# I'm stumped... how do I put birdseed INTO my Squirrel-Be-Gone feeder?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389 "2006-05-11T16:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/1 "2006-05-11T16:55:02Z")
I got this birdfeeder as a gift and it comes with no instructions. I can’t see a way to open it to fill it with birdseed. I could maybe funnel some in through one of the eating ports, but then I could only fill it as high as that port, not to the top like the photo on the box shows… Does anyone have this feeder and know how it works!? [http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=193409-507-936&lpage=none](http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=193409-507-936&lpage=none) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/2 "2006-05-11T17:01:22Z")
Behold the True Genius of this device – you keep the squirrels from eating the birdseed _by never putting any birdseed in it!_ Crafty! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/3 "2006-05-11T17:05:20Z")
Find a squirrel and ask it to put in the seed. Nothing is truly squirrel-proof. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/4 "2006-05-11T17:10:20Z")
I figured it out! It just feels like you’re damaging the thing to pull it apart that way. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/5 "2006-05-11T17:12:53Z")
Looking at the enlarged photo, It looks like there’s a sqare panel on the top, between the two sides of the hanger. Does this remove for filling? ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/6 "2006-05-11T17:42:49Z")
I have this exact model. The square lid lifts straight up. We had trouble figuring it out too. It isn’t totally squirrel-proof. We had one clever little individual who would hang off the side and grip the bottom with its front paws and the sliding cage with its back paws and hold it up so it could pillage the feeder, but I haven’t seen him this year. My solution is to just feed the darned squirrels! ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/7 "2006-05-12T00:14:15Z")
> [@XaMcQ](#): > > … My solution is to just feed the darned squirrels! Agree completely. They are SO much tastier when they’re plump and fat. Just be sure you nail 'em with a legal device…shooting them with a .22 is not legal in most city limite, but a high-power pellet gun shot to the head will definitely put the meat in your larder. Yum! I likes me some tree rats, yes siree. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/8 "2006-05-12T00:44:56Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > I figured it out! Thus proving that you are indeed a cat, and not a squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/9 "2006-05-12T07:57:07Z")
> [@XaMcQ](#): > > It isn’t totally squirrel-proof. We had one clever little individual who would hang off the side and grip the bottom with its front paws and the sliding cage with its back paws and hold it up so it could pillage the feeder, but I haven’t seen him this year. A woman in my parents’ neighborhood hung a bird feeder from a tree and put an upside-down pie plate on the string above it so squirrels couldn’t climb down and help themselves. Squirrel-proof, right? Nope. I personally witnessed one squirrel standing on the pie plate, making both plate and feeder sway back and forth, so seed spilled out for his buddies on the ground. I sometimes wonder if squirrel-proof birdfeeders are a mistake, if all they’re doing is hastening the evolution of smarter squirrels, until one fine day they’ll figure out how to pick locks, walk right into our houses, and steal all our peanut butter… ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/10 "2006-05-12T13:06:35Z")
I does look like the top should just lift up. Side story…After years of frustration from squirrels raiding her bird feeders, my mother sets out a “have-a-heart” trap each night to catch the buggers. Each morning she carts the trapped squirrel/s to the local landfill and releases it. She’s caught over 40 so far. I’m sure they’ve all made it back to her yard by now. 😃 They cannot be defeated. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/11 "2006-05-12T16:47:11Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > I does look like the top should just lift up… Yes, the top lifts up, but it’s held in place by all the spring mechanism that makes the thing “squirrel proof”… and so when you pull it up, you feel like you’re overextending all the internal workings of the thing… it’s just one of those cases where you are hesitant at first to pull hard enough to make it work, for fear of breaking it in case you’re wrong about that being the way in. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/12 "2006-05-12T18:45:18Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > Each morning she carts the trapped squirrel/s to the local landfill and releases it. . The local landfill?? LOL not exactly prime squirrel habitat… unless you mean in a plastic bag… heh. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-stumped-how-do-i-put-birdseed-into-my-squirrel-be-gone-feeder/356389/13 "2006-05-12T19:27:18Z")
> [@Whammo](#): > > The local landfill?? LOL not exactly prime squirrel habitat… unless you mean in a plastic bag… heh. She doesn’t actually drive into the landfill, just the dirt road leading in. It’s surrounded by forest. My mom would never bring them anywhere that wasn’t safe for them, being the animal lover that she is. It’s off the beaten path so if they’re a bit disoriented after their release they’re not likely to run onto a main road.