As an avid birdwatcher, I do not enjoy watching the abundant squirrels devour all my bird feed. Not many birds came even though I refilled the birdhouse countless times. Thankfully I once heard that squirrels HATE red pepper. I mixed about one Tbsp. of red pepper with my bird seed, and the pesky squirrels did not return. The birds are not bothered by the pepper, and it saves a lot of money on buying tons of birdseed, only to come to squirrels eating it.
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I have a ? Do u mean cayene or crushed red pepper? This sounds like a good idea.
Cayenne works for sure!
I have this problem too and I'd also like to know what kind of red pepper.
Hello,
Do you mean the Bell Peppers? I am not sure what you call them- see picture.
My parents have alot of problems with squirrels and would love to know what type you mean.
Best wishes
Monique :)
Somerset, UK
cayenne pepper... powdered...
No, Bell Pepper seeds would do nothing to deter squirrels!!! Red Pepper Flakes meaning HOT red cayeene pepper or the powdered Cayenne pepper will keep squirrels away. It is the Capsaicin in the red peppers that they cannot handle...it gives them a burning sensation just like us!
Does not work for me at all, I am using powdered cayenne pepper on sunflower seeds, the seeds are liberally coated..squirrels still cleaning out the feeder. Very annoying and costly. Any other ideas?
I've added crushed red pepper to my bird feed yesterday still waiting to see if it works. I have one or two varmits hanging around but my jack russell's try hard to keep them away.
It works very well
Do you mean the hot red pepper stuff or crushed up red bell peppers? I still don't know what kind of pepper they mean and would REALLY like to find out!
Monique
I have cayenne bird seed which worked for a while. Now I have a squirrel who eats the seed anyway, so I mixed in red pepper flakes, and he still eats it. Any suggestions?
The rain or wind either washes it away or blows it away so you have to remix it. It does work! Also, the cayenne you used might be older discount cayenne like they sell at the dollar stores and maybe lost its potency. If that still fails, then you need to up the anty by mixing in stronger hot pepper than cayenne fir your type of squirrel. Cole's sells their own mix that you can use only 3 tablespoons with a 5 pound bag if seed. Or find out what they're using in that liquid and make your own stronger mix.
I bought cayenne pepper at the grocery store and that works. I also put the feeder on a shepard hook away from the trees and house and greased the pole which provides a lot of fun watching the squirrels trying to get the food. You may also find cayenne pepper at some of the dollar stores. Good luck.
Use cayenne pepper. My spice jar also says "crushed red pepper." Hope this works for you.
Just add any powdered red pepper/cayenne pepper that you find in your local grocery store. Nothing fancy, doesn't need to be whole flakes. Just powder. That's all.
I just found a site that said red pepper is fine but if it's in a powder form, a breeze can blow and get it in the birds eyes. This is not good for them, it's just like us getting it in our eyes.
All the sites I looked up talk about dried pepper you'd find in the spice section of the grocery store, not fresh peppers in produce section.
Also, you can buy just Safflower seed as opposed to mixed seed and squirrels don't like it. But it limits the birds that visit - Blue Jays like sunflower seeds, Woodpeckers like the nuts. You'll still get plenty of others though - sparrows, titmice, etc.
This is the site, there are a few others out there that give some good ideas to keep squirrels away...and to keep rats and mice from eating your seed off the ground. Ugh!
icwdm.org/
Several of my squirrels eat safflower seeds that doesn't work!!!!!
I have been trying the powdered kind for several days now. No results yet, the little varmits continue to come back and there seems to be less birds.
How many pounds of birdseed do you use with 1T red pepper? My feeders hold 1 to 1-1/2 pounds, but the bags I bought are 6-8 pounds.
I ADDED THE POWDERED RED PEPPER TO THE SEEDS AND THE DAMN SQUIRRELS STILL EAT THE SEED.I PUT THE SEED IN A ZIPLOC BAG WITH THE POWDER TO COAT THE SEEDS THEN POURED INTO THE FEEDER.. IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE I NEED TO DO. SO FUSTRATING !!!!
I put Vaseline on the bird stands so squirrels can't climb up.
Vaseline is not humane. Reason is they cannot fluff their fur to stay warm and they freeze. Or they try to groom themselves to remove it then get severe painful diarrhea and they die. Painful death. Not fun.
The grey squirrels around here will eat the bird food if it is 3/4 red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. I could put 10 sunflower seeds in a pile of red pepper and they just dig the seeds out and munch away. It does nothing to deter the squirrels. In fact it seems like it actually attracted the squirrels!
Nothing works I did all this with the crushed pepper and hot sauce,doesn't stop them one bit
I know, I bought this and it works Coles Flaming Squirrel seed sauce
Ordered from Amazon !! They will also eat my mealworms for my Blue birds
I have ground red pepper. I'm afraid to hurt the birds.
I put the ground red pepper in petrolatum jelly for the post of the bird feeder. Will that be okay??
NO! Absolutely NOT!!
Please, please, please DO NOT use EITHER petroleum jelly OR red peppers. These can cause serious harm to all wildlife.
The best thing we have found to deter squirrels from the bird feeder is there are some feeders that are deemed squirrel proof.
This link has a bunch to choose from:
Pepper and Vaseline are very harmful not only to the squirrels, but to birds, cats, deer and any other creatures that come in contact with it.
It is very cruel to use these so I beg of you....please find an alternative!
So are you saying that it is harmful to birds to put cayenne pepper in their food to deter squirrels?
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