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Wildlife Garden

Squirrels Eating Orioles Grape Jelly

18 years ago

I have one of those grape jelly feeders for the orioles, but as soon as I fill it up the squirrels eat the jelly. I have it hanging from a tree branch with a 3' metal hook. What can I do to prevent the nasty critters from eating the jelly? Since I have many bird feeders in my yard, I get a lot of squirrels on a daily basis. Please help.

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Comments (5)

FurryCritterFan
18 years ago
Do the squirrels have other natural food sources in your yard? Nut trees, berries, maple seeds, etc.? Gosh, I can't read the for-birds-only sign/s people post when they generously set out food. Squirrels and birds must love having you in their yard, Send us a digital image if you can.
jillmcm
18 years ago
I have the same problem, I would just suggest making sure that you hang the feeder fromm a baffled pole, 8-10' from anything they can jump from. Either that or resign yourself to going through lots of cheap jelly, which is what I'm doing :)
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We are that way with birds too. Lovely and really cute pics of them eating jelly. I will show DH tonight. He will get a real charge out of it. The Baltimore Oriole is just gorgeous. I haven't seen them in years. I buy birdseed with dehydrated cherries in the mix. It is a good all-around mix for many species. I know the Cardinals rob my cherry trees every year. I am lucky if I have enough to make a few pints of preserves. The Blue Jays do too and they peck our peaches and apples. I just cut out the pecks and eat them anyway. I haven't seen the Cardinals go after anything except the cherries. Anyway, I love your wonderful anecdotal stories and photos. ~Annie
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my feeder is identical but is from songbird esentials. the orioles and tanagers and grosbeaks still use the lid on a platform first but if it is empty or busy they use the jar feeder. this time of year i have enough birds that they are busy on both feeders. grape is by far the favorite but they do eat apricot or berry or strawberry jams also.
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The orioles that pass through here, if given the choice of nectar, orange, and grape jelly, almost always choose the jelly. Only the first oriole this season ate a small amount of orange when the jelly trays were empty. The only problem is I don't get many orioles(8 total in 7 weeks) and it doesn't take them long to eat the jelly. I've had one oriole for the last week so he must be nesting in the area(I haven't seen a female so maybe she's sitting on eggs all day). However, he only visits my feeder for about ten seconds a few times a day. The catbirds, on the other hand, spend MUCH more time at the feeder eating jelly. I have seen them less in recent days as they have shifted to some other foods like serviceberries.
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i have four nesting pairs of orioles on open woods and old pastures surrounding me. they come off and on all day to my garden area and flowers and necter feeders and fruit tray and jelly dishes and a bowl with dried mealworms soaked till plump. the individual birds each have their own likes and favorites. they all love jelly but some grape and some strawberry and some apricot. some i only see on the necter feeders. i put out watermelon rinds with pulp left on them when we cut a melon and some love to eat the watermelon. they all pick insects off garden plants and there are native shrubs with berrys or fruit on them that some eat on. when the sunflowers plants start to flower on put on heads i see them catching insect.one female eats from a pan on a cooler just outside of the kitchen window and picks out the raisens and fruit bits from the seed mix.
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darbygirl
18 years ago
I don't know what one can do about the jelly situation but last fall I bought the best bird feeder that I have ever had and not a single squirrel has bothered it - the answer to all the many years of squirrel problems that I have had. I will try to explain what it looks like. I hang it from a wire hook. It is made of metal or tin which doesn't rust and if you can imagine a fat hour glass, that would be similar to what it looks like. It has a tin top which unclips for filling it and the hourglass shape is made of wire so that the birds can cling to it and peck the seeds out of it. There is also a wire ring around the bottom for birds to sit on while they eat. The one thing that I learned by mistake - when the corn in your seed mix settles to the bottom, don't empty it out because it is a "buffer" that keeps the smaller seed from running out of the feeder. As the birds eat, some seed falls to the ground and the mourning doves are busy eating that since they aren't usual bird feeder eaters. I also have an occasional squirrel that eats off of the ground as well as a chipmunk but they are fun to watch also. I will look to see if I can find the name of this wonderful invention. It is super and plan to purchase another one.
alberto1444
18 years ago

Guy,
Add some hot crushed red pepper or cayenne chile powder to the jelly. Birds are immune to capsicum(pepper)or find a better location, contraption.Good luck.

ALberto1444
HU-177353810
2 years ago
How about .22 caliber pellet rifle??

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