Keep Squirrels Out Of Your Bird Feeder With One Dollar Tree Kitchen Essential

Hanging a quality, seed-filled bird feeder is a great way to attract a multitude of interesting and beautiful birds to your yard. One of the sneaky downsides to bird feeders, though, is that they also attract squirrels. Squirrels getting into feeders is a common and frustrating problem. They are incredibly agile and clever, often outsmarting basic barriers and bird feeders that are marketed as squirrel-proof. Not only do they scare away the birds, but they also tend to eat large amounts of birdseed, leaving little behind for the intended visitors. Whether you buy run-of-the-mill birdseed or the premium stuff, it can be frustrating and expensive when almost none of it goes to the birds. Squirrels can also be dangerous to birds, sometimes raiding nests, eating eggs, and even eating chicks. These are all great reasons to discourage squirrels from visiting by making it hard for them to access food sources. A simple way to keep squirrels away from your feeder comes to you straight from Dollar Tree. This hack involves installing a Dollar Tree Plastic Serving Bowl onto the pole underneath your bird feeder.

This simple and inexpensive measure prevents the squirrels from climbing up and feasting on your birdseed. If you are mounting below your feeder, all you need for this squirrel baffle hack, in addition to a large plastic serving bowl, is a drill and some duct tape or a shaft collar. To mount it above your feeder, you'll need a drill and possibly an eye hook.

If your bird feeder is hanging on a pole and can only be accessed by squirrels from the ground, drill a hole in the middle of the bowl's bottom that measures the diameter of the pole. Then, thread the pole through the hole so that it's hanging upside down. Finally, secure it in place by attaching a shaft collar or duct tape to the inside of the bowl. To prevent squirrels from getting to your feeder from above, you can either drill a hole and thread the bowl through the feeder's hanging cable or hang it above the feeder using an eye hook.

This hack works great with the Dollar Tree plastic serving bowls previously mentioned, but other Dollar Tree items, like the Flexible Plastic Storage Tub or Plastic Bucket with Handles, will work as well. Of course, there is no need to get your plastic serving bowl from Dollar Tree. If you have a plastic mixing bowl that's stained or not suitable for kitchen use or a large, lidless Tupperware-style container, that will work as well. As long as there is no heavily textured surface or lips for squirrels to grab onto and climb over, it could be a suitable container. While this is one of the best ways to keep squirrels out of your bird feeders in many cases, it's also important to note that if your feeder is located where a squirrel can bypass your bowl(s) and jump straight to it, like near a fence or in a tree with adjacent branches, the hack likely won't work.