Dealing With Raccoons at Your Bird Feeders
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- Raccoons are cute animals but can be horrible to deal with at a bird feeder station. Here are some ways to keep them out or your feeders and make your bird feeding experience more enjoyable. Do you need a baffle? Can you hang from under your eave? We will discuss many options.
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Hot Sauce: tinyurl.com/32pz9myn
Hot Suet: tinyurl.com/ya6svnj3
Mark McKellar is a wildlife biologist with over 35 years of bird study experience. He has a degree in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from North Carolina State University and has worked for the Department of the Army, the Wildlife Departments of North Carolina and Missouri. He ran nature centers for many years in Missouri and Pennsylvania before buying the Backyard Bird Center in the Northland area of Kansas City. Mark has led hundreds of bird hikes both locally and abroad. He has taught classes about birds and other wildlife to groups of all ages and brings that knowledge to the customers of his retail business every day. More information about Mark at backyardbirdcenter.com/about-...
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:28 Racoon Baffles
03:25 Pyramiding
04:11 Baffles
05:09 Hanging
07:12 Dangers
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I had 4 raccoons in my back yard. I got a cheap cage trap from tractor supply and caught 3 and drove them 10 miles away and released them in the woods. The 4th one saw his buddies being trapped and I haven't seen him/her since. That was 4 months ago. All I have now is one opossum. Caught him/her twice in the cage but let him go in the back yard. He's not afraid to being trapped it seems. He is a very picky eater the only thing he likes is Apple Crush deer feed and marshmallows. I buy it just for him because he/she is such a nice opossum.
My hummingbird feeders are on my deck and too high for the squirrels, but they were constantly going after my regular bird feeders, which are on poles and Shepard hooks in the yard. So I bought a little wooden open feeder and stocked it with peanuts and other nuts, sunflower seeds, and sometimes dried fruits ... and I placed it just a few inches from the ground. The squirrels love it, and as long as I keep it stocked they don't even bother trying to get to the bird feeders anymore.... although I have seen the Cardinals and Bluejays at the squirrel feeder.
After years and years of battling squirrels and raccoons on my hummingbird feeders, and regular bird feeders, I discovered a simple solution to them. I have tried most of the things other folks do, slinkies, ballasts, metal skirts, metal sleeves over the poles, even electrics. I took a couple rollers out of a discarded treadmill, that spun freely on their bearings, with a 17mm axle inside. I fabbed a half inch thick aluminum bracket I could screw to the 4X4 post, secure one end of the axle in that bracket, and hang the feeder on the opposite end of the axle. The roller between the bracket and feeder will spin critters off it. Squirrels can jump that distance, but the feeder is "squirrel proof", it is spring loaded and closes up with anything greater than a bird's weight is on it. I am cautiously optimistic on this solution, as it has worked famously.... so far, both for the hummingbird feeder, and the bird feeder. But these guys are crafty little engineers. Time will tell. (I do have videos on how those rollers were mounted)
Can I have link to video?
two spaced matel baffels and 110v works wonders real good they will flip for you .
I'm surprised you didn't go into detail about the baffles. I have a 2 ft wobbling PVC baffle on my bird feeder pole. My brother set the feeders up and raccoons showed up. Woke up one morning to find the entire feeder pole on the ground. Need to secure that pole better. They obviously found the way to get around the baffle was knock the entire pole over.
There are a lot of baffles on the market and most of them are too small to keep raccoons from climbing over them. They need to be long enough that they can not reach over them. The best ones, we call them the "stove pipes", are the most effective.
@@MarksBackyardBirds I've had these 4" wobbling PVC baffles for years on nest boxes and they've done the job. However I do have interest in upgrading to the stovepipe. My brother needed to drive the bird feeder pole further into the ground. It was obviously way too loose.
I was not expecting to see the entire poll and feeder on the ground in the morning.
I had this exact issue last week as well. In the past, the little bandits, have dragged the entire feeder off into the woods for me to find months later. Taking mine down at night until I sort out a better solution.
@@phoenixspirit9530 I have a customer who started putting her hummingbird and oriole feeder in her gas grill at night instead of bringing them into the house. Works.
@@MarksBackyardBirds haha...I know me and I'd somehow manage to get my feeders melted. Ruining both the feeders and grill in the process. I bring them into my hallway and place in a Rubbermaid tote with a lid or put them in a metal trash can with a lid (bungee corded) on inside the out building. If I happen to forget about them, no danger. My raccoons are after the black oil sunflower seeds and apparently my strawberry and tomato plants. They haven't messed with the Oriole feeders or the hummingbird feeders ( yet).
Thanks for sharing the info. I recently started to notice something other than squirrels were are at my feeders. My suet block was removed from its cage and completely desolved over night. I also leave a large bowl of water out which was emptied by morning - that is unusual for the birds (and squirrels). The feeders were also shaken, as there were several seeds on the ground. The squirrels don't do that. So my assumption is it must be racoons.
You are correct. Raccoons are pretty much everywhere and they especially love suet.
Yes it is definitely raccoons and/or possums. I've been noticing the EXACT same issue, not only was suet block gone fast, but the cage was opened and they broke the chain for the holder! So I made sure I woke up and checked in the middle of the night last night, I caught several raccoons, and a possum between several checks. I even saw one raccoon yell at some other raccoons that he didn't feel like sharing with! I knew the squirrels couldn't eat THAT much!!
I don’t know how to explain the spot I have my bird feeder but it hangs in front of a window I can watch but there’s no ledge just straight wall and drop off where I can put a screw and hang it and it’s like 5 foot plus 5 for a small little thing like a raccoon if it really is that hungry and wants it.
Add to the list of things they can do : pull up a 5 foot length of rope carefully wrapping it around the branch to bring a tube feeder within reach 😆
Raccoons aren't good jumpers? 😂 These suckers are jumping over my 4 ft baffle! I wish i could send you a video of them doing it.
You never say never with wild animals. I would like to see that video.
Also heard hot sauce & cayenne pepper in birdseed keeps them away.
I know this is about bird feeders. Now PLEASE SHARE THIS ASAP. Contact an electrician with the guidance of wild life. Get an electrical wire installed around the entire roof. Not too high or too low. The raccoons get shocked and never come back. Every home owner needs to get this done. Germany does it. The raccoons don't make it across the roof. They will never make it in the attic.
how about hanging a feeder on a rop
It depends. I have seen where they pull the rope and feeder up into the tree. Or crawl out on a rope strung between two trees. Worth a try if it isn’t too much trouble to rig up.
@@MarksBackyardBirds thanks
@@CantKillMe Good luck!
Are raccoons dangerous? I've heard they Cary 3 types of parasites. And will attack, friends dog got in a fight with one, thankfully dog survived.
They certainly can be dangerous if cornered. They typically do not attack animals but when cornered by a dog, they can do some serious damage with their claws and teeth. They can carry rabies and distemper. I always turn the lights on and make noise to give them to run off if I’m going to let my dog out in the yard at night.
I wish you would have put yourself in the corner and enlarged the photos because they are hard to see
I have now been able to use a new filming program that allows me to do just that.