Securing Your Feeder From Black Bears

Birdfeeders entice numerous bird species, from Sparrows to Hummingbirds, however they also entice an array of other critters looking for a quick dinner. One of the most worrying and persistent visitors to bird feeders is the black bear, that's usually looking for food after the long winter hibernation. While you can find easy solutions for preventing squirrels and cats from getting to birdfeeders, black bears are usually more complicated. If you are living inside an area inhabited with black bears, below are great tips to lessen the prospects of wild bears knocking down your birdfeeder.

Remove your birdfeeder when the springtime comes

If you reside in a region populated with wild bears, the state generally recommends completely packing up your bird feeder in between the months of April and October. April is when bears will be leaving their dens hungry and looking for the easiest food source. Since bears possess a very good sense of smell, they can be drawn to feeders and also have been recognized to knock them down. No type of wild bird feeder is protected from wild bears either. Black bears love bird seed used in hopper feeders, suet from suet feeders and nectar from hummingbird feeders.

Affix your birdfeeder onto a tall metallic post

For anybody who is adamant on keeping your feeder up throughout summer, a lightweight pole won't stop a bear from getting to your wild birdfeeder. Instead, attach your feeder to the top of a large, solid metal rod. Wild bears will shake a pole to get the wild bird feeder to fly off or will simply climb it when it is too short. To stop this from occurring, the pole must be about 10 feet tall and go several feet into the soil for added stability. It ought to also be no less than 3 inches across.

Dangle your wild bird feeder from tree branches

Another alternative to keeping your wild bird feeder indoors is to suspend it from the trees. Ensure it's at the very least 10 feet off the ground, so bears cannot reach it by standing up. So as to make it inaccessible, it should be suspended in between a couple of trees and might perhaps be managed by way of a pulley system. Bears will easily climb trunks and limbs for food, so ensure it's a good distance from them. Attach the wild bird feeder solidly to the rope, since there are many reports of black bears shaking the ropes vigorously to make it drop.

Place a lot of cayenne in the bird seed

Among the many remedies for preventing squirrels from eating your bird seed is to place cayenne in it. Birds lack tastebuds and there are not any unintended side effects on health, but mammals have tastebuds, so crushed peppers make your bird seed hot and spicy and undesirable to wild bears. A hefty amount should be mixed into the food for most satisfactory results. Even though the wild bears must eat the seed for it to be effective, they also have excellent memories, so they will remember next year that the seed was too hot and spicy.