How do you retain chipmunks away and off your hen feeders?
With their cheeks stuffed stuffed with meals, many individuals discover chipmunks extremely cute and welcome them to their yard. However whereas squirrels get a lot of the consideration, these striped rodents can turn out to be a bit annoying close to your hen feeding station, particularly in giant sufficient numbers.
The most definitely place the place you will notice chipmunks will likely be beneath your feeders, consuming the hen meals that has fallen to the bottom. However with no little bit of prevention, these critters are identified to climb into your hen feeders, which prevents the songbirds you really wish to see!
Beneath are 7 easy methods to stop chipmunks at your hen feeders!
And ensure to take a look at the entire issues you must NOT do to cease chipmunks, that are positioned on the finish.
#1. Maintain the realm beneath your feeders clear.
The most definitely place that you will see chipmunks at is consuming the hen meals that falls to the bottom. These mammals are identified for filling their cheeks with as a lot meals that may match, which they take again to their underground dens to eat later or retailer for winter.
So it shouldn’t come as a shock that to maintain chipmunks away, that you must attempt to cease birdseed falling from above!
To stop meals on the bottom, pay shut consideration to your feeders.
Most birds are messy eaters and can poke by means of and throw birdseed round, in search of the meals they wish to eat. You’ll want hen feeders that don’t enable birds to do that!
Most hopper feeders and trays are most likely dangerous choices since birds can sit on a platform and have loads of room to throw meals round, resulting in some ending up on the bottom.
Search for feeders the place birds should attain inside to seize a bit of meals.
One feeder that I personal that may be a sensible choice is the Absolute II.
Absolute II View Right now’s Worth
The seed is enclosed within the meals reservoir and has a steel lip that stops (a lot) meals from spilling out.
One other approach to stop meals from ending up on the bottom is to put in a tray beneath the feeders.
Many tube feeders have trays you can safe to the underside. It’s also possible to connect a dish or bin that catches fallen seeds.
The mix that I exploit is an Elements tube feeder with a 8.5-inch Seed Tray connected to the underside.
It’s also possible to attempt solely utilizing shelled sunflower seeds.
So far as hen meals goes, sunflower kernels are the most well-liked. Nearly each hen that involves feeders loves the stuff. Actually, when birds are trying by means of a birdseed combine, it’s usually the sunflower they’re looking for.
If you happen to solely use shelled sunflowers, there will likely be nothing for the birds to look by means of, which implies they’re much less prone to throw seeds to the bottom. As one other profit, you will keep away from a large number of shells that that you must clear up later since you might be shopping for the sunflower seed already shelled.
If any sunflower kernels do fall to the bottom, they need to be rapidly devoured up by ground-feeding birds, which shouldn’t go away any for the chipmunks to eat.
#2. Forestall entry to your hen feeders!
Consider it or not, if you happen to don’t take any precautions, chipmunks might climb into your hen feeders. As soon as there, they’ll stuff their cheeks stuffed with meals, preserving birds away whereas they’re consuming.
However fortunately, chipmunks don’t have the identical athletic means that squirrels possess. Chipmunks can’t soar vertically or horizontally from a tree very far, or climb round baffles properly, so it’s comparatively simple to verify these rodents can’t climb into your feeders. Belief me; it’s WAY tougher to maintain squirrels off your hen feeders than chipmunks!
Regardless, listed below are some simple issues you are able to do to maintain chipmunks on the bottom!
A. Baffle your hen feeder pole!
A baffle is merely a contraption that’s designed to stop mammals from climbing up your hen feeder pole. Whereas they’re principally meant to cease squirrels, they’re distinctive for stopping chipmunks too.
Baffles might be bought individually (or made) and connected to your current pole. Generally, there are two totally different kinds/shapes of baffle you’ll encounter:
Torpedo Baffle Pictured Above (Additionally known as Stovepipe or Cone): Audubon Metal Baffle
Wrap Round Baffle Pictured Above: Woodlink Baffle
Each of those baffles are designed to connect under the hen feeder. As chipmunks climb, they aren’t capable of get across the baffle and, due to this fact, can’t eat your hen meals!
For all the things that you must learn about baffles, take a look at this text:
B. Purchase a pole that makes a speciality of stopping rodents from climbing up!
If you happen to don’t personal a hen feeder pole but or are in search of a brand new one, then I beneficial shopping for one which has a baffle already constructed into the design.
For instance, I used to personal the Squirrel Stopper Pole, and never one critter EVER acquired previous the connected spring-loaded baffle. (Final 12 months, I constructed a extra heavy-duty hen feeder pole because of the excessive variety of hen feeders I used to be utilizing. ? )
Try the spring-loaded baffle on the Squirrel Stopper pole under:
Squirrel Stopper Pole Verify Right now’s Worth
Not solely is that this pole nice at stopping chipmunks from climbing up, but it surely holds as much as 8 hen feeders and appears “stylish” in backyards.
C. Grasp your feeders from a robust fishing line!
Lots of people that feed birds don’t use a hen feeder pole to hold their feeders, however as an alternative, they droop them from a tree or different construction. The issue these lovers face is that chipmunks can climb the tree and are available down onto the feeders from above.
A straightforward approach to cease that is to hold the hen feeders from a robust fishing line!
The fishing line is just too small and skinny for chipmunks to navigate down, and they’ll both have to make a leap of religion from the tree or head again to the bottom.
#3. Use spicy meals to cease chipmunks.
Do you get pleasure from having habanero peppers throughout your meals? Or does your face grimace simply fascinated by the warmth you’d expertise?
The rationale that we (individuals) really feel the warmth of spicy meals is due to one thing referred to as capsaicin, which is the lively ingredient present in chili peppers that makes them sizzling and worsening to eat.
However right here is the loopy factor:
Solely mammals really feel the results of capsaicin! Birds will not be affected.
And in case you forgot, chipmunks are mammals. As well as, a chipmunk’s sense of scent and style is healthier than people. I’ve by no means been capable of ask a chipmunk what consuming sizzling chili peppers tastes like, however my guess is that the results are compounded much more than what individuals really feel.
Cole’s Sizzling Meats View Value – Amazon
Utilizing hen meals that has been coated in sizzling pepper is price making an attempt. Chipmunks ought to take one whiff and never like what they scent. Birds, who don’t have a lot of a way of scent or style, received’t be bothered one bit by the spicy meals.
Utilizing spicy seeds ought to work at stopping all kinds of mammals at your feeding station, together with squirrels, raccoons, and bears! Try the experiment I did under, the place I examined to see if sizzling pepper seed really works.
#4. Lure and launch your chipmunks!
If all else fails, you may attempt to entice chipmunks and allow them to go someplace far-off from your own home.
Catching a chipmunk is comparatively simple.
First, purchase a small entice, just like the one seen under.
Havahart Small Mammal Lure View Worth – Amazon
Then put one thing scrumptious inside that chipmunks can’t resist, like sunflower seeds.
Quickly sufficient, you must have a chipmunk. Now that you must drive just a few miles away to let it go. Attempt to discover a park or a pal’s home that has a wooded space for the chipmunk to reside.
Whereas trapping can work, I don’t assume it’s a long-term answer. There’ll ALWAYS be extra chipmunks. To resolve your chipmunk issues, I believe it’s a significantly better use of time to give attention to the right way to cease them completely.
Usually, I solely resort to trapping a chipmunk when one has began making a large number inside my storage or shed persistently!
Additionally, I attempt to keep away from trapping and relocating chipmunks throughout spring and summer time, since they could have an underground burrow stuffed with infants ready for “mamma” to return dwelling. I don’t have the guts to know that I’m guaranteeing these younger chipmunks a sluggish and painful demise.
Lastly, PLEASE don’t harm the chipmunk after it’s trapped!
These adaptable mammals are simply making an attempt to remain alive. Be sort and discover a appropriate place far-off from your own home to allow them to go.
#5. Feed chipmunks individually out of your birds.
This tip runs counter to virtually all the things else on this listing.
To stop and deter chipmunks from accessing and consuming your whole meals and scaring away birds, attempt feeding them at a separate feeder only for them!
For instance, beneath my hen feeders, I’ve a tray that’s at all times stuffed with sunflower seeds only for the chipmunks and different ground-feeding animals!
Search for chipmunks under on the LIVE digicam in my yard!
*LEARN extra in regards to the LIVE cameras in my yard HERE!*
By offering a vast provide of meals for chipmunks on the bottom, you might be hoping they received’t even hassle going by means of all the additional work to achieve your hen feeders. I exploit this similar technique to assist management Home Sparrows too!
And if you happen to don’t need chipmunks hanging round your hen feeders, then put this separate tray of meals in a distinct space of the yard to get them to relocate. ?
#6. Be sure you have correct seed storage!
You didn’t ask, however I’m going to provide you my private opinion concerning chipmunks. ?
Total, I don’t thoughts them, and I’m joyful they’re round. Chipmunks present plenty of leisure for our household, they usually keep off my hen feeders (because of my baffles) and assist clear up the seed that falls to the bottom. Additionally, I like the very fact they supply meals for owls and hawks, which I really like getting the prospect to see in our yard too. (Don’t hate me for that remark, hate the circle of life! ? )
The one instances that I get aggravated with chipmunks are after they come into my storage and shed and wreak havoc on my saved hen meals.
Chipmunk or squirrel injury on a 5-gallon bucket lid.
If I by chance go away a bag of seed on the bottom after buying it from the shop, I can depend on them to tear a gap within the aspect to get their justifiable share. I’ve additionally discovered injury from them as they attempt to chew their approach by means of laborious plastic in my shed.
Now, I understand that I can’t blame the chipmunks for inflicting this injury and mess, as they simply need an opportunity to get some simple meals. However they do preserve me on my toes and be certain that I’m storing all of my hen seed correctly.
My suggestion is to buy steel bins with a lid or discover storage containers fabricated from extremely laborious plastic.
Additionally, attempt to clear up everytime you spill any meals on the ground, as this discourages chipmunks, in addition to mice and rats, from coming again.
Tip #7: PLEASE Don’t Harm Chipmunks!
Sadly, out of frustration, many individuals have provide you with methods to maintain chipmunks away from hen feeders that harm and even kill them.
I don’t agree with these strategies. There are too many efficient methods that work at deterring and repelling chipmunks AND preserve these animals secure.
So my ultimate suggestion is to keep away from something that may injure chipmunks. Attempt to respect chipmunks as a part of nature and keep in mind they’re simply making an attempt to outlive just like the birds that go to your feeders!
Don’t Use THESE Methods To Maintain Chipmunks Off Fowl Feeders!
Poison:
DON’T USE THIS STUFF!!!
Not solely will you be sentencing chipmunks to a painful demise, however what in case your canine by chance ingests some?
Additionally, it’s widespread for predatory animals, like foxes, owls, and hawks, to eat a rodent that has simply been poisoned, since, to them, it makes a simple meal. As quickly as this poisoned chipmunk has been consumed, there isn’t a hope for that predator both, and it’ll quickly die.
Glue or anything sticky in your hen feeder pole:
It not solely must be extremely painful to have their fur ripped out, but it surely’s virtually unimaginable for chipmunks to take away the glue, they usually might ingest some as they attempt to groom themselves.
Petroleum jelly or grease in your hen feeder pole:
Much like glue, that is extremely troublesome for chipmunks to get off their coat. They could ingest some and get sick, or their fur will clump collectively, leaving them vulnerable to chilly climate.
Taking pictures:
There’s nothing you may shoot at a chipmunk that won’t harm it, besides a digicam.
Letting your cat outdoors to kill the chipmunks:
Cats LOVE to prey on and kill birds. If you wish to see extra birds at your feeder and fewer chipmunks, do you assume letting your cat outdoors is a good thought?
Generally, don’t do something that may kill or hurt the chipmunks in your yard!
Killing the chipmunks in your yard is a traditional instance of treating the symptom and never the issue. Chipmunks breed rapidly, so you may at all times count on extra to reach. Utilizing a mixture of the information on this article will work significantly better as long-term options than homicide.
Closing Ideas
By using a few of the suggestions listed above, it’s solely potential to repel, deter, and preserve chipmunks off your feeders and cease them from consuming your hen meals!
However most significantly, attempt to study to understand chipmunks as a part of the extraordinary nature you get to look at in your yard! I’ve even heard of those that have educated chipmunks to eat out of their fingers! ?
Earlier than you go, I would like your assist to make this text even higher. Are you able to assist reply a few of these questions within the feedback under?
What are one of the best methods you will have discovered to discourage and repel chipmunks?
Thanks for studying, and good luck!
Scott