I'm betting on raccoons as well. It's been a war of wits with them here in
our yard for the past two years but at this point I'm ahead, sort of. I
won't even go into how unsettling it is to have been outwitted on so many
occasions by them!! :-) I've gone through a progression of ideas for trying to
prevent them from stealing the suet - sometimes they stole not only the suet but
the feeder as well! So here is a description of the setup that has foiled
them (for now):
I obtained a short (12" or so) length of chain and wrapped it around the
branch from which I hung the suet feeder. Didn't leave much slack; that keeps
them from dragging the feeder off the end of the branch.
I use the older style suet feeder with the end that opens rather than the
newer green ones that have the whole side that opens - those are easier to fill
but easier to open.
I used to use the "dog leash" style clamps to close the feeder and to
attach the feeder to the chain but the raccoons learned how to open them. So I
switched to the smallest, cheapo padlocks you can buy. So I have a little
padlock attaching the feeder to the chain at one corner of the feeder and another
little padlock holding the other corner of the feeder shut. And everything
is secured so that there is as little slack as possible with the hinged suet
feeder "door". As you've seen, if you have much slack the thieves can pry
the door open and get to the suet even if they can't actually open the door and
get the whole cake out at one go.
Hope this helps and good luck!!
Sarah
Sarah B. Anderson
Cabin John, Maryland
B i r d N e r d 3 at a o l dot c o m
www.pbase.com/sarahbee |