3/1/2024 0 Comments Long bird feeder poleAs long as it was fresh, growing and aromatic it worked perfectly. I had a patch of volunteer dill that took over smack in the middle of their route. I figured out what was keeping them out of our yard. This year I thought they finally packed up and moved on, but after the frost they were back. Most of the neighbors have their garbage can lids bungee'd but they search for those that forgot or any other opportunity. I have an industrial size bottle I bought at Sam's Club or Costco that I sprinkle on our rock mulch where racoons have a nightly route through the neighborhood on their garbage can raid or lunch route otherwise. The thing is rain or water otherwise will dilute it or wash it away eventually. :)Īs far as a repellant, no wild life that I know of will touch Tabasco Sauce. Trying to fight them is just a losing proposition, and a way to drive yourself crazy. I've learned to embrace them, and I feed them as well as the birds. The seed comes out of the tube feeder inside the globe, rolls along the bottom of the feeder, and into their open mouths. Now they hang on the bottom, and shake the globe. They used to just hang on long enough to realized they could not get into it, and drop off. Their latest trick is to run at an angle to climb the wall by our kitchen window, and leap to the globe bird feeder that is about 8 feet off the ground, and about a foot out from the wall. It was a simple gymnastic move to get onto the top of the pan and up to the feeders. In one week the squirrels learned to climb to the base of the pizza pan, and jump to the edge of it, hanging on with front paws. My previous baffle was an 18" pizza pan with a square hole. But I wouldn't doubt that some day they'll figure out a technique. In two years I've never had a squirrel get to the feeders. It has flanges to screw to the post, and has a square opening at the top that fits snugly to the post. It is basically a 6" diameter metal pipe, about 18" long, with a slight texture on the outside (it looks kind of like a black stovepipe). My current solution is a redwood 4X4 post used as the birdfeeder pole, and I found a squirrel baffle that fits the pole. Our squirrels could eventually shinny up slick Shepherds Hook to get to a feeder, which basically is a 1/2" diameter metal rod. I think you will find that trying to wax or oil a pole is an effort in futitlity. The squirrels, meanwhile, remain slowed down but undaunted. Oh well - wax paper and/or Mothers car wax for now. I thought for sure someone would come on with - here try this "brand X" - nothing more slippery on this great earth. Simple to reapply and yes quite effective on slides and sled runners. If they can't rest their hind feet they end up hanging all their weight off their front feet and that makes eating impossible. The objective is not to keep them from climbing the pole - they can jump right to the perch no problem - but rather to keep them from having a secure place to rest their hind feet as they try to balance without tripping the bar. HDPE would be laughed at by the squirrels as they dug their little talons in and besides the chrome finished sleeve will work well enough if I can get it more slippery. Never in my life have had access to an exhaust stack from a semi - so that's not a good option. Though I'm certain either of these on my face would be useful towards a future goal of becoming a hermit. PPS - I have raised the pole so that the feeder is out of reach of the turkeys. :rolleyes: I won't put out food and then kill a creature just because it wants to eat. PS - Don't suggest a 22 caliber or the like. MY QUESTION - can anyone recommend the very slickest of waxes or treatments I can apply to this pole? Maximum slick please - weatherproof if possible but I'm willing to reapply weekly if it works. Something was wrong but he wasn't patient enough to try to figure it out in the pouring rain. The gray tried a few times this morning but had to give up. I have used some Mothers car wax to make the chrome tube even slicker and that has promise. Up from 1/2" pipe to 3/4" pipe but with a much smoother finish. I found a chrome finished tube that nicely sleeved over the galvanized pipe. Tried vaseline and/or lithium but that was messy for me and for the squirrels too and did not have the desired result - the rest of the family has learned the same balancing act. It finally occurred to be that I needed to make the galvanized pole more slippery. One of these guys learned how to perfectly balance him/her self, with the hind feet on the pole and the fore feet between the perch and the feed tray, in order to feed contentedly, if not in complete comfort. Apparently they were developed from a better gene pool. This summer, after relocating about a dozen gray squirrels far off my property, 2 or 3 new grays have moved in. This has been a completely squirrel proof bird feeder for many years (though as you can see from the T Day appropriate photo below - not Turkey proof :))
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