How to build a "Flexi-Perch" Squirrel-proof birdfeeder for $10 or less

Step 17 Assemble the birdfeeder

When the glue on the PVC baffles is dry, insert the wire into the top of the pipe until it sticks out the bottom. I decided to paint my feeder first, you may too.

Pass the wire through the base plate and bend the bottom 1" of the wire to prevent the base plate from sliding off. Make sure the base plate is oriented properly with the tie wraps on top.

Rotate the base plate until it is in proper alignment and thread the ends of the tie wraps into the pipe and out of the perch slots.

Slide the base plate into the bottom of the pipe while guiding the tie wraps out of the perch slots until the base plate hits the retaining screws. The bottom of the base plate should be flush with the bottom of the pipe.

Comments

[OldMoose]

At my local Walmart they have some thin, flexible, cheap cutting board/pastry sheet thingies that we use in the kitchen for food prep that you could drill a hole in and use it above the feeder to keep the squirrels off. They measure 12" X 15" and and are real slickery and flexible. It use them on different types of feeders very effectively. Hope this helps.

[billr]

Sounds like a good idea!  When I was researching the flexi-perch, I ran across a patent using the same idea except the material was round instead of rectangular.

- Billr

[Hogan5]

Positive: Ok. This was a fun project and only cost a few bucks. Negative: This is a squirrel feeder! Not a bird feeder! Within a day, my squirrels were shimmying down this thing upside down and feeding at will. They hang off the bottom with a hand in one of the holes and eat or hang off one of the tie-wraps and eat, or just shake the seeds out and feed their friends on the ground. Already chewed off 2 of the tie wraps. No birds yet, as the squirrels have been at it constantly. I hung it below a bracket on a tree...it's 4' off the ground and 2' from the tree. They climb down from the top. It would prolly work if it was in the middle of the yard on top of a pole with a squirrel baffle below....but then so would any feeder. First rate squirrel feeder, very poor bird feeder.

[billr]

Hogan5, How long is your feeder? Maybe it needs to be longer. The 24"-long feeders I make are too long and too big around for my local gray squirrels to "shimmy down" and reach the feed holes - they have to let go of their foothold at the top and slide down, and then they're going too fast to hang onto the feed holes. You must have some bigger and stronger squirrels than I do! Lately I've been putting a piece of galvanized sheet metal over the top of the feeder to keep the squirrels from chewing the (PVC) top of the feeder off. If I make it a little bigger, it could act like the "rat guard" that thepelton suggests. - Bill

[thepelton]

Put a disk around the support wire to block the squirrels shimmying down from the top. The basic idea is like the rat guards the navy uses on mooring lines to prevent vermin from crawling up from the docks.