Next move? A well trained dog.. I could lend you my border collie if you were close. She loathes squirrels, rabbits, hawks, sparrows.. and anything else that dares enter our yard without her express permission. But she will not touch my hens or parrots.
My dad once enjoyed having squirrels around his place. They eventually chewed their way into his attic and caused $13,000 worth of damage! And, my dad did most of the work himself. This happened back in 1989. I wonder what it would cost today, especially if you had to pay someone to do the work?
He bought a really nice pellet rifle (I think a Gamo). He got very good with that thing. He could peel 'em off a branch even when they gave him only a peeking-over-the limb shot. My 4 boys got to be great iron-sight rifle shots as a result of helping keep Paw Paw's squirrels under control.
I would be much more concerned if predators were hanging around my place. Would I allow squirrels to get into my run or coop? No!
With our drought and hot summer we've been swamped with ground squirrels raiding the chicken and goat feed. The drought has been so bad we've had them drowning in the horse trough trying to get drinks of water. I HATE pulling soggy bloated rodent water balloons out of the trough! Just freakin nasty. I finally pulled all the goat, chicken, and duck feed tubs up under the porch instead of having them in individual pens. And then I let my Hell Hounds stay out all day. The dogs don't bother my critters but as soon as a tree rat steps inside the perimeter they get to work. No more floaty rodents in the trough either. This has been a weird dang year.