Date: 4/15/26 11:42 am From: Chuq Von Rospach via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Pepper bird seed and suet
>
> We’ve got a rat problem and I’m thinking of switching to pepper bird
> foods. Just wanted to see if there’s a downside to this type of food.
We had a growing raccoon problem, so a few months ago I switched to a
pepper infused seed (Cool Birds, available on Amazon) in the ground feeder
and a pepper infused suet. It has stopped the raccoons cold. The birds
don’t care — I’m currently doing a dual suet with the one facing the feeder
pole the pepper suet (to discourage the squirrels) and both are eaten more
or less equally.
In my research I’ve found no downsides to the pepper infusions, and in
practice the same. The raccoons are super unhappy, and I still get an
occasional beggar at the patio door, but a number of them moved elsewhere —
we had 6-7 hanging around, and now it seems more like 2. I’m using a LOT
less seed, too. The one amusing thing to date is that some of the squirrels
gave up as well, but a couple have decided that they are going to still eat
the stuff, but they are far from happy about it.
I do plan on getting to the local bird store to see what pepper feeds they
have, since I’d rather buy locally, but in doing some research I’ve found
most of the Wild Bird Unlimited sell pepper infused nuggets vs loose seed,
which will probably be okay (and maybe contain the mess a bit) but I do
want to test them out.
chuq
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Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me)
Silverdale, Washington
Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer
