PROBLEM - RACCOONS ARE CLIMBING BIRDFEEDER POLES SOLUTION - RACCOON BAFFLE Date sent: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:09:02 -0400 From: mlparow(AT)umich.edu Subject: birdfeeders and raccoons I'm tired of feeding the raccoons, but even more importantly, having them destroy my feeders. I have squirrel baffles on my poles, but they don't keep the raccoons off. So, I have three questions: I've seen raccoon baffles, but in two sizes, and so would like to know what size really works? How high up should the top of it be? (My squirrel baffles are 4' off the ground.) Will they keep the squirrels off as well? Thanks for any advice. I've never minded the raccoons much, but since a new high school is being built in my backyard, they've gotten more numerous and destructive over the last year. --mike SOLUTION #1 Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:04:10 -0500 (EST) Author: Lee Green MD Subject: Re: (non-bird) baffling feeders We had a problem with raccoons climbing our 4x4s to eat the sunflower seed. They'd rip the feeder apart to get to the seed! I solved the raccoon and squirrel problems both with a roll of 12" aluminum flashing from the hardware store. No need to flare it into a baffle, just wrap two bands of it, the upper overlapping the lower slightly, snugly around the post and staple or nail into place. 2 ft of slick aluminum was enough to put the top out of reach. -Lee Lee Green MD MPH Department of Family Medicine University of Michigan SOLUTION #1-A From: "Sally K Scheer" Subject: Re: birdfeeders and raccoons Date sent: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 12:19:17 -0400 I'm working on my bluebird nestbox up north right now (despite 3" of snow falling in the past 24 hours) and plan to add the baffle Lee Green mentions. One caution the lumber yard folks gave me is that it's really easy to cut yourself on the flashing. They agreed with my plan to use the nytril coated gloves I found indispensible while working with chicken wire last summer. These gloves are nearly indestructible. Lowe's, Home Depot, WalMart, and most lumber yards have them and they're only about $5-6 per pair. Lots less expensive than the goat skin gloves I had used and much more flexible too. The flashing comes in 20" widths too and is easy to cut with a regular box cutter. Use a straigth edge to guide the cut and score the flashing gently a few times. Then bend along the score and it will snap apart easily. Flashing also comes in smaller squares which I have found most useful in protecting the nest boxes from coons in another way. Last year I nailed several of these squares, overlapping, to the bottom of the nest box in such a way that they sort of flapped. They didn't bother the tree swallows that nested in the box but they seem to have discouraged the coons. Sally Scheer Clinton and Rogers City SOLUTION #2 From: Ann Zinn Subject: [birders] Re: birdfeeders and raccoons Date sent: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 12:22:04 -0400 The only thing that has worked for me, and it REALLY works, is a 6 foot section of aluminum furnace duct pipe! This is about 6" in diameter and sadly not very pretty. Slip it over the feeder support pole (It's OK if it wiggles around.) and put that pole through a plastic or aluminum pie plate at the top of the stovepipe. The pie plate keeps the birds from falling down inside and getting trapped. That happened a couple of times before I wised up and covered the open top of the pipe, securing it with duct tape. Let your feeders hang down no more than 4 to 5 feet from the ground, with no branches around from which the squirrels can jump up or down, and it will stop both raccoons and squirrels. Good luck! A. :-)