I have tried too many ways to defeat these blasted squirrels! They had overrun my yard and would clean out the birdseed within hours of filling it. I was going through a large bag a week. The squirrels aren't even afraid of our Doberman mix!! They would sit and stare at her from the feeder. All I wanted was to attract cardinals. The last straw was two weeks ago. My husband found our feeder on the ground, torn up and all of the food gone. I got onto amazon and found this one. It was literally the last thing left to try! It WORKS!! I didn't understand how it would work but it's cool--it hangs from a pole that attaches to the inside. As soon as the feeder pulls down a bit from the pole, the access to the food closes off! The squirrels used to hang upside down on the feeder and eat away-now as soon as they place their body weight on this feeder, SLAM!! No food. The cardinals are able to chow away while the squirrels sit with dumb looks on their faces from a branch. Priceless. The woodpeckers are able to eat too, but the larger blue jays struggle a bit. There's another review where the person lengthened the perch for larger birds and I'm going to look for that soon.

I've been feeding birds for more than 20 years. After moving back to the East coast 2 years ago, I found myself feeding hoards of birds on my deck from 7 different feeders-until the mourning doves took over. I changed feeders so the doves were left to forage for whatever fell and that seemed like an equitable solution for me and them and the regular visitors to the feeders. All was peaceful and pleasant until 4 squirrels started raiding the feeders, biting through the plastic to get at the seed and swinging from the feeders to knock them down or scatter seed to make it more accessible. Of course, this frightened the birds away so I left only the suet feeder and a cage sunflower seed feeder up. The squirrels were relentless in their pillaging and I looked into ordering a battery operated Rat Zapper to put an end to their unwelcome take over. I still might.

With the onset of very cold weather, it's hard for the usual feeder visitors to find regular, daily food and I remembered that years ago, I had this type of pest defeating feeder so I ordered another. I'm happy to say that the birds are back and the squirrels cannot eat out of this at all. If you get a Brome feeder of this kind, be absolutely certain to place it somewhere that is not close to any "footholds" that the squirrels can use to thrust themselves onto it. The first day I had this up, the rotten s.o.b.s were using the suet feeder to hoist themselves into the seed tray. That lasted all of 15 minutes until I moved the suet. Now the fat monsters just sit and stare.

I was so happy to foil the filthy things and see the birds back that I ordered 2 more large Brome feeders, one with a cardinal perch. The birds give me so much enjoyment it's worth the money to invest in squirrel busting feeders. These are all well made, no plastic for rodent teeth to gnaw through and very sturdily constructed. I'll save money in the long run by not having any squirrel empty my feeders within an hour of hanging and filling. Hooray for Brome!

This "squirrel proof" feeder just survived a bear! That's a strong bird feeder.

We have had this feeder for over 6 months and I wanted to wait before posting this review. This could be a 5 star feeder but am taking away a star for multiple reasons.

The Good
This feeder attracts all sorts of birds to the yard. The perches are very small but after several weeks all the birds got the hang of it. We have cardinals, blue jays, mockingbirds, sparrows, chickadees, doves :( and woodpeckers that all enjoy this feeder. A few squirrels have been able to access the food but mostly just get frustrated and stop trying. Watching them attempt to get to the food is quite comical.

The Bad
If your bird seed is chunky, the dispensing ports are quite small and food will get stuck in the ports, thus clogging the other food from falling down. I have to go out there often to dislodge the chunks. We like to feed a fruit and nut blend and honestly this is not a great choice for this feeder.

The instructions say dishwasher safe but I put the feeder in the dishwasher on the top rack and the inner seed tube melted. Also the paint is fading off the outer metal tube. So not really dishwasher safe. I was mailed a replacement at no cost but buyer beware.

Lastly, the metal perches seem to shift when a heavy bird gets on and then they remain at an angle. Hard to explain in writing but I am having to go out and unbend the perches daily. Definitely a design flaw.

Overall this is a great feeder and we have been happy with it. A few small tweaks in design would make this a five star product.

This feeder works perfectly for dried mealworms! My bluebirds are so happy! Thank you Amazon & Brome Bird Care.