Bird feeders are a favourite spot not only for birds, but for other wildlife as well. Racoons are usually not a big problem because they feed at night (when most birds are asleep) and they tend to be satisfied with eating the seeds and nuts that have fallen to the ground. However, when there are few other sources of food they can become quite destructive and make a mess of your feeders. When that happens, it’s time to read how to racoon proof your bird feeders (2021 edition)!
In order to learn how to racoon proof bird feeder stations, you need to know who you are dealing with. Racoons are surprisingly smart animals, and they remember easy sources of food. Anybody who has had to racoon proof trash bins because they once forgot to remove easily accessible food remains can tell you. Those masked little critters are very good climbers, despite their size and will have no issues with jumping to your platform feeders with pole where their weight and bulk can cause a lot of damage (and mess). I like to think of them as very large squirrels.
Raccoon Proof Your Bird Feeder: Quick Fixes
The easiest way to get a racoon proof bird feeder is making sure your feeders aren’t out at night when racoons go foraging. Bring your feeders in at night and put them out outside in daylight and the only animals eating the seeds should be the birds.
Another alternative to raccoon proof your bird feeders is feeding the racoons somewhere else in your garden. They are cute animals and many people love to see them around, when they are not being clumsy and destructive on a bird feeder. If you give them food in a ground standing feeding platform they’ll go there instead of the more difficult to access bird feeders, and you get to enjoy birds and racoons in your garden.
Racoon Proof Bird Feeders With Hot Chilli Powder
The type of food you use on your feeders can also be used to racoon proof your bird feeder. Racoons have very sensitive noses, as they are nocturnal animals. One little know trick to drive away racoons from your bird feeders is making the feed taste spicy, which racoons hate.
If you add chilli powder to the seeds, racoons will avoid them because (very much like humans and other mammals) they are sensitive to capsaicin. Capsaicin is the chemical in chillis that makes your mouth burn, and will definitely drive racoons away. Meanwhile, birds are totally immune to it and won’t even notice it’s on their food. In fact, capsaicin is 100% safe for birds and will drive away racoons and squirrels. Many commercial bird foods add capsaicin as a powder coat, liquid coat, or as part of a suet mix to drive racoons away from feeders.
You don’t need to use hot spicy bird food all the time, after a couple of attempts the racoons will learn that the bird feed is off limits, and will leave it alone.
Racoon Proof Bird Feeder Ideas: Hanging Feeders
If you have a racoon problem in your garden, you may need to rethink the placement of your feeders. Racoons are pretty good climbers, but they won’t climb to a hanging bird feeder that hangs on a wire between two trees. So this is the best type of placement for a racoon proof bird feeder. The seeds that fall to the ground may attract racoons so if that’s a concern it’s worth giving the area a clean when you refill the feeder.
Squirrels may try to walk the wire to get to the feeder, but that’s easy to solve: thread a plastic bottle on each side of the thread, midway between the end and the feeder. If a squirrel tries to walk over the bottle to get to the feeder, the bottle will turn and the squirrel will fall down.
Choose A Racoon Proof Bird Feeder Type
Another way to racoon proof your bird feeders is to install feeder types that racoons can’t use. You may have already considered them if you had to figure out how to squirrel proof bird feeders, as the mechanics are very similar. There are two types of racoon proof bird feeders that are widely available: weight sensitive feeders and cage feeders.
Racoon Proof Weight-Sensitive Bird Feeders
Your average racoon can weight between 10 and 30 pounds, which is much larger than any bird visiting your feeder. This means a weight sensitive bird feeder will keep the bird food safe from them, as well as from squirrels, deer and other larger mammals.
Weight sensitive bird feeders use a very simple mechanic. When too much weight is put on the perch (whether it’s a squirrel, a very large bird or a racoon pawn) the feeder closes and the food is protected. This kind of feeder is often adjustable, so you can for example protect the food from larger birds and allow smaller songbirds to eat from it. They are incredibly practical… and absolutely racoon proof!
Caged Bird Feeders For Small Birds
Wrapping a cage around your bird feeder will keep larger birds, squirrels and racoons from eating the seed. This will also prevent starlings from feeding if you notice they are becoming a problem. The only problem with this sort of caged feeders is that racoons can sometimes pull them to the ground to get access to the food, but often they won’t even bother trying if there is easier food around. They are quite opportunistic after all.
We like the following caged bird feeders for small birds because they are completely racoon proof, easy to install and have no moving parts that could break or malfunction. Sometimes simple works best!
How to Racoon Proof A Bird Feeder You Already Own?
Thankfully, retro-fitting racoon proofing is not very difficult. However, it needs to be done right because unlike squirrels racoons are quite strong and they won’t think twice about destroying your protections if they can. They are also pretty good jumpers, so if there are branches or poles near your feeder, they will use them as springboards and jump straight on to an unprotected platform feeder. And cause a big mess doing that.
Attaching a squirrel proof baffle to any platform feeder on poles can deter racoons quite effectively. However, wraparound baffles may not be enough to keep the racoons away on their own. They may learn to navigate it if they are sufficiently motivated (there is no other food, or the food on the bird feeder is very good) because they are large enough to climb around it. To ensure a racoon proof bird feeder wrap the pole on a sheet of metal so it becomes slippery and the racoons can’t comfortably manoeuvre around it.
Racoons have a very good sense of smell, and if you store your bird seed outside they may be able to break into your storage to get straight to the source. You should use the same kind of storage recommended to keep bird seed dry to ensure racoons don’t eat all your seed supplies and make a mess in your garden.
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