If you are having a problem with gray squirrels eating more than their share of suet, here is something you might want to try. Typically, squirrels prefer eating suet laced with peanut butter and peanuts. If this is the case in your backyard, simply replace the peanut butter suet with plain suet. While birds will eat it, it seems that bushytails are not particularly fond of plain suet. While this solution might not work in all backyards, this simple, inexpensive approach to this problem just might work for you.
I make my own suet with PB and lard and dry ingredients. I add cayenne pepper and hot pepper flakes to the mixture. So far the squirrels leave it alone.
Only thing that ever worked in our yard was the hot suet, but it only worked for a few months until the squirrels got used to the red pepper.
I have used the hot pepper suet for years, but recently got the plain suet without seeds, nuts, berries, and such, to supplement the hot pepper ones. I actually cut each of the suet cakes in half, so the cage held half hot pepper and half plain. And put them in the 4 cages. That was Mar 17. By March 20, the hot pepper half cake was gone, the plain half cake was hardly touched. They are slowly eating the plain. Interesting. Rick
Rick, thanks for sharing your results with feeding suet. My daughter says that the only way she can keep squirrels away is with hot suet.
Terry