Keep Squirrels Out of Your Trough With the Cayenne
Are the squirrels swallowing all the seed you’ve so lovingly sprinkled for the local birds? Are you tired of watching them steal – so brazen! – something that does not rightfully belong to them, while the native blue jays and red-winged thrushes are watching them from a safe distance? Rude. To fix this problem, all you have to do is season your bird food a little.
Reddit user u / kaganey explains:
Anyone with a bird feeder has had to deal with squirrels that steal seeds. However, squirrels hate chili [pepper]. On the other hand, birds do not feel it at all and regularly eat chili and pepper seeds in the wild. When you mix crushed cayenne pepper with poultry feed, the birds won’t notice the difference and the squirrels will avoid it like the plague.
Upon further investigation, it seems that it actually works – on most squirrels (there are a few freaks out there who prefer a spicy taste). You don’t need much – I’ve read the recommendations for a tablespoon or so for every 10 lb. bag of seeds.
However, it can wash off in the rain, so if there is a storm and you notice that the squirrels are suddenly back to their old antics, you may need a little reapplication – just don’t try to add cayenne pepper to the stuff already on the street. if it’s windy because oh.
Or you can attach a feeder to a pole (squirrels will probably still be climbing over it) and then, as our own senior health editor, Beth Squarecki suggests, spray it with PAM. At least the results are hilarious. See this YouTube video for an illustrative example:
You will need to reapply it after rain.
Or maybe you like squirrels, I don’t know. If so, just let them continue to eat; you decide.