Food for the birds

I make oat cakes with cheap or out of date porridge oats, lard, seeds, dried fruit, chopped apple etc. Melt the lard and mix in the dry ingredients and set in old yogurt tubs or similar. The birds love them.
Birds also like stale cheese.

Be careful that your fat balls aren’t greasy. If the birds get grease on their wings they can’t puff them out to keep warm. It might be a good idea to soak the kibble first. Have a look on the RSPB site there is lots of help there. - and lots to spend your money on!

Mrs Blackbird are some of the ground down kibble this afternoon. I was thinking of mixing it with some fat but having read about their feathers I’ll keep it dry with water next to it.

Mr Dog feeds the birds with fat balls and assorted nuts/seeds etc, but I am concerned about attracting rats. He has bird tables with hanging nut baskets, and the birds drop bits of food on the soil beneath, and of course rats could easily climb up the pole to the tables.

Am I being silly to worry about rats? To be fair, he's been doing it for years and we've had none in the house up to now, but the idea of it makes me shudder.

I had a rat in the garden in the hot weather - the neighbours banded together and got rid of it. It was so confident, it would wander across the garden and stare at me! Even when I rushed out with a broom to wallop it, it just ambled off! I’m very surprised that as an avid bird feeder, I’ve remained rat free in this cold weather. I get a delivery of good quality fat balls every few months from QVC - they’re quite soft, so I can crumble a couple and they’re full of nuts and seeds.

I’ve had rats because of my bird feeder. But I haven’t put food out till now and I haven’t seen any rats for a while. The bird feeder is in a corner near a fence which the rats like whereas I’m now putting the food in the centre of the garden. Which reminds me that I must go and cover it up. Unfortunately rats and bird feeders go together.

I’ve given up with the pigeons. They beat me into submission.

So I provide them with their own seed and I give the other birds their own stuff in small hard to get at feeders.

Unfortunately rats and bird feeders go together.

I knew it! Mr Dog is adamant that I'm wrong.

Whitewavemark2

I’ve given up with the pigeons. They beat me into submission.

So I provide them with their own seed and I give the other birds their own stuff in small hard to get at feeders.

Same here! And our pigeons are terribly rude. They'll fly on to the table and glare in at me. I'm told they're not glaring at me but I know they are.

We also get very large sacks of mealworms for the smaller birds. They just adore them. Costs me a fortune!

Yes and me. I thought that I’d have to cut down this year - cost of living etc- but they just sit there looking starving hungry and I feel so mean.

Mine have seed, dried meal worms and suet pellets.

Doodledog

*Unfortunately rats and bird feeders go together.*

I knew it! Mr Dog is adamant that I'm wrong.

They also dig holes under the bird feeder to get at as much seed as possible. Hasn’t happened this year because I stopped putting food out. I had a whole family of rats romping around the garden one year. Someone I knew used to put seed on a sheet on the ground under a sheet of glass: only the small birds could get to it. I wouldn’t mind the pigeons quite so much if they didn’t then poo it out all over my patio and bedroom windows! I don’t want hedgehogs to get at the food I put out in case it’s bad for them but I don’t think I get hedgehogs in the back garden.

You need a terrier 😄

I was walking near Sainsbury yesterday on our way to the Downs and a rat crossed our path. Our terrier went berserk.

Not just terriers! We have a burn which runs just the other side of our garden, so we occasionally get water rats appearing - our Lab loves disposing of them!

😮😮😮 oh not ratty!!

We bought some Nyjer seed from a garden centre but they're ignoring it.

They're all Tesco birds round here.

Blondiescot

Not just terriers! We have a burn which runs just the other side of our garden, so we occasionally get water rats appearing - our Lab loves disposing of them!

Water rats aren't rats!!
They're voles.

I've got the cage type of bird feeders for the small birds such as Blue Tits. However does anyone have a way of leaving food for blackbirds etc that the pigeons , Jackdaws and Magpies can't scoff before the poor Blackbirds have a look in?

Ours prefer sunflower hearts and have ignored the expensive nyjer seed in the past, so ungrateful!!

Pigeons just sit under the bird feeders and wait for the finches and tits to feed them. I have completely given up with a bird table now.

If we have scraps I put them out early in the day so the birds can clear them before the rats come out in the evening. That's the theory anyway!

mumski

I've got the cage type of bird feeders for the small birds such as Blue Tits. However does anyone have a way of leaving food for blackbirds etc that the pigeons , Jackdaws and Magpies can't scoff before the poor Blackbirds have a look in?

We have a stone wall and push porridge oats into the cracks. Robins and blackbirds can get at the oats but not larger birds

Water rats (voles) are lovely creatures - quite rare in places.
Please don’t kill them. 😥.
As I’ve no house pets now, I buy special food for various birds and hedgehogs. No rats here since I got rid of the decking.

Water rats are an endangered species and protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 and it is an offence to deliberately harm or kill them.

Callistemon21

Blondiescot

Not just terriers! We have a burn which runs just the other side of our garden, so we occasionally get water rats appearing - our Lab loves disposing of them!

Water rats aren't rats!!
They're voles.

These are definitely rats, not voles! There are voles which live much further up the burn and you can tell the difference. One of our neighbours is a river environmentalist and confirmed that.

Georgesgran

Water rats are an endangered species and protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 and it is an offence to deliberately harm or kill them.

Sorry - see my reply to Callistemon - these ones are definitely rats and not voles.

Sorry Blondie crossed posts.
Show rats no mercy is my mantra. (and I’m an animal lover!).