Best Squirrel Proof Bird Feeders

About battery operated squirrel proof bird feeders

In spite of the fact that battery operated squirrel proof bird feeders represent the youngest generation of bird feeders in the market, they have already been established at the very top of the best selling anti-squirrel bird feeders today.
It is needles to point out how popular and efficient they are; the numbers of excellent reviews from previous customers speak for themselves.
All the feeders in this group have one thing in common: they use electric current from batteries to keep squirrels away from bird seed. That's why they are also known as the electric anti-squirrel bird feeders.
However, this group is not uniform as there are some crucial differences between specific models of feeders inside of this group.

Differences between battery operated squirrel proof bird feeder models

The first difference is about the way the feeders work. There are two equally effective but essentially very different concepts of feeder functioning you can choose from:

Spinning feeders: these feeders use electric battery power to spin the perch once the squirrel steps on it and the squirrel finally gets spinned off from the feeder
Squirrel shocking feeders: electric battery power is used to hit the squirrels with tiny electric shock so that the squirrels become conditioned not to hang around bird feeders of this kind

The second difference is based on the type of the battery. Thus, there are feeders with:

Rechargeable battery: the battery is integrated as a part of the feeder and the feeder usually comes with charger with or without additional cost for the charger.
Replaceable battery: feeders with replaceable batteries use commercially made batteries, usually 9V type

The best battery operated squirrel proof bird feeders out there

According to reviews of previous customers, the vast majority sent really positive feedback on two two feeders of this type:

1. Droll Yankees Flipper - spinning squirrel proof bird feeder

Yankee Flipper: spinning bird feeder with battery

After several hundreds of reviews and the rating 4.5 out of 5, Yankee Flipper is by far the best spinning anti-squirrel feeder in the market.
You can read all the reviews at this Amazon link.

Flipper has rechargeable type of the battery. The battery is integrated within feeder structure and the good thing about the battery is you can replace it with new one once it loses charging power.
Yankee Flipper's manufacturers offer limited lifetime warranty on the feeder, while the warranty on electric parts of the feeder is limited to one year.

This feeder is tagged as "Amazon's Choice" product and that's certainly great recommendation for quality, nice price and great reviews from verified customers.

2. Wild Bill's 8 station - Squirrel shocking bird feeder

Wild Bill's battery operated anti-squirrel feeder

Wild Bill is truly great squirrel proof bird feeder with electric shock surprise for the squirrels!
This feeder is rated with 4.0 out of 5 after well over hundred of reviews and you can read the reviews on this page.

Unlike previous feeder with integrated battery, Wild Bill's feeder does not need recharging. It works on replaceable standard 9V battery with enough power to give the squirrel tiny and harmless electric shock and keep it away from the feeder and the bird seed.
Don't worry - this feeder is constructed in the way the birds don't get shock at all.

Wild Bill is also "Amazon's Choice" product, meaning it is the top of the class of battery operated bird feeders.

Pros and cons of battery operated bird feeders

There's so much good about these feeders:

Both spinning and shocking feeders are really efficient against the squirrels because the squirrels will finally give up trying to outsmart the feeders
They are fun to watch and that's why kids love them! Squirrels are so sweet after getting dizzy from spinner ride or acting clueless after getting a little electric shock. All in all, they get instantly confused by electric feeder experience that's nothing like they are able to meet in the nature
Great customer support, fair warranty terms and spare parts you can count on

But there's one downside I can think of: you should never leave the battery without power.
Regular recharging or battery replacement is mandatory procedure.

Love at the second sight

Droll Yankees Flipper

At the first glance, "Droll Yankees Flipper" may seem like just another one of those squirrel-proof bird feeders you can buy online. It is for sure decent looking and undisputedly garden-friendly feeder, but it's not exactly state of the art and not exactly the love at the first sight, right?

But after taking another look into this feeder details, I have noticed several rather revolutionary features that can't be found with any other bird feeder in the online market. Also, after reading dozens of reviews by people who actually bought Droll Yankees Flipper, I could only conclude that what we are looking at here might be the world's best spinning anti-squirrel bird feeder ever! But let's not jump to conclusions without taking a good look under the hood.

Oh, and by the way: if you don't believe in love at the first sight, maybe it's time to consider believing in love at the second sight... because you are going to love what you're about to see here.

So what's under the hood?

Droll Yankees Flipper is definitely one of the most discussed and consequently one of the best selling squirrel proof feeders online due to the previous customers recommendations. It takes third place on top list of the best rated anti-squirrel feeders. So what are the features that make it so desirable and so special after all? Most of the customers agree that this spinning bird feeder is so much more than just a feeder: it offers almost 100% squirrel-proof protection with lifetime warranty to any feeder parts damaged by squirrels, it will keep bird food safe from germs (!) and believe it or not - this feeder will turn your backyard into small comedy theater as you watch the squirrel thieves getting harmlessly spun-off from the feeder wondering "what the heck is going on"! Now let's check all the features from general to more advanced.

Feeder construction

Top to bottom: DYF

Let's start from feeder top: Droll Yankees Flipper is designed to be hanged in your backyard. You can hang it to the tree or specially designed feeder poles (sold separately from this feeder). For the purpose of hanging, the feeder has already inbuilt looped stainless steel wire. It's not only that this wire is corrosion free - it is also strong enough to support the feeder when under squirrel attack. Also, the wire placement reduces swinging of the feeder in the wind or when having guests on the perch.

The top cap is tightly sealed to the food reservoir and there's no way the squirrel can open it from above or detach it by hanging over the perch.

The food reservoir is tube shaped and made of poly-carbonate plastic compounds. Poly-carbonates are UV resistant, so that the tube plastic never gets yellowish and ugly even after years of exposure to the sunlight. Being transparent just like usual glass is an with all the seeds visible from outside, the reservoir contributes to the feeder attractiveness to the birds. The reservoir may hold up to five pounds of bird food which is really handy if you don't want to refill it on daily basis.

Lower tray with spinning mechanism

The lower tray of Droll Yankees Flipper feeder (as shown at the image to the right) consists of four feeding holes, the perch and the power stick containing electric motor and rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. And now we are getting to the point - Droll Yankees Flipper is in fact an electric powered spinning feeder with it's own in-built battery power supply. Important thing about the battery is that it should be recharged only once per month while recharging process is no different than recharging your cell phone or digital camera.

Now that we know how how the feeder is been constructed, let's see how it works.

Spinning squirrel-proof function - how it works?

The first line of defense against the squirrel attack lies in the very construction length of food reservoir. The reservoir is 21" in height so there is no way the squirrels can reach feeding ports standing on the feeder top cap. So they will try and reach down for the perch. The moment the squirrel touches the perch, the feeder motor sets off and that's when the merry go round show begins till the squirrel gets spun off.

Hopping to the perch triggers the motor, spinning starts and parachute is required...

But how come the birds don't get spun off from feeder too? How can feeder tell the bird from squirrel? The "weight" is the key word here. The motor of the feeder is carefully tuned to set off at squirrel weight and no matter how many little birds feast at the same time, they can not weight as much as a single squirrel. Many of the customers agree this feeder is 100% squirrel-proof unless you forget to charge the batteries, of course.

Anti-microbial feature of spinning feeder

Standing in the open and exposed to all kinds of weather like rain, humidity, then all kinds of insects and other biological agents, bird food in plastic feeder tube can easily get infected with microbial life forms such as bacteria and fungi (mold and mildew). As we all sure don't want our birds to catch any kind of disease, Droll Yankees Flipper offers solution: patented silver-glass technology is actually in-built into the feeder tube, so it will not wash off or wear away. This is valuable and unique way of keeping bird's food germ-free. If you are interested in even more details on this protection please visit this page.

Comedy theater in your backyard? Why not!
Now this might sound bit off the topic, but on the top of all the qualities of Droll Yankees Flipper we've just run through I'd dare to say that this is by far the funniest bird feeder in the world. As there is no use wasting words to describe the entertainment it offers, I can only recommend watching this hilarious video and you'll soon find out what I am onto here (the show starts at around 3:00 time mark but you can watch it from beginning).

Rarely few things in this world could match the joy the children laughter brings in. Children do adore this feeder for the obvious reason but the adults are not immune to it as well.

Where to buy Droll Yankees Flipper?
If you really liked this bird feeder you can check for the best price at this link.
For hundreds of reviews written by people who own Droll Yankees Flipper please visit this page.

Bye bye squirrels...