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Talkback: How to make a bird bath

When feeding birds we seem to encourage Rats could you please tell me how to continue feeding the birds without getting the rats into our garden

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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

    Rats are never far away in tow or country so feeding birds can just make them more visible, especially in cold weather when they become bolder about nicking food in daylight.

    I get round the problem by using hanging fat ball and peanut feeders and limiting the amount of loose seed I put down for gorund feeders so it' sgone by night fall.  I've also taken one of those cheap rectangular compost sievs you can buy, stapled some fine net mesh to it to catch small seeds and suspended it from teh same place as the fat balls.  It gets a supply of loose seed every day and most of the ground feeders - except the chaffinches - have adapted to feeding from it.  That means even less spare food for the rats.

    I also bung sachets of rat poison down their tunnels when I find them.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • she is right they are never far away,best not to leave any loose food about .To tell the truth they climb anything if they want but the best is clear up dropped food and let the local come in to do some rat catching but not bird  catching so leave food containers well away from any ground cover but near a bush so they can dive in if a sparrow hawk is about.image

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    God idea to sweep uo anything thats on the ground by dusk.

    We find now that the only effective rat poison is Neosorexa

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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