Squirrels eating duck feed???

[emuhleey]

I just recently found out that squirrels have been running into the duck pen during the day while the ducks are roaming outside and eating their feed. I was wondering how it was going so quickly, and I'm mad that I've been spending money to feed squirrels instead of my ducks! I want to keep the door open so that the ducks can walk in and out and eat whenever they want, but that's seemingly impossible now unless I want to watch the pen and scare off the squirrels all day. What can I do to solve this problem? I'm afraid that this is going to be an ongoing battle for as long as I have my beloved ducks

 

[sourland]

If you find a way to beat them, please let me know.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The squirrels stay out of the yard because of the dogs but the chipmunks eat the duck/chicken feed every chance they get.

 

[Valntyn]

Yup, we feed chipmunks, too. We were putting out Have a Heart traps, but for every one we caught, another would run past the occupied trap to help themselves. I finally just said, "Oh well." and stopped worrying over it -- no sense stressing what you can't change. Like someone else said, if you figure it out, let the rest of us know -- you'll be a genius.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yup, we feed chipmunks, too. We were putting out Have a Heart traps, but for every one we caught, another would run past the occupied trap to help themselves. I finally just said, "Oh well." and stopped worrying over it -- no sense stressing what you can't change. Like someone else said, if you figure it out, let the rest of us know -- you'll be a genius.

It's a losing battle so better to just not worry or stress. I decided not to feed the wild birds anymore because I would read how they could give my chickens disease, well when i took the feeders down they started coming and eating out of the duck/chicken feeders which was not good, so now the wild bird feeders are back up and i can enjoy watching them again.

 

[Amiga]

Yes, our little acre is home to the cats and ducks, and I don't know how many wild animals. We don't use poisons, and have not for many years. Therefore, wild critters seem pretty happy here. I recall watching as a flock of perhaps a thousand grackles flew over our place. I thought of the warnings of wild birds carrying disease, but some forces of nature are just too big to change.

So I work on keeping the ducks healthy and happy, trusting their immune systems will at least most of the time do their jobs.

 

[Missy60]

We have chipmunks to and it must of been just one getting in my ducks pen. I leave their door open to and I went out there in the evening to change their water before putting them up and a dead chipmunk was in it...yuck. I haven't seen a chipmunk in there since just birds sometime. Whats so funny is before we got the ducks we put out a bird feeder and no birds came. They are brave enough now to go inside a cage to get the ducks food though it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[wildpeas]

We have some squirrels but they haven't tried to eat the duck feed yet. I do feed the squirrels though, in the front yard, with a peanut ring. It keeps them busy. I also have my wild bird feeders in the front yard. On occasion one or two have tried to eat out of the duck bowls but my ducks are quick to chase them off. One day Lizzie (k.c.) actually caught one of the birds, pinned it in a corner, and when she had a good hold she took off running across the yard shaking it. My husband made her drop it and took it out to the woods. It was pretty wobbly but alive. I'm not sure what Lizzie's intentions were but it didn't look good for the bird. I caught the whole group stalking a full grown cottontail down their fence line last week. Ducks are weird. They also like to chase crows.

 

[emuhleey]

Haha wow, very interesting stories! I'll be sure not to put any wild bird feeders lol. I guess I'll just give up on the battle and let the squirrels eat. I guess they don't eat much compared to the ducks.

Thanks everyone!