Perky-Pet Squirrel-Be-Gone Bird Feeder, 2 lb Seed Capacity

This a a great feeder that actually keeps squirrels off! Their comical antics trying to get in is fun to watch. I’ve had 2 of these feeders for several years. On unboxing this one, I note that the design has changed. The perches are now lighter weight and hinged, and the hanger is of a different design, not as portrayed in the picture. I’m concerned that it is of a lighter weight overall and may be not be as durable. I will give it a try for a week or two, but if it doesn’t perform as well as the earlier design, I may sadly return it. For now, I have retracted one star. **** UPDATE **** The design change proved to be a plus. Still no squirrels in the feeder, even if they get on it, they can’t access any birdseed. They have to settle for ground feeding. Increased from 4 to 5 stars.

I’m still giving this Perky-Pet Squirrel-Be-Gone feeder five stars overall because it absolutely does what it’s meant to do, but there are some noticeable differences between units purchased months apart that are worth mentioning. Functionally, it works great. From a build and design standpoint, the older version was better. The squirrel-proof design is the main reason to buy this feeder, and it works extremely well. The weight-activated perches do exactly what they’re supposed to. Birds can feed comfortably, but the moment a squirrel tries to climb on, the ports shut down. That alone makes this feeder a win, especially if squirrels have been a constant problem. In real use, it has dramatically reduced wasted seed and squirrel activity. Bird activity has been excellent. Once birds figure it out, they come back regularly and feed without issue. It attracts a good variety of birds, and the 2-pound capacity is a nice balance between size and refill frequency. It holds enough seed to last without being overly bulky or heavy when hanging. That said, there are clear differences between the first feeder I bought and the second one purchased a few months later. The first one felt more solid overall. The area where the birds perch felt thicker and sturdier. On the newer one, that same area feels thinner and cheaper by comparison. It still works, but it doesn’t inspire the same long-term confidence as the earlier version. Another noticeable change is the hanging area. The original feeder had a better, more robust hanging design that felt secure and well thought out. The newer version has been changed, and while it still functions, it doesn’t feel as well built or as refined. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s definitely a step backward in terms of quality. Despite those changes, the feeder still performs very well where it matters most. It keeps squirrels out, feeds birds reliably, and holds up outdoors. It hasn’t failed, broken, or stopped working, and that’s why it still earns five stars. The design changes don’t make it bad, just not quite as good as it used to be. Overall, this is still one of the better squirrel-proof bird feeders available. If you’ve never owned the older version, you’ll probably be very happy with it. If you have, you may notice the same differences I did. Even so, the effectiveness against squirrels and steady bird activity make it a strong, worthwhile feeder that I’d still recommend.

Let's get this straight: NOTHING is squirrel proof. I appreciate the effort, but I wonder if "Squirrel Proof" uses actual USA squirrels in their tests? Sure, it takes a while for them to figure it out, but when they do, your feeder is no longer squirrel proof. My squirrels hang down from the baffle, the "squirrel proof" baffle, and hanging by their feet like an acrobat, feast freely, putting no weight on the feeder at all. Also either a squirrel or a woodpecker (or poor glue) knocked out one of the feeder chutes. Without the chute, the feeder can't close, and pours all of the seed out. Unfortunately, the lowest chute was destroyed, so all of the feed pours out. I've tried taping it up with "Impenetrable" Silver tape, and "they" ate right through it. That particular feeder is finished. Other than that, this is a very nice feeder. All sorts of birds like it. Larger birds do have a problem with the perches, they are too small for Cardinals and that size bird. It holds a lot of feed, it is easy to fill and easy to clean. If you can keep squirrels away from it, keep an eye on the chutes for signs of damage, you will like this feeder.

Definitely keeps the squirrels away, but the perches are awfully small. Better suited for Wildbird seed than sunflower seeds. Good for small birds in the yard.

This is my second one. Well made. metal outer and plastic seed holder inside. only issue is the plastic needs some kind of UV blocking coating. Plastic oxidizes in the sun. The central plastic seed holder, in the first one, kind of disintegrated in the sun. Wish I could replace just that part. We have this hanging near our dining room window, with a couple other feeders. The squirrels have been diving at our feeders like crazy, but when they get on this one and the outer part slides down to block access to the seeds, the squirrel turns to look in the window like he's saying 'really?'. I take pics of the squirrels, and think they're cute, but they can empty a feeder in minutes. That gets to be expensive. -update- I've watched squirrels, like the one in the picture, leap onto the feeder, then get frustrated and look in the window like they're saying 'really, man?" This one was chewing on the metal leaf covering the access hole! An issue that could be remedied. The little crossbar that holds onto the plastic container is barely held into small holes. I've had it start to come apart as I'm refilling it. I usually have to take it down and put it on the ground, holding it up while messing with the lid. possibly replacing it with a tube with flat head screws holding it from the outside! I fill it with sunflower seeds. I tried safflower ad the birds rejected it. The mixed 'wild bird seed' is also a waste of money because there's too much filler, like millett, and they eat everything but that. - while typing this, I saw a squirrel attack an open, hanging basket feeder I just put up 10 minutes ago. It's about 3 feet from this squirrel proof feeder that he's given up on!

I had this same feeder 20 years ago and while it didn't completely deter all squirrels (I have photos of an upside down squirrel cleverly avoiding the mechanism that pushes the outer frame down), it put a damper on them chewing their way through to the seed. I went through a few different styles of feeders before trying this one, and tried a few more before returning to this style. I bought another one last year and also bought a baffle for the pole. This combination seems to do the trick, as the squirrels can't get a good grip on the feeder. It holds a good amount of seed, and it is relatively easy to fill by pulling the attached top to the side. I use a small metal creamer to fill it, but a scoop would work just as well. I like that it has a lot of window openings, so the birds can get to the bottom seed, and the sturdy metal wire outer frame is easy for them to use and hold on to. Highly recommended!

I've bought 3 of these feeders, starting over 20 years ago. These are the best small bird feeders I've bought (and I've bought a few). This is also the only feeder I've seen where you can adjust the weight sensitivity of the squirrel blocker by adjusting a spring. They do not advertise this unique feature enough! I adjust the trigger to make it more sensitive, setting it to 3 out of 4, where 4 is the most sensitive. I'm not interested in feeding grackles and bigger birds. This allows smaller birds to dominate my feeder and the grackles eventually learn this feeder isn't for them. When buying a squirrel-resistant feeder, also look at the feeding holes. Are they simple holes with no "cover" inside? If so, then the squirrels can shake the feed out! I had to return another feeder because the squirrels learned that trick. But this feeder has a "cover" inside that makes it resistant to releasing food when shaken.

This feeder lasted a few months, but I did end up needing to replace it with a different feeder for two reasons: 1) the squirrels could still get to the seeds even when it was working as intended and 2) the squirrels could actually knock the whole thing down and eat their fill. The good: this feeder has a large capacity and never gave me issues with seeds clumping or clogging in the feeding ports. It seems to work with any size or type of seed and refilling was easy (although the spring that is supposed to keep squirrels from just opening the top of the feeder was damaged pretty early on - I didn't see any squirrels eating from the top of the feeder, so maybe it just failed quickly on its own.) The bad: metal cage does slide down and the cheesy looking metal leaves attempt to cover the openings, but the squirrels could jump from feet away or reach their little paws around the leaves and knock seed down from day 1 so they never left this feeder alone and quickly knocked off the little metal anti-chew bits around the feeding ports. Pretty quickly, the squirrels flat out beat this feeder: they figured out they can hang upside down from the cable that hangs the feeder and reach the feeding ports without pushing the cage down. Because the hanger is a big loop and not a single cable, it's tough to put a baffle in place that can actually prevent them from hanging on the cable. It wouldn't help for long anyway, because the squirrels then figured out a way to balance their weight mostly on the lip around the bottom of the feeder so the feeding ports don't fully close and just sit there shoveling seeds into their mouths. The fatal flaw: The interior chamber is plastic and the entire feeder is held up by a dowel that goes slightly into the plastic interior chamber on two sides. I didn't hang this feeder close to anything the squirrels could climb on because then the cage certainly wouldn't work at all, so the squirrels were constantly jumping on this feeder from feet away, and eventually hit it hard enough that the dowel that holds the whole thing up just popped out of the plastic interior and send the whole thing crashing down. The dowel popped back in easy enough, but the metal was kind of bent from the impact. In conclusion: I know the squirrels have cracked this feeder, I know this feeder isn't strong enough to take repeated squirrel jumps, and at some point I needed to just throw in the towel that buying a different feeder would be cheaper and less work in the long run than going through seed feeding every squirrel in the neighborhood with this unreliable feeder.

Easy to fill and gives my greedy birds plenty to eat as holds a lot! Great spring action keeps off the crows as well as the squirrels.

Mangeoire parfaite contre les écureuils et les plus gros oiseaux, fonctionne très bien, même les petits suisses n’arrivent pas à manger! Je la recommande

Das Futterhäuschen ist ein echter Hingucker. Leider war eine, der acht Sitzstange abgebrochen. Da wir aber das Häuschen erst zwei Wochen nach Lieferung in Empfang nehmen konnten (Urlaub...keine Lieferprobleme), haben wir auf eine Reklamation verzichtet. Aber trotzdem haben wir unsere Freude daran, denn es ist ausreichend Platz an den vorhandenen Sitzgelegenheiten. Außerdem sind unsere kleinen Gartenbewohner sehr erfindungsreich und klettern auch ohne die Sitzstange am Gehäuse entlang und finden ihren Weg zum Futter.

Très bien

Squirrels are very frustrated