I used to have thistle feeders in the yard and it took a few months but when the goldfinches found them i had dozens on them at one time.then the squirrels ate through the feeders to get to the seed and i gave up.I love squirrels too but I could not feed them enough peanuts to keep them out of the bird food too.I had dozens of squirrels in the yard tearing everything up I had for the birds.They were cute at first but after awhile I got real tired of them and gave up feeding birds.
Al