Fed up with fat, nasty squirrels!

[dlynne1123]

We have our small 9 bird flock, with a large run space and a coop in the middle, raised up. We have a 200 year old farm house and barn. Traps set up everywhere, a barn cat, and three dogs out to hunt them, yet still having a squirrel problem. If they aren't eating my chicken feed faster than my birds, they are nesting in the walls of our house or barn, and eating thru industrial tupperware! We've been shooting them lately b/c we are so fed up but I can't beleive the birds sit there and let them steal their food! Seriously, I'm at my witts end! Even the hanging feeders have been chewed down, or tipped over.. We take everything in at night now and resupply in the morning, but we even had to bring all the food tupperwares into the house b/c the barn wasn't safe enough! This population is numerous! I'm not a fan of killing creatures but since we've gotten the chickens I've turned blood thirsty! Two skunks, two raccoons and now squirrels. If they continue to eat thru our barn, we'll have to replace another major beem.
The electric fence does not seem to deter them.

The traps are constantly empty, with bait missing, (I think their too fat to fit now) and shooting one just brings in three more it seems.

Tips, pointers, suggestions welcome!

Dani in Maine

 

[sourland]

Buy more ammunition. Down here in NJ there was a two year bumper crop of mast and the squirrel population has exploded. Couple this with a very mild winter to this point and I fear

lotta baby squirrels in the spring. It's good that they taste so good.

 

[dlynne1123]

Well until now we were letting the cat have them! Hoping to build her lust for squirrel meat! Honestly I think these guys are almost as big as our tiny 6 lb mouser.

 

[DinosRBirds]

well... i've never even seen more than one squirrel where i live. seems they only like it in the towns near me.....
i have no advice about squuirrels.

 

[War Chicken]

Your traps may not be long enough or you're placing the bait too close to the door. If they're not in the trap far enough, their tails will prevent the door from latching properly. For bait, I recommend peanut butter. It's possible that mice are able to steal the bait w/o triggering the trap.

I got my squirrel problem under control by shooting them everyday with an air rifle. Like most animals, a good food source is shared and will bring in animals far and wide. I used to see squirrels bounding in from all directions every morning. I started shooting as many as I could each day. Initially, it didn't seem to be doing anything but after a few weeks I noticed declining activity. If you see a group of 3-5 squirrels at one time, it doesn't mean you only have 3-5 squirrels. It means you have several groups of squirrels coming in at different times. The real number is more like 25 times the number you see at any given time. But they only breed twice a year while you can shoot and trap them all year round.

In the end, it got to the point where I would look outside and see nothing. All the food set out for them by my neighbor was untouched. When autumn came, the leaves fell and revealed many abandoned squirrel nests. After the initial depopulation, I only had to shoot a squirrel every 2-3 weeks and even that wasn't necessary because their numbers were so low they weren't causing problems anymore.

 

[margaritamama]

We have been having problems with squirrels too. So far my partner is just shooting them. We haven't set traps or anything yet. They are driving us crazy too!

 

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

I posted inquirring if anyone has used this for mice/rats.Ive not heard from anyone if theyve tried it or not but Im considering buying it for mice.
It also says it works for squirrles too so I thought to post it here for you. Goodluck!

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZU0...f=sr_1_11?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1327342789&sr=1-11

 

[redrooster78]

if i were you i would get the air rifle out

 

[LadyinRed]

Time for lots of target practice.

Make a sport of it even! See who can shoot the most squirrels in a day.

 

[Chemguy]

Put cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes in your feed. Chickens aren't bothered, squirrels are. That takes care of the feed problem but not the population issue.

P.S. Some say that pepper in feed leads to increased egg production. There's a thread around here on that topic.......