throwing food into your back garden

Bowlardo

two different neighbours throw gone off bread and (now)chinese prawn crackers in to the communal back garden. I'm sure the crows eat it at some stage or the poor old other neighbour cleans it up when we are all out during the day.
Is this normal behaviour on their part?
would the not put in the pin or stick up an auld bird feeder or what not

wazky

More then likely will start to attract rats more than birds.

Bowlardo

wazky wrote: »

More then likely will start to attract rats more than birds.

that's what i was thinking too. would you in agreement that it is bad form to be doing it?

Ted_YNWA

Guaranteed to attract rats.

humberklog

WTF are cows doing in your backgarden?

greasepalm

plenty of birds around me from robin to seagulls and even seen a red squirrel enjoying a bit of rhubarb crumble,not seen the foxes for a while maybe roadkill got there first.

ScumLord

wazky wrote: »

More then likely will start to attract rats more than birds.

If it's a regular event happening around the same time every day the crows will get there first. When I throw food out the back of my place it rarely takes the crows more than 5 minutes to notice it. They have the whole town cased out for food.

My grandparents leave stuff out for the foxes

Donkey Oaty

greasepalm wrote: »

even seen a red squirrel

a/s/l?

The Backwards Man

Have you nothing better to do, doo, dooo than look out your back door?

/CCR

Sulla Felix

I throw some stuff out the back. Hard bread and cheese mainly.

Spring Onion

I always say no to prawn crackers...

kowloon

It'll attract rats in the bin too. Rats don't like coming out into the open and unless they're in the habit of roaming freely, they're cautious little beasties. They don't like changes in their environment, they're suspicious of new things. They tend to move about at the edges of walls and under cover. If rats are eating food being thrown out to them day after day you'll see the tracks.
If it's just a small amount being thrown out in the middle of the garden early in the day I wouldn't worry too much, but look for the tracks and point them out to the neighbour. Maybe they can put in a bid table with a squirrel guard

Banjo String

Will attract mice and rats after a period of time. Even bird feeders do.

lertsnim

wazky wrote: »

More then likely will start to attract rats more than birds.

More than likely that there's rats there regardless of what food you start throwing out.

Unknown Soldier

Banjo String wrote: »

Will attract mice and rats after a period of time. Even bird feeders do.

Mice or rats. They are not found together.

Most likely rats.

Spring Onion

kowloon wrote: »

It'll attract rats in the bin too. Rats don't like coming out into the open and unless they're in the habit of roaming freely, they're cautious little beasties. They don't like changes in their environment, they're suspicious of new things. They tend to move about at the edges of walls and under cover. If rats are eating food being thrown out to them day after day you'll see the tracks.
If it's just a small amount being thrown out in the middle of the garden early in the day I wouldn't worry too much, but look for the tracks and point them out to the neighbour. Maybe they can put in a bid table with a squirrel guard

Rats will not leave tracks in grass (unless they are those super rats found recently). Maybe in sand or dust but not grass.

Banjo String

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

Mice or rats. They are not found together.
.

I call bollox on this.

I seen them in abundance in whackers family pet store on Saturday.

seamus

Foxes mainly I think people do this for. I have yet to hear of anyone suffering a rat infestation because they throw leftover food out for the foxes.

However the logic behind it is that a well-fed fox is less likely to rummage through your bins and/or attack birds or cats.

Spring Onion

I once opened my compost bin to find a big rat at the top staring at me. He burrowed his way up from the bottom and loved the heat and vegetable scraps. So I set two big rat trap and caught 1 magpie, 1 crow, 1 large mouse and finally 2 rats.

Lesson: Put chicken wire at the bottom of your compost bin.

Unknown Soldier

Banjo String wrote: »

I call bollox on this.

I seen them in abundance in whackers family pet store on Saturday.

In the wild so....

Sir Arthur Daley

Throwing food in your back garden is dumping and disgusting.

corner of hells

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Throwing food in your back garden is dumping and disgusting.

How bout I just put it down gently ?

kowloon

Spring Onion wrote: »

Rats will not leave tracks in grass (unless they are those super rats found recently). Maybe in sand or dust but not grass.

They will if they're going back and forward to the same pile of scraps over and over again.



http://www.orkin.com/rodents/rats/rat-infestation/

Archeron

I left my bamboo table and chairs out in the garden and I'm now infested with panda bears. Be careful what you chuck on your lawn.

galwayrush

My next door neighbour does, including wrappers.

dodderangler

bluewolf wrote: »

My grandparents leave stuff out for the foxes

They really shouldn't.
Humans should not be associated with feeding foxes.

Snake

Feeding bread to birds is bad for them, anyway.

dodderangler

dodderangler wrote: »

They really shouldn't.
Humans should not be associated with feeding foxes.

Why
they're lovely

Sulla Felix

bluewolf wrote: »

Why
they're lovely

Because they eat the faces of the baaabbbiiiieeeeesss.

suicide_circus

Parents have thrown old bread etc for the birds into the back garden for 30 odd years, not a single rodent has ever materialised.

dodderangler

bluewolf wrote: »

Why
they're lovely

Humans should be seen as something for them to fear and avoid.
They'll start becoming braver.
This was the whole story behind children being attacked by foxes. I know it's more likely to be struck by lightening but the logic seems sound. Humans will be associated with food and the fear disappears.
That's the logic anyway

Snake

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Because they eat the faces of the baaabbbiiiieeeeesss.

So do I. I still associate with humans. Stop pointless discrimination.

Snake

dodderangler wrote: »

Humans should be seen as something for them to fear and avoid.
They'll start becoming braver.
This was the whole story behind children being attacked by foxes. I know it's more likely to be struck by lightening but the logic seems sound. Humans will be associated with food and the fear disappears.
That's the logic anyway

Sure that's only bollox. I had a cat here for months, I fed him everyday and he was still afraid of me, if they're not human friendly they're not going to start because food suddenly appears.

Smidge

Spring Onion wrote: »

I once opened my compost bin to find a big rat at the top staring at me. He burrowed his way up from the bottom and loved the heat and vegetable scraps. So I set two big rat trap and caught 1 magpie, 1 crow, 1 large mouse and finally 2 rats.

Lesson: Put chicken wire at the bottom of your compost bin.

Are you mixing foods in your composter?
Because if you put only raw foods in your composter it shouldn't attract rodents.
I put all of my cooked food waste out for the birds(always first thing in the morning)and within 3 minutes the birds have it cleared.
Although today they did pay me back by pooping on my freshly car washed car

greasepalm

van da loo hehehe

fussyonion

I throw scraps out to the birds and the rest goes in the brown bin.
In fact, since I've been doing it, I don't even use my black wheelie bin anymore..
I would only throw food out the back in the daytime..never at night.
Food is gobbled by birds in about ten minutes.

Don't see an issue with it. My Dad's been feeding the birds of his local neighbourhood for 40+ years................
.......................and the feathered variety too BADUM CHA.

*gets coat*

Matt_Trakker

ScumLord wrote: »

If it's a regular event happening around the same time every day the crows will get there first. When I throw food out the back of my place it rarely takes the crows more than 5 minutes to notice it. They have the whole town cased out for food.

Are you living in an Alfred Hitchcook screenplay?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

dodderangler wrote: »

They really shouldn't.
Humans should not be associated with feeding foxes.

I disagree. People feed birds, hedgehogs etc so why not foxes? The bias against foxes in some quarters is just incredible. I feed foxes when they are about the garden. They may only come to the garden a few times a year but I like to give all our wildlife a helping hand when we are destroying so much of the natural environment on them.

ScumLord

dodderangler wrote: »

They really shouldn't.
Humans should not be associated with feeding foxes.

If humans had said that about stray wolves 50,00 years ago we wouldn't have dogs. Give it a few more thousand years and we'll have a breed of semi domesticated foxes that are something like cats in behaviour.

Matt_Trakker wrote: »

Are you living in an Alfred Hitchcook screenplay?

No, there's just a big murder of crows living in my town. Most small towns have a resident murder of crows.

Sulla Felix

ScumLord wrote: »

If humans had said that about stray wolves 50,00 years ago we wouldn't have dogs. Give it a few more thousand years and we'll have a breed of semi domesticated foxes that are something like cats in behaviour.

No, there's just a big murder of crows living in my town. Most small towns have a resident murder of crows.

Already well under way. The russkies have been at it for decades.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

wazky

ScumLord wrote: »

If humans had said that about stray wolves 50,00 years ago we wouldn't have dogs. Give it a few more thousand years and we'll have a breed of semi domesticated foxes that are something like cats in behaviour.

Because that's what we need, more damn cats.

seamus

ScumLord wrote: »

If humans had said that about stray wolves 50,00 years ago we wouldn't have dogs. Give it a few more thousand years and we'll have a breed of semi domesticated foxes that are something like cats in behaviour.

That's a fair point. Feeding urban foxes likely does a good job of keeping the rat population under control.

Foxes are for the most part considered desirable wildlife in urban areas because they're largely non-intrusive and don't spread diseases to humans. This is distinct from rural areas where they're considered vermin when you have livestock involved.

jimgoose

Anyone who throws waste food into the garden like that needs to be tied up with piano wire and forcibly relocated to one of the less salubrious corners of Calcutta for six months. Assuming they survive, that'll learn 'em.

Amalgam

I think our local Vixen has trained *us*, we've been friendzoned good and proper. You can set your watch to a fox.

Blackbirds love cheese rind, they go manic. Not big on putting out bread for the birds though. Not white bread anyway.

steveone

I throw scrap veg on the grass, crumbs on the patio and odds n ends up on the shed. we have a loyal following of sparrows and the resident robins, rats and mice wouldnt get a look in.