How to keep rats away from feeders??

lir6777

Hi,
I've been using seed feeders. fat ball feeders and a bird table for a few years now, but just today spotted a couple of rats skulking around- horrified!!!! I've had the pest guy out, who put down poison and advised we remove the feeders- I really really can't bear the thought of not feeding the birds anymore! Does anyone have good suggestions for how to keep feeding them while keeping rats away?? I'm going to get one of the seed feeders with a catch tray, otherwise I have no idea what to do.
Any suggestions appreciated!!

V_Moth

lir6777 wrote: »

Hi,
I've been using seed feeders. fat ball feeders and a bird table for a few years now, but just today spotted a couple of rats skulking around- horrified!!!! I've had the pest guy out, who put down poison and advised we remove the feeders- I really really can't bear the thought of not feeding the birds anymore! Does anyone have good suggestions for how to keep feeding them while keeping rats away?? I'm going to get one of the seed feeders with a catch tray, otherwise I have no idea what to do.
Any suggestions appreciated!!

I would suggest taking in any bird feeders you have out at the moment and put out a couple of traps. Don't feed for the next 10-14 days.

Also, search the forum - there have been several other threads on this topic before.

Traonach

The best way to get rid of rats is remove their food source. Laying poison is dangerous to many animals (sparrowhawks, owls, dogs, cats, hedgehogs etc) and they end up suffering a painful death just like the rats. Their is no wastage from your fat feeders or from peanut feeders, so you can keep them.

Make sure your bird table has raised edges and that stops seed from falling on the ground.

The seed feeders have wastage and seed can get on the ground so get rid of them. You can buy pork lard from tesco and melt it and mix it with your leftover seed. You can put this in you fat feeders. Alot cheaper method of feeding than buying fat balls.

Don't stop feeding the birds. With simple percautions you can still enjoy your feathered friends feeding in your garden.

sh1tstirrer

Traonach wrote: »

The best way to get rid of rats is remove their food source. Laying poison is dangerous to many animals (sparrowhawks, owls, dogs, cats, hedgehogs etc) and they end up suffering a painful death just like the rats. Their is no wastage from your fat feeders or from peanut feeders, so you can keep them.

Make sure your bird table has raised edges and that stops seed from falling on the ground.

The seed feeders have wastage and seed can get on the ground so get rid of them. You can buy pork lard from tesco and melt it and mix it with your leftover seed. You can put this in you fat feeders. Alot cheaper method of feeding than buying fat balls.

Don't stop feeding the birds. With simple percautions you can still enjoy your feathered friends feeding in your garden.

You seem to forget that rats can climb.

Birdnuts

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

You seem to forget that rats can climb.

They say your never more then 10 yards away from a rat in most cities/towns;). Keeping them out of ones house is the main priority. I prefer traps myself as it far safer then poison for pets, beneficial wildlife etc. and also avoids the danger of rodents dieing in wall cavities thereby causing bad odours and fly problems in your home/business for weeks if not months. Beleive me I found this out the hard way in my last house. The smell was so bad that I caught pneumonia from leaving open the bedroom window in the middle of January:(

doctor evil

cjbirdfoods that those poles that rodents cannot climb (had great hilarity watching a grey squirrel try to get up one) This also depends on where you have the feeders. Mine are not close to any structure that a rodent can jump from.

You could also fashion a funnel to go around the bottom but this will be rebundant if they can get to it another way.

Make sure you leave out fresh water.

I would wash out the feeders in warm water and dettol/milton.

sh1tstirrer

Birdnuts wrote: »

They say your never more then 10 yards away from a rat in most cities/towns;). Keeping them out of ones house is the main priority. I prefer traps myself as it far safer then poison for pets, beneficial wildlife etc. and also avoids the danger of rodents dieing in wall cavities thereby causing bad odours and fly problems in your home/business for weeks if not months. Beleive me I found this out the hard way in my last house. The smell was so bad that I caught pneumonia from leaving open the bedroom window in the middle of January:(

Rats in the attic not very nice. The only way to get rid of a high infestation of rats in an attic is to use something like storm rat bait. It makes them thirsty block off all water sources in the attic so that they will go outside the house to get water and die. More often than not they will hide in a burrow to die and any that don't can be picked up and burned. Even if your pet died it would be a small price to pay to prevent a bigger disaster like your house going on fire after rats chewing cables in the attic. Even worse if the house went on fire at night with people in it. When the rats have left the house block off where they got in usually under the foot paths to prevent any more coming in.

Birdnuts

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Rats in the attic not very nice. The only way to get rid of a high infestation of rats in an attic is to use something like storm rat bait. It makes them thirsty block off all water sources in the attic so that they will go outside the house to get water and die. More often than not they will hide in a burrow to die and any that don't can be picked up and burned. Even if your pet died it would be a small price to pay to prevent a bigger disaster like your house going on fire after rats chewing cables in the attic. Even worse if the house went on fire at night with people in it. When the rats have left the house block off where they got in usually under the foot paths to prevent any more coming in.

Worst case scenarios may indeed involve such actions or the services of a professional pest controller. However taking commonsense precautions in regards to waste food, maintaining gutters, facia boards, footbaths and leaving a few traps around etc. will usually prevent the situation going critical for the averge householder. In addition if you keep cats and/or terriers around the place the likelyhood of rodents getting in the house is also signficantly reduced. Indeed a good ratting terrier can take out a large number of rats in a confined space with astonishing speed and success as I've seen myself in the past with regards to infestations in barns,outhouses etc..

Birdnuts

doctor evil wrote: »

cjbirdfoods that those poles that rodents cannot climb (had great hilarity watching a grey squirrel try to get up one) This also depends on where you have the feeders. Mine are not close to any structure that a rodent can jump from.

You could also fashion a funnel to go around the bottom but this will be rebundant if they can get to it another way.

Make sure you leave out fresh water.

I would wash out the feeders in warm water and dettol/milton.

I use a large old bread tray(of the type used by bread deleivery men) cut in 2 peice to fit the area underneath my feeder. Before dark I empty any waste food on it into the bin. Seems to be working well so far.:)

lir6777

You could also fashion a funnel to go around the bottom but this will be rebundant if they can get to it another way.

Hmm- love this idea as there is a lot of food falling from feeders- any suggestion what I could use to make a funnel? Some kind of wire mesh? Wish I was a DIY-type now (or that B&Q sold bird feeder funnels! )