Keep Squirrels Out Of Your Bird Feeder With One Baking Staple

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Squirrels have amusing antics, from their noisy chitters when they find something interesting, to their tossing of nuts from trees, to the way they always manage to get your dogs' attention when they're both in the backyard. One less-than-amusing antic, though? The way they absolutely pillage your bird seed, taking what was intended for your cardinals and house sparrows, served up in an old coffee mug feeder, and greedily eating it all themselves. One of the best ways to deter them is to make a squirrel baffle, from a common baking staple: A metal pie pan.

Yes, Ina Garten's only choice for a pie tin can be used in conjunction with PVC piping, which squirrels can't climb up, to make a tubular squirrel baffle that will fit around your shepherd's hook bird feeder. The pie tin, into which you will drill a hole that's large enough for the shepherd's hook to fit through, sits atop the PVC piping, providing an expanse that the squirrels can't get around to reach the feeder, even if they could make it to the top of the pipe.

You might not have any in your kitchen currently, but if you want to deter squirrels from eating your bird seed, you will pick some up ASAP: It's Carolina Reaper powder. This chili powder is made from the hottest peppers on the planet; Reapers tend to clock in on the Scoville scale at 1.5 million to 2.2 million heat units — by comparison, a jalapeño rates a mere 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville heat units (SHUs). Carolina Reapers are not to be trifled with, and as your resident squirrels will soon find out, the powder made from them, like this kind from Birch and Meadow, can leave you gasping, with tears in your eyes.

Will it hurt your birds, though? What makes peppers so hot is the capsaicin contained in them, which also numbs the mouths and throats of humans and other animals. But birds, not being mammals, lack the response mechanism that signifies pain from capsaicin. So they'll be totally unaffected by the Carolina Reaper powder, while the squirrels, once they've learned their lesson, will stay far away.

The only caveat with using Carolina Reaper powder is that a good wind can kick it up and potentially get it in your birds' eyes (as well as yours, of course). So you'll want the seed on which you sprinkle it to be in a more contained feeder, rather than one exposed to the open air.