After years of use, we thought it was time to replace our Droll Yankee feeder. The squirrel cover and the base shelf were broken from years of use and from falling to the ground from squirrels jumping on it and the suspension strings breaking. We bought this one and soon after we returned from a trip to find it on the ground with all of the rings around the feeding holes torn out either by a squirrel or perhaps a raccoon. The Droll Yankee design prevents that possibility so we found a new cover and a new base for the Droll Yankee and it is back in service. Also in our short use it did not seem that our birds liked being on the curved vertical wire. They prefer the horizontal resting wires under each Droll Yankee feeding hole.