Bird feeder attracting rats

[Old Merc]

Our feeder is very popular with a large selection of small birds. Unfortunately its also attracting rats, they pick up all the bits dropped by the birds. I`ve even seen one climb up the pole.
Our neighbours are experiencing the same problem, so its not just one greedy rat. Any suggestions to get rid of rats while still feeding birds, would be appreciated.

[rev-erend]

Limit the feeding to just the coldest months.

[Turn7]

I kind of goes with the territory sadly.

I suspect the only real way is a big tray under the feeders to catch dropped seed and that should also
Act a baffle to prevent rodents
Climbing the pole

[rxe]

The only solution I have found is a .22 LR with a night vision scope. With a source of food on the ground, the rats won’t even look at trap bait.

[Narcisus]

Our black Tom sits next to the bird feeder he's not bothered about the birds and the birds dont seem to care about him although they all scatter when they see any other cat.

I suspect any Rat approaching the bird feeder would have a very bad day ...

[Boosted LS1]

I had dwarf sunflowers and all sorts of plants growing up under my feeders. No rats to clear up the dropped seeds.

[Bacon Is Proof]

Reduce the number of feeders?
There's a definite hierarchy on my feeder with the smallest birds picking the scraps from the floor as there's no room on the feeder.
Or get some morehens, they'll hoover up anything. Love a bit of roast beef.

[Bonefish Blues]

A big-ass rat sat in our feeder tree prior to its abseiling down onto the feeder itself like some sort of SAS-Ninja vermin marked the end of our bird feeding according to my wife.

[anonymous-user]

I was watching a couple of rats the other day by the local pond. Fascinating creatures and massively miss understood. They are part of the clean up crew and more often that not cause very few problems.

[Mezzanine]

Put a squirrel baffle on your pole to stop the rats going up to the feeders and make sure they cannot launch themselves from any surface nearby.

Then try and limit the amount of food that gets left on the floor. I did this by putting less food in the feeders daily and so birds visiting will be more likely to eat what has been dropped as the feeders will be empty half way through the day but the birds were still hungry and in the area. The pigeons and blackbirds would essentially vacuum the floor whilst the smaller birds used the feeders.

Do you/neighbours have any decking or similar in the garden? Our rats lived under the decking and snacked on the all the excess waste food.

I also put some patio slabs under the feeder to help sweep up any waste which also helped immensely.

If they cannot get to the feeders and there is minimal waste left to rot on the floor it should help reduce the vermin.

[BoRED S2upid]

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

[Byker28i]

BoRED S2upid said:

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

Aren't gulls protected?

[anonymous-user]

Byker28i said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

Aren't gulls protected?

Yes they are

[Evanivitch]

Byker28i said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

Aren't gulls protected?

And it would be an offence to not take reasonable means to prevent non-target species taking the poison.

[bigpriest]

Birds and rats have very similar food preferences so if rats are around, you won't be able to feed one without atracting the other. Throw more bird seed on your neighbour's garden.

[ARHarh]

Make sure your neighbours have at least 30 chickens, that way they just go next door to eat the chicken food. They also have at least 3 cats to keep the rats at bay.

[Hub]

Bird feeders more out in the open? Reduce ground cover/ivy?

[BoRED S2upid]

MonkeyMatt said:

Byker28i said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

Aren't gulls protected?

Yes they are

Seriously? The plague of every coastline is protected?

I mean those huge herring gulls that prey on everything from baby coots to Greg’s pasties being held by small children. Not normal sized gulls.

[ChevronB19]

BoRED S2upid said:

MonkeyMatt said:

Byker28i said:

BoRED S2upid said:

Rat poison. Hide it in something the birds won’t eat like a sausage. Although seagulls will probably eat that, still one less gull / rat isn’t going to be a loss.

Aren't gulls protected?

Yes they are

Seriously? The plague of every coastline is protected?

I mean those huge herring gulls that prey on everything from baby coots to Greg’s pasties being held by small children. Not normal sized gulls.

Yes. They are protected.

[Pastor Of Muppets]

MonkeyMatt said:

rats ..more often that not cause very few problems.

Except taking the eggs and chicks from untold amounts of ground nesting UK birds, many of which are endangered to the extent of being red listed.

Weils disease and leptospirosis. On average 50 people DIE from Weils disease in the UK every year!!!.

Spoiling human and animal feedstuffs / destroy and contaminate vegetables / fruit and other plants in gardens / allotments and on farms.

Property damage on a monumental scale across the UK, Whether it be electrical wiring damage in buildings or that stored classic car getting its wiring / seats / carpets chewed into fragments.

This list could go on and on as I'm sure many on here will testify to the fact that the non native Brown Rat actually causes multitudes of problems for people and other wildlife all over the UK. To say they cause very few problems is utter nonsense.

In my local bit here in the past year or so people have had rats in their pigeon loft and killed a high value racing pigeon that was incubating eggs (caught on motion sensing camera).

Another had rats come into their rabbit hutch and kill all the new born litter of bunnies (were seen coming out the hutch carrying them dead).

A neighbour had a rat get into his Mini cooper through the vent behind the bumper and proceeded to chew the boot carpet and the back of the seat through the foam and got entry into the cabin where it urinated and st whilst chewing various things in the car.

The Farmer was working in one of the big sheds one evening when the 2 Jack Russels chased and caught a rat, they ripped it apart and ate bits of it as Jacks often do with things they catch, they both were very unwell the next day and the younger one died the day after that, it's brother recovered but it was never the same feisty Jack it was previously.

Lets be crystal clear here.....Brown Rats cause millions of pounds worth of damage every year in the UK. Fact.