Bluejay Peanut Feeder

On one of our trips to the thrift store, I saw a familiar item.  One of my Facebook friends posted a picture of a slinky-like wreath full of peanuts.  She had bluejays lining up one right after the other to grab a peanut.  I looked these wreaths up, and they were pretty pricey.  They were at least $20.  The one I found was in the craft section of Goodwill, and I'm pretty sure they didn't know what it was.  I was so excited and it cost $1.99 minus my senor discount.  I brought it home and filled it with peanuts.  I hung it on the side of the bird feeder.  Nothing even came close to eating those peanuts.  It rained and they got wet a few times.  I thought getting wet might be a good thing in case the peanuts were rancid.  Still nothing.  Once in a while I would see a bluejay try to jump from the ground, but they couldn't make it work.  I thought they would be perching on the wreath and grabbing the peanuts that way.  I finally gave up and put the slinky wreath away in the garage.  Then a few days ago, my friend mentioned that the bluejays were busy again.  I bought a new bag of fresh Unsalted Peanuts, specifically for birds and animals.  This time I hung it from a shepherds hook.  I put a few peanuts on a platform feeder to attract the birds.  The bluejays lined up and ate the peanuts.  Within thirty minutes the peanuts on the platform were gone.  I watched as the bluejays eyed up the slinky.  They were scared of it.  The next time I looked out the window, there were at least ten squirrels in the yard.  They weren't scared of Slinky.

I put a rod through the slinky to provide a perch for the bluejays.  All it did was give the squirrel a pivot point.

Yum, yum, yum.

Notice the rod was knocked out immediately.

STRETCH.......

I guess this method isn't going to work.  It's hard to out smart a squirrel, so back to the drawing board.  The Bluejays aren't going to starve and seem perfectly happy sharing regular birdseed with the other birds.