a question for those who feed wild birds

[Bertha Venation]

Chucky (squirrels) has been eating our suet. We begrudge him the seeds he eats, but damn it, we can't keep a suet block out for a single day!

Right now the suet hangs from a long arm pole that's attached to the deck. That damned Chucky shimmies up the pole (which is at a 45-degree angle) and ravages the suet.

Squirrel-proof suet cages aren't an option, as our red-bellied woodpeckers are too big to fit inside them.

Got any ideas? I've thought of a baffle, but don't know how to find one or put it onto the pole. (I'm not very crafty.)

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Just a thought...

How about a take on the Elizabethan collar baffle? Fashion one around the pole from a large piece of flat plastic and make it wide so "Chucky" can't scurry over; and, to add to his challenge, grease it with something non-toxic, like baby oil.

Or what about two 2-liter soda bottle? Run the pipe through the mouth and out the bottom. Put a washer at the bottom of last bottle, to keep it from sliding down the pole. Grease the bottles with mineral oil. That might work.

[XemaSab]

2. Do you make your own suet?

The other day someone in teh longue suggested mixing ground pepper into birdseed to keep the squirrels away.

The birds can't taste it, but the squirrels hate it.