That is a very nice project oldcrafty! I admit I too feed the squirrels though not from their own feeder. Yesterday morning I was standing watching the bird feeding stations outside my sliding glass doors, laughing at the four squirrels hanging upside down and every which way from my latest 'squirrel proof' feeder. I spend all winter pretending I don't feed them even though I dearly love watching them and the birds sort things out. Just wanted to say howdy to everyone on another frigid winter day. I enjoy this forum though seldom post.

I bought two different ones at HD last spring, one that's never been raided by anything furry, the other once that I've witnessed but it's neither have ever been emptied by anything but a bird. On the one, the perches are mounted to a cage that is attached to a spring. If anything heavier than your typical feathered friends get on it, the spring stretches, the cage drops and some decorative metal leaves block the holes. Once the intruder jumps off, the spring retracts and it returns to normal. On the other, there's a single perch bar with a counterweight attached. The food comes out in a tray in front of the perch. If anything heavy gets on that, the perch tilts down. If they manage to hang on, it also covers the tray. That was the one that an intrepid squirrel managed to get into after much effort. He didn't get much before he fell off. He stood there and looked at it and I could almost imagine him thinking "S O a B" Had a crow land on it one time and he swung upside down before plopping on the ground. He was not pleased either. You can adjust the counterweight on it as well if you want to keep larger birds off but I've never tried it. They're both only about 3 feet off the ground hanging from a 2x4 crossbar attached to a 5' 4x4 so it's not like they can't get to them. The first one was the "Perky-Pet Wildbird Squirrel-Be-Gone" and the other was the Squirrel Be Gone II. If I were to rate them I would give the first one 9 out of 10 and the other a 7 out of 10. The only issue with the first one was a flimsy hanger that I replaced with some heavy gauge wire and the other, well, a squirrel did get into it although they leave it alone 95% of the time. I've had one similar to the picture and while ours was squirrel proof, it was also as rhizo_1 mentioned, bird-proof. The one I bought had a suet feeder in it. The first suet cake I put in ended up about 5% eaten and the rest turned to rock. I made it into an improvised bike basket for our granddaughter.

Some birds like the ground or a platform to eat from. Some like Blue Jays will eat anything. Most of the fights the squirrels will not hurt each other except during the breeding season. You will notice that when you have a winter type storm or very deep freeze they will all eat without fighting. If you want to be mean put out two more saucers and place in a triangle. The piggie squirrels will run from one to the other trying to get the best food. After a while they will just sit there looking like they are lost. I don't worry about what the squirrels eat any more I just put food out first come first served. The wildlife I get other than the deer seem to know when others need food and let them eat in peace. You will see less fights as the stored food is depleted. When the number of squirrels reach a certain level they tend to pass diseases to each other. This is natures way of preventing over population. This year we have very few squirrels in this area but last year it seemed like every tree was full. Try to keep feeders for squirrels clean. It will not help prevent passing of diseases but at least you will have not caused it. Hubby was very upset this spring when the squirrels disappeared and thought he had done something.

Simply amazing. Great job.