Here I am, Kate! Been missing in action due to a hip injury that kept me sidelined for a couple of weeks, but I'm back now! I have been feeding birds for about 50 years and have tried every product on the market, and then some. Many work for awhile, many are just a joke. Spring loaded feeders that close when a heavy bird or squirrel gets on them will work until the squirrels figure out they can hang from the roof of it by their back legs and reach down to scoop out the seed without activating the lever that closes the feeder. Feeders enclosed in cages with openings only big enough for small birds to pass through will work for awhile...until you find (as I did) a dead squirrel hanging from one of the holes, where it got its head stuck trying to get in. It's very unpleasant to clean up. Also, caged feeders usually don't allow any of the larger birds in...not even cardinals. Safflower seeds are a good idea for feeders that you want completely accessible, as squirrels don't particularly like them. BUT...they WILL eat them when they are really hungry and if they can't find any other seed around. I usually keep one or two feeders with safflower in them because cardinals and titmice love them so much, but now and then, a really hungry squirrel will empty them. Personally, I think the very best way is to find a baffle that works for you. All of my main feeders hang from "shepherd's hook" type poles. About 4 or 4 1/2 feet off the ground, I mount a baffle on the pole, just under the hanging feeder. It completely stops the squirrels from climbing UP the pole...they run up, get stuck under the baffle, and run back down again. And if you get the height right, they can't jump OVER it, either. You have to locate the pole where they can't jump to the feeder from a nearby tree, of course, but other than that they are very effective. No squirrels are getting to any of my feeders now, and I probably have at least 20 that live in my trees and yard. There are several kinds of baffles. I use the cone shaped ones I get from PetSmart. They are relatively inexpensive (I think less than $20) and last forever. IF an industrious squirrel manages to jump high enough to grab at the baffle, it tilts and dumps him off. There is another type that my friend uses, which is also quite good. It is a cylinder about 6" wide that fastens to the pole. If they run up the pole, they are stuck inside. And if they jump up and grab the cylinder, it's too wide for them to hold onto and they drop right off. BTW, my squirrels have no trouble climbing up PVC pipe at all, no matter the diameter...it gets scratched and roughened quickly, and they can hold on to it with their sharp little claws. And in the same vein, forget about greasing the pole with Vaseline and the like...it melts in summer, runs down all over the ground, and they are soon running right up the pole. Not to mention, dirt and debris stick to it and the pole soon looks pretty bad. The link below will take you to one place online that sells several types of baffles. You can see samples of both the cylindrical type and the cone shaped ones on this page. And if you have hanging feeders, there are samples of the domed baffles here, too. Hope this helps. Good luck! Marcia (ps...I have 2 squirrel chasers, as well, but the trouble with them is, they are just as happy chasing the birds as they are the squirrels! *grin* ) Here is a link that might be useful: Baffle Samples

Ginny, how often do you apply the petroleum jelly to your feeder poles? I have baffles on mine and they have worked for over a year, but ONE steenkin' squirrel has finally figured out some way to get on my big tray. I'm thinking maybe a combination of the baffle and the petroleum jelly might do the trick. I could even put some on the edge of the baffle. I, too, have seen the squirrels do the upside down trick with the squirrel proof feeders. They can hang from the roof sometimes and reach the food without the perch ever closing. Depends on how smart and/or determined the squirrel is. I don't mind them getting what hits the ground. I just hate for them to get EVERYTHING, which they do if they can reach the feeder. Oh, and my slinkies were finally breached. Once one of them figured out how to climb up by reaching between the rings, the rest of them had it in a week. But it did take several months for the first one to accomplish it. Marcia

We have a triple tube feeder hanging from an iron crook type pole. It has 2 baffles to deter the squirrels. In addition I greased the iron pole. I put food on the ground to keep the squirrels from thinking too much about the bird feeder. Yesterday I saw a blue jay hanging around. The other birds were telling him to stay away, but he looked a bit bedraggled so I put out a bunch of raw peanuts for him in a bowl. I don't know if the blue jay got any, but I had 3 exhausted looking squirrels and an empty bowl when I checked back an hour later. Here it was 100 degrees out, and I had given them this chore. One of the squirrels was actually wading in the bird bath, soaking his tummy in the fresh cool water, his little sides just heaving. Durn squirrels.

We have been using baffles with excellent luck. We only see squirrels on the ground, never on the feeders. We use the tubular baffles on a shepard's hook. There are four feeders hung from one hook and multiple other shepard's hooks placed around the yard with the same baffles, and no squirrels draining the feed. Much less expensive than a single feeder. Martha