Finally - squirrel problem solved! 0:00 Intro 0:57 Previous failures at keeping squirrels away 2:40 How I've set up the fencer 5:34 How fencers work 7:30 Jeff getting shocked by the fencer 8:31 The fencer in use
Best thing about squirrels is they taste good. Have a retired neighbor that feeds them several times a day 365 days a year. They dig up my lawn to bury nuts all year long.. Never once saw one of them retrieve a buried nut. We had a neighbor that used to trap at least a dozen a year on his small lawn. He would paint a yellow or orange stripe on them then release them 6 miles away.Told me none ever returned but if it did would not give it a second chance but would test their swimming ability by placing them while in the cage to a filed 55 gallon drum.of water. Get tired of sweeping up peanut shells off our steps, sidewalk & patio. Tried putting vinegar & hot pepper on lawn but then they just bring over peanuts from neighbors lawn.
I did 15 cage to water filled wheel barrel in one week, I had ONE that appeared to REFUSE to die, I felt sorry for him & his will to live so I pulled him up & let him go
I have been playing mental chess with squirrels since I retired 4 years ago. I enjoyed the give and take and enjoyed watching them defeat my squirrel countermeasures. I would up my game and they would study and attack the new challenges until they found a weakness. I truly enjoyed the interchange (in spite of my wife and children thinking I had lost my mind). However, the cost of feed has reached a point where I had to cut my loses and just overwhelm their resourcefulness with brute force. I took an 8’ 4x4 post, put a 4’ 2x4 tee on top of that to hang my feeders on. I then shrouded the post in a 5’ length of 5” diameter galvanized ducting to prevent them from climbing up. I drove a fence post spike into the ground 10’ away from anything a squirrel could jump from and secured the 4x4 post on that. Problem solved, but the fun is gone. 😢
I did similar thing...used finishing nails as standoffs on a wooden bird feeder. Then attached bare copper wire...circumventing the feeder. Attached wires to extension cord...routed to inside the house. Waited for squirrel...when he started feeding I plugged it in... bizamm! squirrel flew off. After a while squirrel figured it out to not touch the wires by "tip toeing" over them. Funny thing...he'd tip toe over wires...I just didn't energize...watching him tip toe was hilarious. I'm a engineer too...guess folks are finding out what we do in our spare time. 😄👍
He has to be an engineer. Ten thousand dollars of technology to protect a ten dollars bird feeder! But, he can't resist an interesting problem that needs fixing!
Great footage; that's a good setup and squirrels are incredibly resilient. Cool to see Robins use it, they seem to prefer dining on earth meats. When they cleared off the Mesquite groves for a development behind us, large rats invaded our attic by dropping on the roof from an oak. When I trimmed it back, they just scaled the bricks. I secured every possible entry except a gable vent they had breached. I installed for them a convenient two rung "ladder" of bare copper, at the bottom of the gable. I then hooked up one of those transformers like you used, which allowed them out (with much trepidation) yet discouraged them from reentry. Nothing "persuades" freeloading mammals like good old EMF 😅
Nice video really enjoyed it!!!! I have same problem here in southern Texas damn squirrels steal my birds food. Feed is expensive now I enjoy the birds not the squirrels. BUT!!! I don't want to hurt the squirrels. Still it's funny to watch, thank you for posting.
Good design. "Fencer"? Never heard it called that before. I finally gave up on my bird feeder because the squirrels would wipe out the feeder in about 1 hour.
As you point out, grabbing a live wire causes your muscles to clench so you can't let got. Whenever moving wires around or touching a potentially live wire, touch the wire with the backs of you fingers. If your muscles clench, they pull away from the wire.
Ha ha, reminds me of a friend of mine who had to take a leak, so he unknowingly pees on an electric fence wire! Also, I have seen male dogs run up to a fence, hike up the back leg and leak on an electric fence wire! They do flips! Ha ha
Yeah, I had problems with raccoons, possums, squirrels, etc. Finally did a 3" separated parallel bare wire setup -/+/-/+ ~ with the wires laid in shallow, narrow kerf saw cuts connected to a 15KV neon sign transformer because I had one. Each only visited once or twice and got the message fast. They never came back.
I had to laugh! About 5 years ago we had the squirrel/bird feeder issue. They would jump off the privacy fence and land on the bird feeder hanging from a decorative pole. Watching from the kitchen window I was really getting aggravated. Since I just changed the coil on my 65 Mustang to a HP one, I went to the shed and took it out. Had an extra car battery so I brought that out also. I put 2 strips aluminum tape on the top of the fences top horizontal 2x4. Ran a pair of 18 AWG door bell wire from the wired in coil and battery to the kitchen window and on the inside I put a push button switch. Well for the first 2 days the squirrels stopped on the tape I hit the button and they went 3 feet into the air. Then they went to the middle fence horizontal 2x4 and I then did that one. Also lasted a couple days. They finally went to walking on the tops of the pickets and launching from there. Decided then to supply enough food for the squirrels and birds. Took down the feeder when the fruit rats started tapping the food supply.
Been looking for a set up like this for a while.. For me this is the next chapter in the squirrel wars. I’ve tried all kinds of deterrents on the feeders and I’ve built and modified all sorts of defences and deterrents but it’s time to let them ride the lightening.. Let the games begin.. (I enjoy watching them but they can get through 2 litres of sunflower hearts per day)
Yeah, I remember when I was a teen I crossed an electric fence, the wire was just below the groin and the wire shocked me on both legs,, and I will tell you lol , I never crossed that fence again ROFL.😅
I found that a feeder which limits the approach of birds also limits the approach of squirrels. A small rectangular tray of less than 1 in in diagonal diameter, is enough for one bird at a time keeps the squirrel attack down to one squirrel at a time and minimizes their destructive spreading of the food to the ground where they can invite the whole neighborhood for foraging.
Jeff, enjoyed the video! Beside testing the wire with your hand to see if it's working, would you be able to use a multimeter instead? However most multimeters are rated for 600 to 1000 volts. I've read that these fence zapper put out around 5000 volts. Any thoughts? Thanks
If you have problems with deer run a ground wire to the ground and put a small sheet of hardware cloth on the ground attached to the ground wire and attached to the ground of the fencer, they stand on the the hardware cloth and touch the hot wire with their nose or tongue and WOW what was that, yeah make sure all fragile things are removed from the area as it can cause a stampede if there are many, because they are naturally jumpy.
Make me laugh. I am working on a electric fence defense. I tried hugely potent pepper mixed in the sunflower hearts and the squirrels still came back. Electric is the way to go. It sure worked for me when I tried to cross farmer's fences to fish.
Why? I have my bird feeders hanging from 10 ft Shepherd hooks and I have never ever had a squirrel get near that bird feeder! And yes I have lots of squirrels.
Nice. My building has never been attacked by animals since its 1958 birth date and this year a adolescent downy woodpecker decided it would look better if a machine gun had hit it. So something has decided to live in its holes and eject my fiberglass insulation. Got a woodpecker video in the works??
I don't have any problems with squirrels on the bird feeders because they are happy with what I put in the squirrel feeders. Every critter is welcome to get some food at my place. Especially in winter. The colder it gets, the more food I put out for them. Nobody is chased away and nobody gets shocked.
We had 3 female dogs that were outside in a large pen, dog house, food, water. Well cared for. All 3 would climb the chain link fence (pen). We hot wired it by stringing a wire around the top of the pen. The first dog got zapped. The other 2 didn’t know yet what happened. Later each one got zapped & they never climbed out again. They caught on fast. Eventually we didn’t have the wire plugged in to zap them. They knew where the wire was & still never tried to climb out. When dogs climb a fence, they jump down on the opposite side & can injure themselves. They don’t comprehend the possible fact they could get injured doing that.
I was hoping you wouldn't do the big long drawn out explanation thing but you being an engineer you can't help it, its like you have to prove something. Electricity is a pretty basic thing and most people understand it.
When you touch the live wire you're only feeling a fraction of what the squirrels get - If you put one hand on the ground wire and the other on the live at the same time, I guarantee you won't have a silly grin on your face afterwards - you'll be doubled over cursing what you just did. Engineer...
If you are an animal lover you should love all types instead of electric. This is how mass murderers start out. The power of control over defenseless animals.
another bird brain, bringing mice rats squerrls, to his property, has no clue how many mice are living in his car garage attic, they call me, i give them bill for $3000.00 keep feeding the birds.
You should not feed birds. Of course it attracts squirrels duh. Then you get angry and want to hurt them. Someone should wire your house so you get shocked every time you try to eat. Take down the feeders you jerk!
You've _got_ to be kidding. These creatures are NOT Disney characters. They can be quite territorial and demonic. On my property we've seen them attack a nesting mockingbird mom and dump the eggs.
