Squirrel proofing a birdfeeder is quite a difficult job. Today there are many types of squirrel proof feeders on the market, but you will find many of them work by physically blocking the squirrel from the bird food. Pepper suet feeders take a different approach that works surprisingly well.
Wintertime can be the toughest months for many local birds. Many of the normal food sources are not easy to come by. Many bushed have dropped their berry or fruit production long ago, the insects that are a staple of the bird diet are in hiding, and the snow and ice serve to cover what little food is left. To help our birds survive the winter, we look for quality food sources to give them, and suet is often the choice.
Bird suet is a high energy food that is naturally suited for use in the winter time. Suet is a simple rendering of the fat some some cuts of sheep and cattle, and to attract a variety of birds often it will include other high energy foods like peanuts, which results in a bird food high in energy and easy to eat in winter. The rendered form of natural suet can go bad at warmer temperatures so many people use it only as a food in the winter. These days you can find find artificially rendered suet products that will tolerate the summer heat in many areas, so you can hang a suet feeder almost all year if you like. You simply put it in a suet feeder and the birds love it.
Like many types of bird food that we put out, the local thieves like squirrels love it just as much as the birds, so we have to find ways to discourage them. Many of the squirrel feeders today have all sorts of moving parts like doors or spinning motors to help keep the squirrels from the food.
Nature has provided its own ingenious solution. Over the course of thousands of years, peppers have evolved to have capsaicin, which is the chemical that gives pepper their "heat". But the birds are unaffected, and so will eat it right up. But the mammals like squirrels can find the heat most offensive.
Armed with this knowledge, we can try adding pepper to our suet to offend the local pests like squirrels and rodents. With pepper suet the birds are unaffected, but the feeder pests can't tolerate it. No need for swinging feeders, spinning feeders or big ugly baffles to ward off the squirrels.
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