bird tables attract rats

[MrKeeper]

3 plagues and a host of other horrible diseases caused by rats would of made enough people realise that they are disgusting little critters, wouldn't you?

[hobble]

Originally Posted by jamie1976

sorry to say and admit but rats need there numbers down quick ,i love wildlife of all kinds but i got no hart for the rat kill the lot dirty filthy horrible things

Are you friends with Jamie1976?

[lincs lass]

Rats kept coming into the garden and eating the birdfood and at one stage there were 5 on the table. Yes they got shot at, some were killed, but poison cannot be used due to the dog, cats and other wildlife in the garden. A humane trap was used but a little sparrow got into it and died - so that is no longer used.
Rats carry Leptospirosis and can be caught by dogs and is a potentially fatal condition and can be passed onto humans. So it's the rats that have gotta go I'm afraid.

[diiiiiiiinamite]

We have a lovely garden full of bushes, trees, shrubs etc, and for years I have quite happily fed the birds from feeders and a birdtable, its a joy to watch them. We also have a couple of nesting boxes for the blue tits which come back year after year...we've seen the occasional grey squirrel and a few Hedgehogs, but yesterday in broad daylight, for the first time, I saw a rat enjoying the spoils on our bird table at the bottom of the garden. I don't think he could believe his luck as he was back and forth for about 10 minutes.....he is now so cocky he visited again this morning. I will not be putting feed on a bird table anymore, or scattering any seed in the hedgerow, (I do this to give the little birds a chance of some food because some pigeons tend to invade the lawn)... I will now only use feeders placed high in the bushes and hope this will deter mr rat from visiting our garden again. There is a price to pay for everything!!

[Cowgirl]

Help!

I have a rat problem. Now I am a live & let live kind of person, until it starts affecting me! I have two bold rats which regulary visit my bird pole feeder, broad daylight, by climbing up the pole & helping themselves. It's right in front of the window but they dont seem to be bothered by me jumping up & down! Hubbie is trying to shoot them with air rifle, bless him, but not a brilliant shot (dont tell him I said that!). I have three dogs so dont want to use poison or traps but I was thinking of getting an outdoor sonic pest repellent which advertises as solving all my problems (I also want to stop the dogs from eating the bird seed), but its a bit pricy at £35, does anyone know if they work? I live rurally & do not want to give up feeding the birds To prove how much I love 'em I've just invested in some mealworms yuk!

[diiiiiiiinamite]

I have stopped putting food on the birdtable and have raked over the earth where the husks from the seeds landed, as said previously I now only use feeders hung from branches and have put some empty tins under the feeders to hopefully catch the husks, I am going to invest in some more expensive bird seed i.e. those whichout the husks. The sparrows prefer to feed off the ground so I put a few bits out for them but always keep a check to make sure it has all been consumed fairly quickly (which it generally is) and nothing is left on the ground overnight...I have been keeping almost constant watch since last posting on here and so far have not seen the rat foraging for food. Fingers x.

[Toby]

I get the odd rat in my garden eating the bird seed and whilst I prefer rats to chavs I would draw the line at either entering the house - maybe if they had furry tails ? On the other hand I was pleased to see a field mouse on the patio, seriously cute.

[juliejam]

Never seen any signs of having rats in the garden ..I Have three bird tables and many feeders around..lucky enough the food from the tables have long gone by the time night times comes around...having two cats who sit around the garden most of the time probably helps...but last week end when clearing out the garage came across what looked like the remains of a nest inside one of the recycle bags..I Let my greyhound Jazz have a look around and she found nothing so lets hope if rats had been present have moved on...

Julie

[andyc123]

My wife was recently surprised by a rat on our patio. It was scurrying around under one of the feeders but it was the first and only time we saw it. We also saw a huge rat over at Bempton cliffs around the feeders when we were there over Easter. I suppose that where there is easy food they wont be far away, the stats still say you are never more that 6 foot away or something like that dont they?