To carry on feeding the birds even though rats have appeared in our garden?

Because I worked in environmental health at the council for quite a while. If you encourage rats to nest and it starts to affect your neighbours they can place an order on the owner of the land to compel you to deal with the rat problem. If you put food on the ground it encourages rats. And it can be expensive to deal with because they breed quickly. I have a letter myself from the council asking all neighbours not to place feed on the ground because of a rat problem. We never have but our neighbour has an aviary and was doing this.

I had to stop feeding the birds. We live about 100m from a stream and farm so they are nearby, just didn't want them nesting under my decking. We do still get lots of birds due to berry bushes in the winter.

We had the rat problem. At first DH would not stop feeding the birds. We got pest control to poison the poor old rats, but one year later they came back. DH stopped feeding the birds and we eventually got rid of the rats. The trouble is when winter comes and it gets cold they will want to come into your house and they are very good at breaking and entering.

Rubbish. There will be no evidence that a neighbour feeding the birds caused rats in someone's house! As if someone will be charged 1000s of pounds to remove someone's rats, purely because they feed the birds in their garden!

Why do people insist on spreading nonsense on threads like this?!

It was dead. The dogs were desperate to get behind the gravel board of a fence (opposite side of the garden to the burrow). The gravel board had tipped over so I could grab it. I thought it was a squirrel until I clocked the tail! 😱🐀 I’m not brave, but I’m used to seeing rats and snakes at the yard.

Hobby or not, you are then encouraging the birds to stop feeding themselves in the wild. Look at the advices. It all say from
november-march you can supplement their feeding but after you have to let them
feed themselves - it s to keep the wildlife

You are correct, now I think about it I have seen fewer rats this year than usual.

We had exactly this recently, saw the rat scampering around under the bird feeders, which we’d adapted to be squirrel and water proof. We stopped feeding the birds, despite there being a big colony of spuggies. I don’t think you’re meant to feed birds when they have babies, something about choking the babies, so great timing. The rats will stay if you continue feeding birds. I’ve put large rocks/bricks over the burrows. Ours was starved out and I found this the other day.

Rather than feeding, offer a water source-we have a pond/mini waterfall that isn’t too fierce so we have loads of types coming for a drink/bath. We also have a dust bath (patch of bare soil) that they use every day.

This seems to be a good shout, if you do want to carry on feeding.

If that rat can't access the feeder (and if somethingis squirrel-proof, it will be rat-proof), then the remaining potential problem is wastage, and it sounds as thought a lot of bird seed mixes contain seeds that lots of birds won't touch.

Perhaps put an old sheet on the floor, under the feeder, for the day. That'll help you determine if some seeds are still making their way to ground level.

We sorted rat problem by only feeding sunflower hearts (from a squirrel proof bird feeder). With other bird feed the birds would spill the bits they didn't want onto the ground below, which the rats (nesting in neighbour's garden) would then eat. The sunflower hearts are more expensive but no waste and no rats. I also blocked off the rat runs under the fence with bricks and pebbles.

Yes, hence I've consistently said to remove the food source, or at least find a way to isolate it from the rats. Provided that's done, and the situation does not massively deteriorate, I do not think the OP needs to be particularly concerned about her or her children catching diseases. The current risk of that is akin to the risk of them being killed by lightning. She should take pro-active steps but there's no need for anyone to freak out at this point.

Decking is a particular problem. As is our slatted sheds. Food falls down from feeding goats along with hay and you have a warm bed and a food source. Add a nearby stream for a good drink and that's why we have an army of cats out on patrol. I saw a big guy the other day and I'm not denying he looked more concerned about being seen than I did about seeing him. I would leave them be outside if they didn't nore everything. Again, not their fault, as they need to do it for their teeth.

"Sweetness" is in the eye of the beholder.

A threatened and cornered rat with no means of escape might bite, but they certainly do not "go for the throat", nor are they capable of killing a human (even a small child) with the force of their bite alone.

There have been a handful of confirmed reports, throughout modern history, of starving rats killing small babies that have been left with them, unattended, for lengthy periods. Rats are omnivores but their preference is to eat vegetables and grains. They only occasionally prey on any animals, when they don't have other available food sources, and it is vanishing rare that they'd attempt to prey on a small human (we're likely talking 1 rat in every few hundred billion). Compare that to the ~25,000 humans killed by dogs every year...

We had mice round our low hung feeders so I stopped for a while then got an RSPB high pole feeder they can’t climb and just put out a small amount at a time. I ensure the water supply is kept clean.

We had decking and were feeding the birds. Rats came, got under the decking and gnawed through the house foundations into our cavity walls and ran amok in them every night.
It cost us thousands of pounds to dig up the decking, put down poison and eventually concrete the whole patio and use slabs.We still feed the birds but if I see 1 rat I'll stop.I'm more careful now and only use the feeders, put down smaller amounts and avoid fat balls.

agree with this….dont
inf the rats and keep feeding the birds.

But the whole issue is that the bird food is attracting them to a human habitation and supporting their breeding. If you saw one in the garden passing by then no issue. That's not the case here. The activity of providing a food source is supporting their breeding and survival and that us an issue.

They aren't incontinent, they just pee a lot (particularly the males). Something like 50-100 times per day.

But yeah, a very good reason not to want wild ones in your house - and it can be a bit of a problem with some male pet ones, too (in my experience, most are fine, but I've encountered a couple of enthusiastic pissers).

I love animals with attitude and self confidence. I breed goats. But Jack Russels are on another level😂

For goodness sake, I'm not arguing for the abolition of pest control. Rats, like most wild animals, carry potentially harmful diseases.

The reason that rats and mice are indeed pests, is because of their tendency to find their way into human spaces. It is generally a health risk to have wild animals in your home, or in eateries, or wherever else. Happily, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, birds and alike are not likely to find their way into your home and take up residence. Rats and mice, on the other hand, will and are not easily removed, hence they need to be controlled.

Uncontrolled, the rate of exposure would increase massively - as would building damage (and resulting fires from damaged electrics).

In terms of seeing one in the garden, occasionally, the risk is not substantially different vs seeing the occasional badger, hedgehog, squirrel or fox passing through.

Completely agree that if you have a problem with rats then getting a Jack Russel will solve that problem. All the other problems a JR will cause you are another matter though. I gave a family member who has 3. 2 have anti social behaviour orders out against them.

You need to take away the bird food or the rats will continue to come in your garden because you are feeding them.....

@WinterFoxes nope I don't think rats have increased this year but 2-3 years ago were big rat years.

Another helpful thing is having a Jack Russell - she chases them away, but that's not always a good thing as a night time activity as it upsets the neighbours but if it weren't for my dear little JT I might not have known the severity of the rats 2-3 years ago.

It's true that rats have better breeding years than others (about every 7) but that doesn't help the good people of Birmingham right now I'm sure.

They are intelligent, no doubt about that. They climb and swim and have routines and behavioural patterns. They carry disease and bacteria like salmonella due to where they live, they are incontinent so urinate as they move around, so wherever they have been their urine is there. Running across your food prep area at night pissing on it, for example. This includes in water which is the issue with leptospirosis. They cause millions of pounds worth of damage to cables by noring them. Then there's the rep from their fleas and killing 40 percent of humans in Europe, which wasn't really their fault but they get the blame for it.
They really don't jump for your throat though. They will jump past you if cornered, but they are not going for you, just trying to escape. They mostly like to keep out of the way.