I started with a wire rope between two trees at a height of about 25' -
From that line I added a couple of pulleys and an appropriate length of rope, so its easy to lower and refill the feeder and suet...
Using a section of basic ventilation tube, used for forced-air for example, I painted it (to avoid the shiny metal reflecting light all over), and then added an old Frisbee with some wood blocks top and bottom. The Frisbee and wood pieces were then secured to the tube using (2) coat hangers (cut and straightened); drilled 4 holes in tube, placed coat hanger sections through holes and bent as required to connect to the Frisbee and lower wood piece.
Ran some rope through the two pulleys and tied off to top of Frisbee/tube.
Similar to the top I used a single coat hangar on the bottom so there was something to hang the feeder from. The bend - or low point - of the hangar is recessed a few inches into the bottom of the tube and centered. In theory this keeps the feeder and seed a little dryer.
I had read that any feeder should be 15' from anything, as some squirrels might jump that far. However, this is only 8' from the ground and maybe 10' from the closest tree. This is the 2nd Spring it's been up and we have not seen a single squirrel even attempt to get to it. They just can't grab on to anything and seem to know they would just slide right down.
Regardless of the method you use, with this type of setup you won't regret the effort.
Some additional notes:
1. Prior to setting this "system" up I had simply hung a feeder - where the top of the tube is - originally thinking that squirrels would not want to fall 25' to the ground. They could care less about that and would easily jump to the ground when provoked.
2. Both feeders visible in the photos are the type that close the feeding holes when the weight of a squirrel is present. This one is on the far left and works great. This is the one that is under the tube. While it does work I prefer to keep squirrels away and disinterested, lest they figure out how to chew through the rope!
3. Be sure to leave some slack on wire rope line for when it gets windy. Only once, during a hurricane, did the rope disconnect from the tree on one end (a steel eyelet straightened right out. The wire rope is rated at 2200lbs so the eyelet lost, which should have held about 420lbs). Also leave slack of a few inches of rope at top pulley when you tie up the tube/feeder, for the same reason. The rope itself stretches quite a bit, but want to avoid the hole setup crashing to the ground...
4. To make it easier to get the wire rope tightened / adjusted between the trees I suggest using a large turnbuckle. Having one on either end can be helpful. The rope won't really stretch, but if it is easier to get to one tree vs. the other it makes it easy to adjust as needed. And, maybe, with any "extra" wire rope you want to make a zip line - then turnbuckles will be very helpful, necessary even!
Products referenced:
I think from wildaboutbirds.com
