Perky Pet 339 Squirrel Be Gone II Feeder Home with Chimney

I bought this feeder about 5 or 6 years ago. Amazon's price is about half what I paid! This is an excellent, tough, well made feeder. Our feeder gets constant use, even by woodpeckers, and has held up very well. The dark green color has faded some, and the center part of the copper roof has blackened some. But other than that, it's in great shape. This feeder is metal with real copper roof and is quite heavy when full. It holds a ton of seed, so you don't have to fill as often.

The squirrels have not been able to feed from this -- it really has kept them out. Really large birds also seem discouraged. My only problem is raccoons, but even they had a hard time with this feeder! I have it hanging from a hook on my deck outside a window. Because of the raccoons, I've started taking the feeder down at night -- but sometimes I forget. When I did forget and leave it out, the raccoons tried to open the top. When they weren't able to, they knocked it to the ground -- a...Read more

I ordered this because I wanted a squirrel-proof bird feeder that allows cardinals to perch comfortably and doesn't look like a nuclear bunker (besides, I'm not even sure a nuclear bunker could stop the varmints!) This one looks cute hanging at the feeding station and, amazingly enough, the squirrels still haven't figured out how to rob it.

All I really expected was stop them from grabbing fistfuls of seed and throwing 90% of it on the ground, but as far as I've seen they haven't even been able to steal seeds one at a time from this one. They DID try to pry the lid off, and in fact managed to bend it up at the corners! (Scary! Metal-bending squirrels - be very afraid!) But it's really attached well, and the little thieves couldn't quite get in.

On the other hand, the lid is very easy for me to remove, and the feeder is easier and less messy to fill than other feeders I've had before.

I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1 star only because it's still a pretty birdfeeder. That said, the squirrels figured it out in just a few weeks. Here in Ohio we have big red squirrels and how they get the seed is this: they grab the wire hanging bracket with their back feet and hang down the front of the feeder. Then they can reach in, hanging upside down, and get all the seed they want, never putting a foot on the hinged perch. I suppose a smaller squirrel might not be able to reach the seeds with their back feet grabbing the wire, but I'm not sure.

This feeder may work if you put it on a post rather than hanging it, and it does come with an additional bit that you can screw on to make it sit on top of a 4"x4" post. I haven't tried, so I can't say whether they'd figure that one out or not.