Experience using caye ne pepper in food to deter squirrels?

[McChooky]

Doubtful it is nothing more than a gimmick squirrels will figure out quickly how to still eat around it.

The stuff burns like fire if you only get a little on your lip. I don't know exactly how they'd be able to avoid getting powder on them if its mixed in the feed.It gets all over everything!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I would also say pepper would not work. It may actually encourage them. My mother-in-law has rats as pets. She would let them play in her bathroom and she tried putting capsaicin on the trim to deter chewing. They licked up all the capsaicin and looked for more. I would imagine squirrels might do the same thing.

Rats have more advanced culinary tastes than squirrels. I learned that from this documentary:

 

[swamphiker]

I know this thread is a couple of months old at this point, what's your final verdict on using cayenne pepper to deter squirrels? I'm trying to keep them out of my wild bird feeders rather than my chicken food, but same concept.

 

[Banana01]

Reading some articles on google, it seems as though the capascin is what deters them, and seems to have a good chance of working as a deterrent. I read 1 tbsp powder per 10 pound bag of seed is enough.

It also seems that water will wash it away, so the mash may not work as much as just a powder.

You could also try other pepper varieties like haberno, maybe make a spray bottle of liquid and spray it on the food? The consensus seems to be it kind of works on bird feeders.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I've had some luck with "painting" my front porch pumpkins with a solution of red pepper and water. It does wash off though, so needs to be re-applied after rain.

 

[McChooky]

It won't hurt the birds but it will set squirrels on fire . Spread the powder on the ground around runs and coops to prevent diggers. https://www.walterreeves.com/food-gardening/squirrels-repelling-with-hot-pepper/

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've seen hungry squirrels denude a hot pepper plant. Doubt you could put enough cayenne in the bird feed in dried form to deter them. Thai (birdseye) chilis are much hotter, but I wear goggles and gloves to deal with those - too much hassle.

 

[Banana01]

I've seen hungry squirrels denude a hot pepper plant. Doubt you could put enough cayenne in the bird feed in dried form to deter them. Thai (birdseye) chilis are much hotter, but I wear goggles and gloves to deal with those - too much hassle.

I thought it was a gimmick too, but there are quite a lot of articles about people successfully using capascin to deter squirrels. Its easy enough to try it in different forms (red pepper powder, haberno water, etc). The chickens and birds supposedly dont care.

The squirrels will either go find a new food source closer, or will be hungry enough to suffer.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I thought it was a gimmick too, but there are quite a lot of articles about people successfully using capascin to deter squirrels. Its easy enough to try it in different forms (red pepper powder, haberno water, etc). The chickens and birds supposedly dont care.

The squirrels will either go find a new food source closer, or will be hungry enough to suffer.

Yes, I've seen the same. But it takes constant application at seriously strong concentrations. Sure, cayenne is hotter than a jalapeno (much), and thai chilis are frequently 2-3 times hotter than a cayenne, but to do it at scale, and repeat after every rain??? Its just not practical. Even if you grow, dry, grind, and store your own peppers for later use.

Either remove the squirrel attractant, fence the squirrels out, or learn to live with them.

 

[Banana01]

Yes, I've seen the same. But it takes constant application at seriously strong concentrations. Sure, cayenne is hotter than a jalapeno (much), and thai chilis are frequently 2-3 times hotter than a cayenne, but to do it at scale, and repeat after every rain??? Its just not practical. Even if you grow, dry, grind, and store your own peppers for later use.

Either remove the squirrel attractant, fence the squirrels out, or learn to live with them.

Not really difficult. I dont have squirrels, but one source said add 1tbsp powder to 10 lbs of feed (seems low). It would be very easy to keep a spray bottle of homemade pepper water by the food dish and spray it. But I guess it depends on everyones setups and if they give a bowl of fresh feed everyday. Chicken feed shouldnt be getting wet in the rain anyway. But I imagine our setups are quite different, mine is very hands on and requires me to feed them twice a day, where others may put huge dishes that last a week and never touch their coops.