Raccoon baffles for bird feeders may be what you need if you’re having trouble keeping raccoons away from your feeders. It may seem quite daunting when this greedy raccoon empties your bird feeders in just a few hours. Then they leave your birds with little or no feeders at all.
Raccoons are wild round animals and native animals to North America and they usually measure about 3 feet long. Although raccoons are omnivores meaning they tend to eat both meat and vegetation: these animals can still eat birdseed so they can typically raid your bird feeders.
So, if you’re having raccoon invasion on your property and they are making your bird feeder regime difficult, it’s only logical you find a solution to this. This is why we will be looking into raccoon baffles for bird feeders so continue reading for more info on this.
Raccoons Behaviors Towards Bird Feeders
Raccoons are hungry animals that can forage in just about anywhere they can find reliable food. They can be so mischievous that they jump from different things such as poles, trees, roofs, railings, and the likes. These birds are expert climbers, so they can even jump onto your hanged bird feeder.
Apart from uninvitingly feeding on your bird feeders, they can even jump on them, thereby breaking your bird feeders. This can be really annoying for dedicated birders that are keen on attracting different birds to their yards.
To crown it all, once these hungry raccoons find any easy meal, they don’t forget about the spot so easily. They will keep coming for more as they make your bird feeder their main food target. These raccoons may even destroy other things around your gardens as they aggressively and intensely forage around your property.
But the good news is that you can find some good strategies to deter these raccoons away from your yard. One of them is attaching a baffle on your bird feeder pole and this is what we will be looking at below.
Raccoon Baffles For Feeders: How Baffles Can Help Deter Raccoons
Although raccoons are big animals, they are professional climbers. Therefore, you should watch out for them as they can aim for your bird feeders you have hung your feeders.
Most of our bird feeders are mounted on a pole and this usually makes it easy for raccoons to climb. So, the first thing you can attempt when it comes to deterring raccoons from invading your bird feeders is to attach a baffle to the pole of your feeder.
The goal is to make your yard less attractive or less accessible to these raccoons and deter them away from your yard. So, a baffle can help.
A baffle is an equipment used to prevent or stop animals from climbing. A baffle will not only stop raccoons from climbing poles, but it will also prevent squirrels from climbing your bird feeder poles.
Baffles are cylindrical equipment and they are built in a way that makes it extra difficult for raccoons to climb. So, bird feeders are usually hung up these baffles.
These raccoons will most likely get frustrated from finding it difficult to climb end up giving up on climbing to reach the bird feeder. So, they may end up moving away from your side to other food locations.
Other Ways To Deter Raccoons From Bird Feeders
Apart from setting up baffles on your feeders, you can also do more things to further discourage raccoons from persisting around your yard. They include:
1. Make Feeders Available Only During the Day
Raccoons are nocturnal animals (i.e. they are active at night), they are perfect bandits of the night. So, they will most likely come for your bird feeders at night.
Therefore, imbibe the act of refilling your feeders on a daily basis. Empty out leftover feeders as the night approaches and avoid leaving any feeders at night. Doing this will discourage raccoons from lingering around your yard and there won’t be any reliable food source for them.
So, you should aim to put up only as much feeder that your birds can eat and finish in a day. You can also bring your feeders inside once its night time.
2. Hang Feeders Away From Trees
Raccoons are great climbers and they are capable of falling from up to forty feet just to access any food. If any tree is adjacent to close to your feeders, it will encourage raccoons to attempt accessing your feeders.
Therefore, ensure your feeders are in an open area and no possible access point for raccoons to reach.
3. Maintain a Clean Feeding Area
When feeders are spilled all over your feeding area, it tends to attract raccoons as they will become more curious to know if there is more to it. Unclean bird feeding area will most likely invite them to your feeding spot.
Therefore, you should make sure your feeding area is well maintained and clean any spilled feeder content.
4. Hire a Professional
If you’ve tried different techniques to deter raccoons from your yard and they are still persisting, then you can go one last resort to deal with the issue. Hiring a professional to catch and relocate the raccoons may be considered as your option.
Additional Say
Raccoons are greedy animals that can empty your bird feeders in just a couple of hours. Even though they are omnivores’ animals, they can still feed on your bird feeders. Hence, they become a competition to birds when it comes to bird feeders.
In all your doings to keep raccoons away from your bird feeders, remember these animals still needs to be kept safe so they can be involved in the ecosystem. So, try as much as possible to attempt only safe deterring measures. These animals are a just nuisance so you should aim to make them relocate from your yard.