Raccoons - Stopping the Masked Bandit

Ever find your bird feeder on the ground, across the yard, broken or maybe missing entirely?  This is most likely the work of raccoons.

Raccoon damage is worst in late spring when female raccoons need extra calories to produce milk for babies and soon enough those babies will follow mom to the feeders too. 

Lock Feeders Down and Ration Food

WBU offers a Solution Clip to fit over the end of a shepherd's hook or WBU pole system arm to stop raccoons from taking feeders. Once feeders are secure, watch how much food your birds eat in a day and put out just enough each morning so the feeders are empty before dark. 

Baffle Them (Most Effective and Easiest Option)

Adding a steel raccoon baffle to your feeder pole is the most effective way to stop raccoons. Squirrel baffles won't cut it. Proper placement is important, so ask WBU for guidelines. By using a WBU Advanced Pole System, one baffle can protect many feeders at one time. 

If you have a small feeder hanging in a tree, a large overhead baffle may work. This is a bit trickier so bring your feeder (and perhaps a photo of the tree) to WBU to see if a hanging baffle will work for you. 

Turn Up the Heat

WBU offers a line of hot pepper foods that most raccoons take one bite of and leave alone. Birds lack the heat receptors mammals have, so they are not affected by hot pepper. These products come in several popular forms:

• Hot Pepper Suet Cakes & Plugs
• Hot Pepper Suet Cylinders
• Hot Pepper Seed & Nut Cylinders
• Hot Pepper Seed Stackables
• Hot Pepper Bark Butter Bits

Important Note: We do not recommend mixing loose pepper powders into seed blends. Not only is it usually ineffective, it can also become airborne and inhaled into the birds' respiratory systems. The pepper bound into the suet and cylinders does not create this issue.