What and when should I feed to my red squirrels?

What feed mix is best for squirrels?
Throughout the north of England, ready mixed squirrel feed is available from many local bird and pet food suppliers. If a mix is not available in your local store, contact Red Alert North West and we'll advise.

Please do not solely buy peanuts, it is not a good mixed diet.

Any mix should be well balanced, containing peanuts, maize, sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Hazelnuts are an excellent source of food and can be added to this mix, but can be expensive. For a source of high quality hazelnuts (cobnuts) try Allens Farm Kent Cobnuts.

Carrots and apple are a good additional food source. A diet rich in peanuts and sunflower seeds has been linked to metabolic bone disease in red squirrels in some areas and it may therefore be wise to provide an extra source of calcium. This can either be provided in drinking water in the form of a powder supplement (e.g. “Collo-Cal D” available from C-VET Ltd, Leyland, Lancs) or from a bone hung in a tree or a cuttlefish bone broken up and added to the squirrel mix. In the wild, squirrels can be seen chewing deer antlers - once they have been shed of course!

When is feed needed most?
Surprisingly, many people think that the winter is the hardest time for squirrels to find food. Surprisingly, this is not often the case.

The most important times for feeding red squirrels are the late spring and summer, from April through to August, when natural food becomes scarce. However, if the autumn/winter seed crop is poor then feeding may need to start earlier. Many people are feeding birds during this winter period anyway, so the squirrels may visit also if natural food is scarce.

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