bird feeder advice - Ask Extension
My husband and I are new bird feeder owners. We live in Newmarket. We bought a feeder that is shaped like a house, which the birds love, but so do the...
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bird feeder advice #923884
Asked January 23, 2026, 7:51 AM EST
My husband and I are new bird feeder owners. We live in Newmarket. We bought a feeder that is shaped like a house, which the birds love, but so do the squirrels. It hangs from a tree in front of our house. We bought a baffle to go on top of it - and a couple of the squirrels have figured it out. They actually hang upside down, spilling nearly all the food onto the ground. I've looked up ways to keep them away, but not sure what is best for NH. I had read about Pam spray on the baffle, but then read that it's dangerous for the birds. Any suggestions?
Rockingham County New Hampshire
Expert Response
Hi Lisa,
This is not a surprise as I recently put up a feeder and within a day all food was gone and the only visitors I saw were squirrels. There is no definite solution but a few suggestions can be found in these links:
https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2018/12/what-can-i-do-keep-squirrels-my-birdfeeders
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/how-stop-squirrels-raiding-your-bird-feeders
Thank you Thelma. Actually we might have outsmarted them - our bird feeder hangs from a tree branch. We added an extra hook so it's further from the branch, and installed a baffle. Too far of a reach for them. Since we did this we haven't seen one squirrel.
Much appreciated,
Lisa
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On Tuesday, January 27th, 2026 at 12:34 PM, Ask Extension wrote:
