Suet & pepper

I make my own suet. I'm totally amazed at the different birds that love it. Alas---squirrels have a great love for it too. Would it work to keep the squirrels away if I added hot pepper to the mix? thanks, Beth

Hi Beth, This is a subject I've been working on recently.

When I buy a good brand of Hot Pepper Suet from the bird store the squirrels don't bother it except to investigate it then run away.

The first time I made Hot Pepper suet (it contained crunchy peanut butter) the squirrels started eating it immediately so I took out the peanut butter and did not have nuts or raisins in it plus added more hot pepper; they still ate it!

So back to the bird store I went and bought that brand again; the squirrels won't eat it!!

Thats my experiment up to date.

If anyone has some suggestions please post them; I don't like spending alot of money on suet! :-)

The one thing i can't get over is how brazen these squirrels are. I have a german shepard and a fast mutt and still have squirrels. the bird feeders are close to the house and they don;t bother them. they can eat a cake of suet before you can blink---hope someone has some good ideas. Beth

I gave up on deterring squirrels... the freeloaders will find their way around everything. LOL
I never tried hot peppers, but apparently it doesn't work that well either.
Fortunately they don't touch my homemade suet.... just the sunflower seeds.

By hot pepper are you meaning Cayanne pepper? That is the one they say use in regular seeds to deter squirrels.

I used to only put store-bought hot pepper suet in my feeders to deter the squirrels. Can't find it in any store anymore!

At one point we had so many squirrels, they were emptying a tube feeder a day and the birds could hardly get near it. We bought a Hav-a-heart trap to catch and transport them to the university campus or the park, each about three miles away. It was pointless. I think the longest we ever went without squirrels was a week. Eventually, others would come to take their place. Wish I known about hot pepper then.

Yes I was using Cayenne Pepper in the suet. :-)

Darn, I thought you were on to something Pelletory. You would think it would work since it does with the seeds.

I had used hot pepper (in liquid form) to mix w/ the seeds before I got the baffled pole and it worked but only for a short time.

I just made a batch of new suet and loaded it with cayanne pepper.------didn't work-------Beth

I read the label on the hot pepper suet bought at the bird store and it wasn't cayenne but another type of pepper. I'll let you know what type it is tomorrow.

I refuse to give up too fast. A squirrel wouldn't quit early. :-)

pelletory: I am interested in your 'recipe' or ingredients for homemade suet.
Mine is pretty basic and based on what is free,cheap, or on hand.
Fat from the butcher, (all I want free)
some peanuts or peanut butter, ground corn, sunflower seeds, mullin seed (another freebie).

Hi Cascade, The one I've been making has Lard, Peanut Butter Corn Meal,
Quick Oats, Flour, Cayenne Pepper, Raisins and seeds.

Like I said in a previous post I've been adjusting all this to try and deter the squirrels.

I can't put much suet out due to the Starling problem right now.

To stop the squirrels from eating my suet, I hung it on a 2 foot long wire. The squirrels quit trying to get too the suet.
I put out 3 different suets. Natural beef fat is by far the most popular.

When the Starlings leave I'd like to hang suet chunks up.

Its called Capsicum Pepper thats in the suet I buy.

Anyone familiar w/ that?

Capsicum is Cayenne to my knowledge.

Perhaps it may work better if used in the granulated rather than powdered or liquid form.
Just guessing here, but if I were a squirrel and bit into a chunk of that pepper I may not come back.