You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Mrs STR has a bird table and various feeders, which has attracted a wonderful array of birds - many different finches, tits, nuthatch and woodpecker to name some. The clumsier ones i.e. squirrels, pigeons, crows etc, throw stuff everywhere.
We have a pretty large rat population mostly under the decking, but seem to be in the drains now too (and under my car bonnet 😭) - woodland behind the garden means they will always be nearby, obviously encouraged by the food supply. Mrs STR WILL NOT poison them
She insists that she needs to feed the birds all year, but for now I've made her remove the food supply.
Any way to bring the birds back and reduce temptation for the rats? Even without spillage they climb up the bird table and non-spill feeders don't seem great.
Birds shouldn't be fed in the breeding season - typically late Feb to Aug. It's likely to do more harm than good as the adults will take food to feed chicks. A nut / seed / chick interface could be disastrous.
You know that a squirrel isn't a bird, right?
You know that a squirrel isn’t a bird, right
Now you mention it....
Can cope with those critters, there's only a couple of them
Birds shouldn’t be fed in the breeding season – typically late Feb to Aug. It’s likely to do more harm than good as the adults will take food to feed chicks. A nut / seed / chick interface could be disastrous.
Hmmm, I'll research this. She's still saying otherwise. It's her domain
Mrs STR WILL NOT poison them
Outside the house she's absolutely right.
In answer to your question, no, there isn't really, though you could try planting mint around the bird table, or spraying mint oil around it. Basically things with very strong smells discourage them as they pee on and around safe food to mark it as safe, if it doesn't smell of rat pee they're much more cautious of it, though this is less true of adults than young.
No peanuts or fat balls in summer then 🙄🙄
Tried the citrus stuff to fend them off - doesn't seem to work.
Got ultrasonic repellers, that also don't seem to bother the rats - the cat's and daughter hate them though 😂
In fact one of the rats is deaf - you can make as much noise as you want and it isn't phased until it sees you
Pretty sure feeding all year round is at least not harmful, if not actually recommended. I’ve been feeding the local population of birds all year round for years, it doesn’t seem to have done them any harm, certainly not the starlings, who’ve increased in number quite considerably over the last couple of years since I started putting out feeders with suet pellets, and now mealworms, the racket they make squabbling over who has the right to any given feeder gets a bit much at times, same with the sparrows.
I think I might be the only person in the street who feeds them!
The hedgehogs use the bits of suet pellets that fall onto the patio as an hors d’ouvre before going onto the main course of kitty kibbles and wet dog meat.
The blackbirds like what goes into the ground as well as the chaffinches and the sparrows who pick up bits, as well as go after the feeders
Could try different sorts of seeds. eg sunflower hearts, or niger seeds. The birds might eat more of it, instead of chucking it on the ground.
I had an interesting conversation with the person scattering left over pasta onto the cycle route to feed seagulls a couple of days ago, who was very insistent that I didn't run over their food.
When asked why she was scattering food in the middle of the path if she didn't want it run over, I was informed that she had reasons that she was unable to share with me...
Could try different sorts of seeds. eg sunflower hearts, or niger seeds.
Not sure about the Niger, but the staple food put out are sunflower seeds - 2 bloody great sacks taking up shed space
We found sparrows flung stuff out of our hanging seed feeder that rats and mice were very grateful for - it's squirrel-proof, with a cage maybe a couple of inches in diameter bigger than the seedy bit. Some years ago, purely by chance, we ordered takeaway curry that arrived in round cartons about an inch and a half deep and pretty much exactly the same diameter as the cage - quick application of drill and cable ties, and we had a nifty catch-tray that swallowed pretty much all of the discarded stuff, which worked a treat. If the bushes got too close, cheeky rodents would climb up and dive-bomb the feeder, but with trimmed bush the problem almost totally went away. 🙂
Now only have fat balls and nuts in squirrel proof cages - the sparrows gobbled seed damn near as quick as we put it out. Now the only seed is in a bowl on the floor for the blackbirds, and that comes in if we're not in the sitting room to keep an eye on it.
We have loads of different feeders and different birds go for different seeds and chuck the others away, so expecting a "non drop" option is pretty impossible. The most simple answer is simply not to feed the birds if you are getting rats or put the feeders on a concrete patio type thing and sweep up the bits on a regular basis.
FYI - We also keep chickens and they pick up any bits pretty much as soon as they hit the floor.
When asked why she was scattering food in the middle of the path if she didn’t want it run over, I was informed that she had reasons that she was unable to share with me…
Was her name Louise?
you can make as much noise as you want and it isn’t phased until it sees you
Is it even bothered then? They can be quite belligerent things.
I had an interesting conversation with the person scattering left over pasta onto the cycle route to feed seagulls a couple of days ago, who was very insistent that I didn’t run over their foodI had an interesting conversation with the person scattering left over pasta onto the cycle route to feed seagulls a couple of days ago, who was very insistent that I didn’t run over their foodI had an interesting conversation with the person scattering left over pasta onto the cycle route to feed seagulls a couple of days ago, who was very insistent that I didn’t run over their food
I bet that took you by sorprese.
It'll have been a tripolini, one end tied to a bombardoni and the other to tree. She'll have been worried about you setting it off whilst she was too close.
Is it even bothered then? They can be quite belligerent things.
Yeah, ours are quite timid - they all scatter at the slightest disturbance - apart from the deaf one. Mrs nearly booted it one day
Unfortunately, the Mrs thinks they are cute....
3 babies having a look around - bottom left of the bumper (taken through the window on a phone)
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49832969253_84de811fc6_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49832969253_84de811fc6_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2iVyZB4 ]2020-04-29_02-32-22[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr
– bottom left of the bumper
Oh you mean in the drain.
They're not unpleasant things by and large. I wouldn't want them in my house though. So like family I suppose.
Oh gravel needs weeding.
Hi , similar issues here, so ...
Very large (15”)smooth plastic flowerpot with a hole in the middle of the bottom it stuck upside down 2/3 of the way up the (round)feeder pole.(between two jubilee clips) I have two large squirrel proof cages with small plastic (Chinese takeaway type things) bolted in the middle ( so a couple of inches from the side) it stops squirrels and starlings that are biggish.
A Niger seed specific feeder with tiny holes in it.
For stuff hanging in trees (or as I discovered jumpable from trees) I have
Recent discovery - not tried
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jacobi-Jayne-Clingers-Only-Feeder/dp/B004APRVB2 Apparently big birds can’t hold on too feed
Re rats , the missus whinged, action taken, traps inside boxes with small doors/ entry obstacles. You can get bait boxes (lockable, with tunnels and food compartments for poison)
Whatever you try, you're wasting your time. Stop feeding them and they'll move on.
Used to keep them as pets, lovely animals. Wouldn't want wild ones though.
We have a bird feeder. My wife fills it daily. All sorts of birds come along, the sparrows in particular eat one seed and in doing so throws 20 onto the ground. Other birds then eat the seed off the ground. It’s not long before it’s all gone. Sometimes then a sparrow hawk comes along to feed on the pigeons.
So, I wonder if you could put out just the right amount of seed so that it is all eaten long before the rats turn up?