Thanks @Lizzie27 for the heads up on potential mess. I’ll place it a bit further down next time to make to easier to scoop out any mess. Will also attempt to cover with some holly.
I had a look in a garden centre this weekend and found an assortment of seed catchers for around £10.
Lost track of this pages ago! Just wanted to say that my daughters friends dog had to be put down, leptospirosis. If anyone doesn’t know that comes from rats pee. for anyone who’s chain of thought is to live and let live or let’s release them somewhere else, as I see the Owl place advocates, I would think again. My OH born and bred on the farm then had his own, has dispatched rats for many years, we’ve never seen a dead one or a sick one.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Friends of mine have had success by using a piece of drainpipe around the pole of their bird food container. It's just too wide and too slippery for them to scale.
Just to reassure @WonkyWomble that I have not stopped feeding the birds although the feeders have had several iterations of 'rat-proofing' hardware. This is the latest and this still needs a bit of adjustment but so far no sign of the rats - Hooray
I was a bit concerned that all the changes and activity would put the birds off but they obviously need extra food as they are happy to keep coming back whatever their feeders look like. In fact I had barely got back to the house before the local robin was at the suet balls, definitely not a shy bird.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can still feed the birds this winter when I have found it encourages rats in my garden? They seem to be able to climb up and still get feed from feeders which are supposed to be vermin proof . Also there is still spillage by the birds which encourages the rats too.
I had a similar problem. I bought a £15.00 squirrel baffle, online, which fits very easily onto the post of my feeding station. 100% success. It was amusing to watch the rat try to navigate around the baffle without any luck. I haven't seen a rat since, which does not mean they have gone away as I am sure they come and eat the droppings from the feeders.
I had rats in a previous garden, eventually tracked down why. A neighbour 3 houses away had rabbits in their garden and rabbit food stored in a nearby shed. I watched a rat climb onto a dustbin, jump onto the side of the shed and climb in through an open window. My immediate neighbour had told me my compost heap was attracting them. When I told him what I had seen he relayed it to the relevant neighbour. Within days the rabbits were got rid of, then no rats. Rats are survivors and wily. I know they are in my garden, left over from when my neighbours had chickens and ducks. I do not mind them clearing up the discarded millet seed which the local birds ignore. I bought 2 expensive battery driven traps which electrocute rats but haven't used them as they are only for indoor use and the rats haven't ventured into the house. The squirrel baffle works perfectly for me, no corpses to dispose of.
@Lizzie27, I like foxes and would much prefer a fox than rats.
Here’s the DIY seeds catcher using a sieve. It was raining to I used twine so I could work quickly. If it works, I’ll use some garden wire once it’s a bit dryer.
It’s not very stable and where the handle meets the feeder pole, it has a tendency to go a bit wonky quite easily 🤔
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I had a look in a garden centre this weekend and found an assortment of seed catchers for around £10.
Just wanted to say that my daughters friends dog had to be put down, leptospirosis.
If anyone doesn’t know that comes from rats pee.
for anyone who’s chain of thought is to live and let live or let’s release them somewhere else, as I see the Owl place advocates, I would think again.
My OH born and bred on the farm then had his own, has dispatched rats for many years, we’ve never seen a dead one or a sick one.
I was a bit concerned that all the changes and activity would put the birds off but they obviously need extra food as they are happy to keep coming back whatever their feeders look like. In fact I had barely got back to the house before the local robin was at the suet balls, definitely not a shy bird.
Rats are survivors and wily. I know they are in my garden, left over from when my neighbours had chickens and ducks. I do not mind them clearing up the discarded millet seed which the local birds ignore. I bought 2 expensive battery driven traps which electrocute rats but haven't used them as they are only for indoor use and the rats haven't ventured into the house. The squirrel baffle works perfectly for me, no corpses to dispose of.