Birds are completely fine with the suet cages...Larger birds like blue jays may have trouble, but they try sometimes.. It's convenient for little birds, as they can easily perch..My nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers are fine.In fact, my nuthatch prefers it over suet smeared on the bark of our tree.

The suet cages can also be handy to give out orange slices for the orioles, during the summer.I've even seen somebody use it as a peanut feeder.

Suet cakes containing chili pepper repel squirrels and don't bother the birds at all. C&S hot pepper suet cakes are widely available and there's a recipe if you prefer making your own suet.

Claire

well I think we may have to try both strategies. I should've been clearer on the suet cage though. I meant I've seen some cages that are larger, squirrel-proof. Like the one I'm adding a link to. There are also round ones. They're awfully big tho.

What I've read on other sites is that some birds are turned off by them. But I think I'll have to invest in one because we can't afford for the squirrels to eat cake after cake. And the next batch of cakes we buy, I'll look for some w/pepper, it really does repel them. We switched from sunflower to safflower years ago due to squirrels & now they want the suet too. Thanks for your advice claire & dante!

Here is a link that might be useful: squirrel-proof suet cage

I have one of the big round caged suet feeders. It is hardy too big. Squirrels will get into a feeder if they want to bad enough. Even with the big round one the squirrel will stuff his head in far enough to nibble on the corners of the suet. I expect to find a squirrel with his head stuck in there one day(or a bird that has bulked up so much on my seed that he no longer can fit through the bars :) ,well maybe not, but they are turning into little round butterballs).
The shepard's hook, being metal, is a little harder for the squirrels to hang on to, but seems to be no problem for them to climb.
I stuck a plastic plate over the top of the suet feeder to act as a baffle. The squirrels were hanging off the top of the feeder to get at the suet. This plate should prevent that, but I won't really know until the weather becomes so bad that their food sources are diminished and they become determined to get at the suet.
I was told that squirrels would't be interested in eating plain suet. I usually use one with seed or peanuts. I hope to try a feeder with just plain suet to see. Maybe that will also attract the pileated woopecker since he can't fit into the suet cage.

aurore, I'd love to come home one day & see a squirrel w/his head stuck in the outer cage! jk, don't want to harm wildlife, just want him out of the suet! We're using a plate-type baffle also, DH drilled a hole in a metal plate & put a screw through it. Works pretty well SO FAR.

And kendra2, yes, it's too expensive to feed squirrels suet. They do want it all. They've knocked down the suet feeder twice in the last week, and took the whole cake! Meanwhile there are nuthatches wandering around the feeder area, looking hungry :(

I had to look up stovepipe baffles, that looks like it would be a huge help, and work with the bishops hooks we use, assuming I get one that fits the diam. of the pole. Thanks for more good ideas.

jomuir,

The link below will take you to a page on the Sialis website which gives an excellent description of how to make the baffle (scroll down for instructions). I use the 8" stovepipe and hook it up as high as possible on the shepherds hook so nothing can jump over it to get up there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sialis baffle page

Hi all,
This sounds weird I know, but we have tried it and it seems to work. Take a jar of vaseline and add to it powdered cayenne pepper. Spread this on the pole of the sheppards hook. The squirrels don't seem to like the taste and also can't climb the pole. May need to re-
apply every few weeks or so. Entertaining also...

I put suet up in one of those metal cages and something took the whole cage. I never found it again.
You just need to put it on a pole that the squirrels can't climb or jump to.

The poor maligned squirrels. They're just getting food like the birds are. You just gotta outsmart them.

I don't have so much trouble with squirrels as with racoons. I'm sure their dens are decorated with those green suet cages-over the years I'd say I've lost 10 or so. I just take the suet in at night now. I feed BOSS, nyger, peanuts & cracked corn (or scratch feed)and suet-usually make it but sometimes buy it on sale. I have an old VHS video of Roger Tory Peterson talking about feeding the birds. He said "Just put enough out for everybody, they all have their place in nature-I'm not sure about yellow jackets though." For the newbies, RTP developed the field guide system most birders use. Before that birdwatchers shot the birds so they could see them in hand. Anyhoo I just put out enough peanuts in the shell for the squirrels.HTH
Susan

well, I have a round-style cage on order now, should get it soon. We had a metal plate over the suet as a baffle, but it didn't work. So now on to the big guns. Next is the stovepipe baffle.

I can't afford to feed squirrels suet & flower bulbs all year!

update-we put up the cage-style feeder & have lost the squirrel activity. But the woodpeckers have stopped coming! We had at least 3 kinds coming daily & I really hate losing them :(

We are going to put a regular suet feeder on the tree next week, to hopefully get the woodpeckers back.......Squirrels be darned. Probably will have to use the stovepipe baffle too.

Do try the stovepipe baffle. It really works, and you'll have your woodpeckers back without the squirrels gaining access to your suet.

That works in the city but these county/wetland squirels actually pick and eat my growing hot pepers! And after a while they figure out any baffle! Old slinky toy (metal ones) work until things freeze. Best I have done is coat the UNDERSIDE of the baffle AND the feeder itself with tangle trap.

Don't get any on the edge where bird feet can contact it. Then coat pole with a spray of fox urine! Predator smell!! Ugh better beat it and if I don't I get a sticky head!

The smaller woodpeckers- downy and hairy- come all the time and crawl right inside the cage. (The hairy has eaten so much he looks like he's ready to explode) I hope to try putting up plain suet (without seed or peanut butter, etc.) on a pole or tree because I was told squirrels won't eat the plain suet. Hopefully that will work and I can keep suet out where the pileated woodpeckers can use it. Think they are too big to get at the suet in the cage.

We purchased the same suet cage this year that Aurore just posted. Squirrel can't get at my suet, though it's comical watching him try. He's already gnawing away at the plastic coating, but oh well. Every year prior he'd come back several times a day to finish it off.

I just leave him a plastic spoon every day with peanut butter on it now instead.

I have birds that climb in, and a cardinal that just puts his head in. Haven't seen a large variety of birds this year, likely due to our warmer than usual Wisconsin weather.

I had trouble with an squirrel or some other animal stealing my hole suet container so I started chaining them all to my shepherds poles and now they can not be removed at all. They can still be opened. I just wrapped a chain around the round part on the suet and around the middle part of the shepherd hook real good and put a toggle screw on it so the creatures could not remove it.

I bought a "squirrel proof " suet palace and the squirrel took 1 day they watched the woodpeckers eat upside down and now that's how they get to it! So much for squirrel proof! I'm going to start adding hot sauce to the suet cakes, they say birds don't have the taste buds and it won't hurt them.

The suet cakes works very well in the suet cages i use them all the time

Now i buy hot pepper suet no more squirrels