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Suet cakes and racoons, crows, etc.



Our suet cake has been attacked by various woodland and avian creatures, so
this is our system....

We nail the suet cake holder to a board, then suspend the board horizontally
from a tree branch with stout wire so the cake is upside down (that is the
board is up, the side with the suet holder is horizontal to the ground...
like this....

-------------------------------------
board
--------------------------------------
      -- holder   bottom         ---------
                   suet cake
    -- holder     top          --------

We put the suet cake inside, but leave it in the plastic holder, just
removing the wrapper. We wire the suet holder closed with snap holders
available from Lowe's, or you can wire it shut with stout wire.

So.... the crows can't get at the suet because they can't feed upside down,
and can't eat it from the sides because the plastic wrapper the suet comes
in protects it.
The racoon can't take the suet out of the holder, nor can he (she?) abscond
with the entire suet holder.

This method was learned at the expense of a lot of suet, and not a few suet
holders.

Russ Palmeri


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Daughtry" <cbirds@coastalnet.com>
To: "Carolina Birds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 6:29 PM
Subject: Summer tanager at suet cake


> It was less than one year ago that I learned about the suet cakes with
> hot peppers to discourage racoons and squirrels.  I have enjoyed Downy
> Woodpeckers, Pine Warblers, Y. rumped warblers and C. Wrens at the cake
> since then.  Today, the local male Summer Tanager has started eating the
> suet.  How did we live so long without a suet cake?
>     The only caveat is that a racoon will tear down everything to get to
> a suet cake until he has had a taste of the hot peppers.
>
> John Daughtry
> Greenville, NC
> cbirds@coastalnet.com
>
>