Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have almost a dozen squirrels that used to regularly come and raid my bird feeder. I've seen eight in the yard at the same time. They're even coming from across the street. It used to be there were just one or two and I didn't mind providing bird seed for them, but with this many they monopolize the feeder and the birds don't even get a chance. I tried various ways of coating the seed with capsaicin, which was said to deter the squirrels. It barely even slowed them down. I bought a slingshot and started shooting dried peas at them. I even hit them a few times. They'd just run to the back of the yard, out of range, as soon as I opened the door, but unless I wanted to chase them they'd just wait down there until I went back in the house and they'd be right back at the feeder. A friend pointed me to the Brome Squirrel Buster Pro. It looked good but was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend on yet another "squirrel proof" feeder. The Squirrel Buster Standard seemed a good way to try out the basic design without spending a load of money. The Squirrel Buster Standard appears well designed and constructed of high quality materials. The fit and finish are excellent. Taking it apart to fill it with seed is simple and so is reassembly. What's not obvious in all the pictures is inherent to the design is a stiff metal hanger that's almost as long as the body of the feeder. Be aware of this when planning on a good location for it. So far, it's working exactly as advertised. The feeder is hanging from a shepherd's hook. I had to put the hook in the ground at an angle to keep the feeder far enough away from the shaft that the squirrels couldn't reach over, but it seems sufficiently stable. The squirrels have tried attacking from below, from above, and from the side. They can't reach it from the side and attacks from below or above shut the seed ports so they can't get to the seed. My only little quibble is that the feeder is quite small. I used a 12 oz. glass to fill it and was able to fit just two glasses of seed into it. That makes the capacity exactly as they say, 3/4 quart, or 24 fl. oz. The small size is a plus as far as the squirrels go since it gives them less to hang on to, but it is going to mean filling the feeder more often. I'm coming to this from a huge feeder. Even with a dozen squirrels feasting daily I still only had to fill it every other week. With a lot of bird activity I'm figuring I'll have to fill this one every two or three days. Still, that's a price I'm willing to pay if it keeps the tree rats from pilfering the seed. I've attached a short video of squirrels trying to attack the Squirrel Buster Standard. Mostly it's failed approaches but about halfway through one gets a good grasp and you can clearly see the ports close and his failure at gaining access to the seed. UPDATE: I've had the feeder for about six weeks now. The squirrels have pretty much given up on attacking it. About once a week one will have a go at it, fail miserably, and then return to feeding from what has fallen to the ground. The lack of an easily-accessible squirrel smorgasbord has greatly reduced the number of squirrels frequenting my backyard. The small size of the feeder has proved to be a bit of an issue. If I don't top it off every day I run the risk of it being emptied on the second day. The weather has been quite mild so this hasn't been a huge deal, but I might be thinking otherwise if there was a couple feet of snow on the ground. I've also had a problem with the rather small opening at the bottom of the tube through which the seed passes before getting to the feed tray. The seed mix I bought has some pieces of dried fruit in it and the fruit has gotten stuck in the opening and blocked the flow of seed. It's really an issue of incompatibility of the seed I have with this feeder, not so much a problem with the feeder itself, but it's something of which buyers should be aware. With seed mix like this the feeder may appear full from a distance but no seed is getting to where the birds can get at it. All told I'm still very happy with this purchase. My only regret is that I didn't find this feeder sooner. FURTHER UPDATE: I was happy enough with this purchase that I decided to spring for the big brother, the Squirrel Buster Plus. That one is a lot larger, but also has smaller holes situated a little bit above the feeding tray. The birds have to poke their beaks in a ways to get at the seed and the smaller opening keeps inside the feeder most of the seed that would otherwise be scattered. This brings up a significant flaw with the Squirrel Buster Standard. The feeding ports are too big. The messy eaters scatter seed all over the place. I just put up the Standard next to the Plus that's been hanging up for a couple weeks. In about six hours the birds completely emptied the Standard, most of the seed ending up on the ground. The squirrels don't need to eat right from the feeder, they just sit underneath and graze on the spillage. I'm going to see what I can do about reducing the size of the openings but I'm not hopeful. This feeder does keep the squirrels out but the rate of spillage is such that it almost doesn't matter. The feeder empties just as fast as if the squirrels could eat from it.