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The placement map.

Print this and go stand in the yard with it. Ten minutes now saves the whole first season.

The one rule everything else follows from

Squirrels do not climb your pole. They jump to it. Birders call it the 5-7-9 rule: about five feet straight up, about seven feet sideways, and a drop of about nine feet. A pole guard stops the climb, which means the only fight left is the jump, and the jump is decided entirely by where the pole stands.

So seven feet of open air on every side is the floor, and the feeder itself about five feet off the ground. Give it ten if your yard allows. Seven is what an average squirrel clears, and the one in your yard does not have to be average. Clear that and the guard never gets tested, because he cannot get close enough to try.

Overhead view of a yard showing the seven-foot minimum clearance ring around a pole feeder and the wider ten-foot ring we recommend The feeder stands at the centre of two rings. The solid inner ring is seven feet, the minimum clearance. The dashed outer ring is ten feet, which is what we recommend. A fence, a tree canopy, a shed roof and a deck rail all sit outside both. Anything inside the inner ring is a launch pad. FENCE LINE TREE SHED 10 FT 7 FT THE FEEDER about 5 ft up INSIDE 7 FT IS A LAUNCH PAD. TEN IS SAFER.
Overhead view. The inner ring is seven feet, which is the published jump and the line you cannot go under. The outer ring is ten, which is what we would rather you had. Keep the fence, the canopy, the shed and the deck outside and the guard does the rest.

The five spots that look fine and are not

  1. Six feet from the fence. The most common mistake, because the fence line is where there is room. It is also a running start at feeder height.
  2. Under a branch. Overhead is worse than sideways. A drop needs no run-up at all, and the published drop is about nine feet, so clear air above the feeder counts as much as around it.
  3. Beside the deck. A deck rail is a launch pad at exactly the wrong height, and it is usually the spot with the best view from the kitchen. Pick the view or pick the win.
  4. Next to the shed or the garage. A roof edge is a fence with more height. Measure from the edge of the roof, not the wall.
  5. Where the old feeder was. If squirrels have been raiding a spot, they have already mapped every approach to it. Move it, even a few feet, and make them start over.

What to do if your yard does not have seven clear feet

Plenty of yards do not, and it is better to know now.

Try this first: walk the yard and look for the widest gap between structures rather than the prettiest spot. Corners are usually worse than the middle of the lawn. Trim the one branch that is closest to your best spot; often that single cut is the whole difference.

If there genuinely isn't a spot, a ground-pole station is the wrong tool for your yard and we would rather you knew that before you spent $99. A window feeder or a weight-activated hanging feeder on a long line away from any structure is a better fit. We do not sell either of those, which is exactly why you can trust the recommendation.

Questions about your specific yard: support@feederfort.com. Send a photo of the spot you are considering and a person will look at it.

See the Feeder Fort station →