeding at the bird feeder.

by Ok_Act9251 1 week ago

My wife is a bird person. Mice, all the seed will attract mice. Make sure you are ready for that.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I put peanuts out for the squirrels and crows. I was thinking off getting the dried corn too. Which do they all like better?

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You need: 1) a proper baffle to prevent them and raccoons from climbing up 2) to place it far enough away from any tree branches or roof lines that they can't jump to the feeder

by cassiejohnston 1 week ago

You can easily keep the squirrels away with some ingenuity. But the bird poop is everywhere

by Kirkparisian 1 week ago

I'll feed the squirrels when they're actually in Australia

by mackenzierodrig 1 week ago

agreed. i have a neighbor that apparently got so fed up he sat on his porch for hours and shot all the squirrels that came to his feeders. these people are insane.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

Because they don't take their fair share. They're dirty little hoarders who take everything and then the birds don't get any.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I get upset when birds eat out of my squirrel feeder

by Anonymous 1 week ago

sit that right in there with the unpopular opinion. Its not that feeding the squirrels is bad or unwanted, its that they scare off the birds and also leave NOTHING for them.

by kiara70 1 week ago

Agreed! I always get two bags of peanuts per bag of bird seed. Peanuts for the squirrels, and bird seed for the birds of course! I sometimes find some birds even stealing the peanuts instead of eating regular seeds. I find the squirrels sometimes enjoy eating the bird seed over peanuts. I just feed enough for the majority of the birds and a food cups worth of seed and peanuts for the squirrels. It's really not that difficult, and not too expensive, but I usually get my bird seed and peanuts at Costco.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I get around this by also putting out a squirrel de-feeder

by veumdejon 1 week ago

I accidentally killed some squirrels. We had these big Costco bags of mixed nuts and we never ate most of the cashews. So I started leaving them out for the squirrels. At some point I saw a plump squirrel belly down in the snow, then another. I was wondering if maybe I did something wrong. Quick google search- yep- no cashews for squirrels. I felt so bad actually. Would like to tell myself they died full and happy but I doubt it.

by Narrow_Abroad 1 week ago

But I don't want Squirrels In My Pants

by Antique-Percentage 1 week ago

Because songbirds are on the decline and squirrels are not

by Anonymous 1 week ago

The majority of the Squirrels in my area are considered an invasive species. I'd rather not contribute to their success over the native species. I have not seen a native Red Squirrel in years.

by SameProfessor4889 1 week ago

Tell me you nothing about squirrels without telling me you know nothing about squirrels

by Ok-Yam 1 week ago

"Those darn squirrels!" [Shakes old man fist]

by Classic-Cry 1 week ago

Yeah I'd rather feed squirrels than birds. At least squirrels don't poop on ur car and tweet f me out ur window loudly when ur trying to nap. The most annoying thing a squirrel does is dash at my car trying to get hit but happens rarely

by Haunting_Step_3700 1 week ago

What kind of garbage logic is this? What next, you will be telling people to not remove weeds because that's discrimination?? Jeez

by Dependent_Stay 1 week ago

. . . and cats.

by Active_Cable_1656 1 week ago

I with you. I only recently got into 'birding' (I guess), and had no idea that bird people were so anti-squirrel. I see how it's frustrating that they're rough on feeders, but, I mean... they're squirrels. And, you laid out a buffet in your front yard for them to see. Having actual animosity toward them is unhinged.

by Evening-Management 1 week ago

lol bird feeders are not hard to defend against squirrels. You're more intelligent than a garden rodent. Maybe

by Sea-Parsnip 1 week ago

Shoot them

by AstronomerIcy 1 week ago

or we could just not feed wildlife do people realize that birds will survive without the bird feeder?

by Rohanmonte 1 week ago

It's not animal rescue. It attracts them to the yard, and people like looking at birds.

by Anonymous 1 week ago

You're not wrong but bears are not a concern for many

by Anonymous 1 week ago

I live 5 mins from a city, along a main road. I didn't think bears would be a concern for me either 😂

by Rohanmonte 1 week ago