Cole's HM20 Hot Meats Bird Seed, 20-Pound

I live in Alaska and love feeding the local birds. However, we have bears on our deck every summer and nuisance squirrels at our feeder. I can't say enough about this feed. We have actually had bears on our deck this past summer that completely ignored the feeder sitting on the deck railing!! No more squirrel problem either. We have even been able to mix in some of the regular black sunflower seeds to help stretch it out. It is a bit pricey, but worth it to be able to enjoy the birds. We still have to be wary of bears, but they aren't after our bird feed. Highly recommend!

I mixed this about half and half with Shaffer sunflower shelled seeds. The birds are loving it and the squirrels are not climbing on my feeders. I have seen rats in the past since we are against a woods. Hoping not to see them again. So far so good.

Squirrels are cute & I don't necessarily mind them in my yard. What I do mind, however, is their predilection for bullying birds away from the feeders, and the pooping & peeing all over them. After a lengthy battle of trying to dissuade them using baffles and alternate feeding sites, I finally overcame my guilt of subjecting them to the burn of capsaicin. I gave up & purchased these seeds. Bingo. Finally, after months of struggling to fix things peacefully, capsaicin wins. It did take the birds a few days to get used to them (even if they are immune to the burn, I'm sure they can still taste its presence), but they did start eating normally after a little while.

I was tired of feeding at least a half dozen squirrels the bird food I put out. I tried distracting them by putting out non-salted peanuts in the shell. It worked for awhile, but they atevthe peanuts, then went back to the bird seed.I put this Cole spicy seed out and Whammo! Squirrels tried it once or twice, now leave it alone... Birds do not seem to care and visit the feeders regularly. I HIGHLY recommend this bird seed!!!!!

I have been using this seed for two years. I no longer have any squirrels at my feeder. Previously I would have anywhere from one to four squirrels constantly on and around my bird feeder, which is hanging from a beam on my pergola on the back porch. Even though it had a plastic dome over the feeder, they would slide down the cable, hold on with their back legs, stretch out and slide off the dome, making a grab for the bird rest on the way down. OR they would jump from the wall of my house (yes, squirrels can climb bricks) and jump into the feeder, knocking seed to the ground and then feasting. Putting this seed in IMMEDIATELY stopped the squirrels. None. Gone. It is my assumption they can smell the hot sauce and just don't bother. They do not try to get at it, therefore I have never seen a squirrel spend a day trying to get at the seed, finally knock some to the ground and then eat it, discovers it has hot sauce on it and then claws their face off trying to get it off. (Whoever posted that bit of information must be furthering an urban myth for some reason). Case in point. Because this seed is rather expensive I decided to try out some cost cutting. I fill my feeder with half regular seed and then topped it off with Hot Meats. My thinking was that by the time the squirrels discover there is regular seed in the feeder I would be down to the Hot Meats and they would stay away. WRONG. They knew within 30 minutes that regular seed was in the feeder and they were back to sliding, stretching, grabbing, and jumping. I emptied the feeder put in all Hot Meats and I have never had another squirrel. Ever. Just birds.

Great product! Birds love it, and squirrels hate it.

Costs

I use it to mix and make other bird seed hot. This has saved my finch feeder from squirrels who eat the plexiglass to get at the birdseed.