Songbird Essentials Suet Palace

This is the first suet feeder I have ever bought, and it works perfectly for my purposes. Instead of a back yard, we have a deck that backs up to a ravine with a forest, so we have LOTS of birds and squirrels. The squirrels are particularly tenacious, and yet I haven't found one that can even touch this suet feeder. ( I hang mine from a double crook pole mounted to the deck, fairly high off the railing. They can't jump onto it, and they can't get to it by shimmying up the pole.) So no problems there. I have also watched grackles and red wing blackbirds try to get to this suet, to no avail. I bought this particular model because in addition to pests I don't want to feed on my suet, I have large woodpeckers I wanted to have a chance at this food, so I have the bottom plate removed for upside-down feeding access. I already have a beautiful red bellied wood pecker who is a regular customer - he has no problem feeding upside-down on the suet, and comes back multiple times every day. I am hoping as the season progresses to attract flickers and pileateds as well! My tufties, chickadees, and downy and hairy woodpeckers also have no problem feeding upside down, and all the smaller birds that like suet happily climb in and out of the cage to feed on the chamber inside. I have been able to feed lots of different kinds of birds with this feeder and am excited to see how it goes come our Ohio winter, when they will need the suet more than ever!The spring design that keeps the top closed has a really handy thumb loop, making this really easy to open and close for filling. The only downside to this feeder I have experienced is the size of the suet cage itself is a little abnormal. You can fit two suet cakes standing up inside, but they don't sit flush to the sides, and lean a bit (not maximizing the amount of suet that can be accessed on the bottom.) Three standard cakes are too many however, and don't quite fit (maybe if you had very thin cakes they might, but the ones I have bought are too big to triple stack) I am going to try cutting the suet blocks the next time I need to fill the feeder to see if I can get them to sit flush on the bottom better, since my primary reason for buying this particular model was to make sure the bigger bottom feeding birds got plenty of suet. We have a lot of trouble with emerald ash bores in our forest, and I am hoping to help the population of red bellied woodpeckers, since they are a prime predator for this pest!. I also find the suet doesn't naturally filter down as the birds eat from the bottom, so I occasionally have to open the top and push the suet down to maximize the amount available from the bottom.On the plus side, my local bird supply store had a model like this that was open at the top and much more expensive. I did not buy theirs, because this model here keeps the rain out at the top so the food doesn't get wet and moldy. (I have left my feeder out in the rain all day several times now, with no problem.) This is particularly important to me as my birds insist on showing up to eat rain or shine, so I would say this model is superior for that feature alone. The chain has proved sturdy and birds of all sorts really seem to like this feeder. It excels at keeping the pests out, and you can also keep the removable plate in the bottom if you don't want to feed larger birds.I would say if you want to feed larger woodpeckers, want something that is weather resistant. and want to keep pests out, than this is the perfect suet feeder for you! Just make sure you hang it high enough off the ground so the squirrels can't jump onto it and you'll be set! Also, a little creativity with suet cutting and filling may be needed, but all and all I couldn't be happier with this suet feeder. I have seen no other model on the market that so thoroughly meets all my needs as this suet palace!

So, I did not get this for a squirrel problem, but for a blue jay and starling infestation. This was a qualified success (see info about this below). First, it does look like it would be pretty successful in keeping squirrels out, but you might have to keep the bottom plate in below the suet box (provided--but this may impede some of your preferred birds like woodpeckers). Also, other reviewers have noted that the suspension system is pretty fragile, and I can see a fat squirrel pouncing on this and bringing the whole thing to the ground pretty easily (it wouldn't be hard to strengthen the chains and attachments with a little wire however).Now, for the bully bird situation. The good news-- it completely defeated the blue jays from day one. The bad news-- starlings can and will do anything in their power to attack the suet despite the cage. No matter what anyone says, starlings can, at least briefly, cling to the outside and the bottom of the cage. Long enough to grab a bite to eat one way or the other. They can't get much, but I was using peanut butter and seed suet which drives them absolutely insane. They would simply cluster in large numbers and desperately attack the cage all day, driving the other birds away. It took them a whole week to eat the suet (compared with one day), but nobody else got any. To solve this problem I had to make a variety of other changes. First, only safflower seed is now in the platform feeder nearby (starlings really don't like it). Then, I switched to pure suet (you can buy at bird stores or on-line, but I make my own cheaply at home-- two cups melted lard and two cups sifted flour). I was told that starlings won't eat pure suet. This is absolute nonsense, but they definitely don't like it nearly as much as the peanut butter. I hung an unprotected cake of pure suet in the opposite corner of the yard. This keeps the starlings busy a couple hours a day (they eventually tire of it). They rarely bother the suet in the "palace" now, I guess the effort is just too much and they don't like it enough to try. The very good news is that all the other birds (except the pileated) are very happy with the pure suet inside the "palace". The small birds went inside almost immediately (chickadees, wrens, titmice, downys). The larger woodpeckers (red bellied, hairy) and the nuthatches (and usually the downys) still prefer to hang on the bottom and feed. This means though that you need to leave the bottom plate out of the feeder. Overall, I think it was worth the investment with the other modifications described. Good luck!!

The chains on my Suet Palace broke after I hung it up. My husband had to buy cables and other gadgets to re-wire it to make it secure. I can't see how the manufacturer did not test this before putting it on the market. Clearly the thin chains are not strong enough to hold the weight of this device. I would have been willing to pay a little more for a better constructed suet feeder. The original suet basket I bought held up better than this and it was a few dollars. You will most likely need to find a way to secure this product using cables.Chickadees, smaller woodpeckers and other small birds are able to easily enter the Palace to eat the suet. The red bellied woodpecker balanced on the bottom and was able to eat.I bought the Suet Palace, based on other reviews, in hopes of keeping the bully starlings from eating the suet... they were going through an entire cake of suet in less than a day. I did not put the plate in, per other reviews, so my red bellied woodpecker and other woodpeckers could eat from the bottom. The starlings learned quickly to eat from the bottom... eating 3 suet cakes in 2 days and bullying my other birds from eating. I put the plate in and fortunately a smaller woodpecker was still able to eat the suet. Then a bully starling pushed him away and balanced on the bottom, pecking at the suet. It seemed he had an easier time staying balanced with the plate in.If you're looking for a suet feeder to deter starlings, this is not it. It is advertised to keep squirrels and raccoons out, not bully birds. I don't have raccoons. I have a baffle over the Suet Palace and that keeps the squirrels out.