A little treat for the squirrels at feeder 2

[harrycatcat1]

As the peanuts don't seem to last too long and also they are two quid a bag I decided to give the squirrels a change of diet with conkers mixed in with barley. If you are wondering what the tonic bottle is doing there it's because it's 25 yards from my blue barrel that I sit on. It's useful to zero the rifle. This is what I call "number 2 feeder station".

Edited to say the pictures 2 and 3 are from the feeder looking towards the blue barrel. 

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by harrycatcat1

[harrycatcat1]

Treats at feeder station 1

 

[Walker570]

Would it work even better if you chopped them up ?

Now you have set me thinking.

[harrycatcat1]

26 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Would it work even better if you chopped them up ?

Now you have set me thinking.

Don't know,  I'm no expert, I'm a new starter 😉🤣🤣🤣

I just pick other folks experiences someone said apple or carrots,  then I thought conkers 🤔🤔

[Walker570]

Well I have seen them carrying them off so assume they intend eating them and if we go for a steak they don't bring the cow do they. I thought chop them up into smaller pieces because then they have to sit still and eat/nibble at it whilst the lump of lead is on the way.    My mix for my flip tops is 25kg whole maize, a small bucket full of mixed bird food(small seed and sunflowers) mainly just for the birds and a small bucket full of peanuts. I pour a half of a bottle of the cheapest cooking oil I can find on this and mix it. As said I have a cement mixer which makes it easy and I then throw in two cups of GameKeep mixture which will stick to the oiled seeds.  Of course you can size this down to your own requirements. I do have a few conkers around and will add a few chopped up to the mix and see the result.

 The whole conkers they can grab and do a runner.

At the moment I am running seven flip tops and seven live catch cages so you can appreciate I need the quantity.

Edited September 28, 2021 by Walker570

[harrycatcat1]

35 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Well I have seen them carrying them off so assume they intend eating them and if we go for a steak they don't bring the cow do they. I thought chop them up into smaller pieces because then they have to sit still and eat/nibble at it whilst the lump of lead is on the way.    My mix for my flip tops is 25kg whole maize, a small bucket full of mixed bird food(small seed and sunflowers) mainly just for the birds and a small bucket full of peanuts. I pour a half of a bottle of the cheapest cooking oil I can find on this and mix it. As said I have a cement mixer which makes it easy and I then throw in two cups of GameKeep mixture which will stick to the oiled seeds.  Of course you can size this down to your own requirements. I do have a few conkers around and will add a few chopped up to the mix and see the result.

 The whole conkers they can grab and do a runner.

At the moment I am running seven flip tops and seven live catch cages so you can appreciate I need the quantity.

One of the reasons that I left the conker whole, I didn't explain, is that there is a theory that mice are taking my peanuts out of a trap and not setting the trap off so by leaving the conkers whole hopefully putting the mice off. I have shot a squirrel before with a shotgun and it still had a conker in its mouth when we got to it.

I doubt that a mouse would carry off a conker, unless anyone knows different 🤔

[Walker570]

Hah!! Silly me, forgot you had a traps set.  Still think chopped conkers would work though.  Your obviously too young to have watched Might Mouse

[harrycatcat1]

58 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Hah!! Silly me, forgot you had a traps set.  Still think chopped conkers would work though.  Your obviously too young to have watched Might Mouse

Tomorrow morning will be interesting 🙂 to see if anything has gone. 👍👍

[la bala]

Put a nail through the conkers, they wont carry them off then.

[Walker570]

You never watched Might Mouse either then. He would carry the tree off as well

No, joking apart that is a good didea because it means they have to stay and have a chew.

[harrycatcat1]

23 minutes ago, la bala said:

Put a nail through the conkers, they wont carry them off then.

Good idea 💡👏

[Walker570]

You might just drill them first as I think driving a nail through will split them. You might actually be able to put a retaining bar in the trap and slide the drilled conkers on save knocking a nail in every time.

I'm full of stupid ideas like that BUT about 1% of them actually work.

[harrycatcat1]

32 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

You might just drill them first as I think driving a nail through will split them. You might actually be able to put a retaining bar in the trap and slide the drilled conkers on save knocking a nail in every time.

I'm full of stupid ideas like that BUT about 1% of them actually work.

👍👍👍

[harrycatcat1]

Disappointing this morning,  conker chewed at the entrance to the trap, apples not touched, conkers gone off other feeders.

 

[Mice!]

I doubt anything can get to the apples on the string.

I tried putting conkers and sweet chestnuts in my feeders last year but they just went moldy, I saw afterwards pictures of them layed out drying like Nev does with his walnuts.

And someone posted a picture on FB the other day having shot 15 from around a chestnut tree. 

[harrycatcat1]

2 hours ago, Mice! said:

I doubt anything can get to the apples on the string.

I tried putting conkers and sweet chestnuts in my feeders last year but they just went moldy, I saw afterwards pictures of them layed out drying like Nev does with his walnuts.

And someone posted a picture on FB the other day having shot 15 from around a chestnut tree. 

I thought squirrels were acrobats? Saying that if they won't take the cores of the apples out of the trap they won't be bothered to do the trapeze off the string.

Wonder why they didn't take your conkers or chestnuts? Like I say I think where I am the pine cones are plentiful and probably more tasty 😋