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

I had exactly this, we had beautiful birds, even a woodpecker and I loved looking out the window at them - until all I could see was a couple of large rats underneath them.
We got rid of bird feeders.

RSPB advice is feed the birds all year but adjust the type of food you give then in Soring and Summer.

Myself and my two neighbours either side have all stopped feeding the birds since we had and solved a rat issue. As much as I loved it, the rats got into our houses and cost us all a fortune to sort (all period detached cottages so hard to seal the houses entirely and lots of places to hide!). We all agreed to stop. You'll definitely be happy you stopped if you avoid the few thousand pound bill I ended up with!

The birds need help this time of year, it’s silly to say they don’t. Insects and seeds are not readily available yet.

Rats are always around.

No need to feed the birds in the spring or summer, take in feeders, empty, clean and disinfect them ready for late autumn/ winter redeploy. Rats are everywhere and also carry many diseases but without an easy food source(your bird feeders) may move on or if there is a nest you may need vermin control. If you leave doors open or have rat entry options, the rats will get into your house.

I used to have a lot of bird feeders at my old address. Only one was a ground feeder.
There was a vacant house a couple of doors down and rats started breeding in the garden and they ended up coming into mine. They even tried climbing up the pole that had a feeder on top. I had a composter at the end of the garden and I was worried they would start nesting in that.
So I stopped feeding them. It broke my heart and I felt dreadful. We got the ratcatcher from the local council in to sort out the rats.

The pp who says birds don't need feeding at this time of year is incorrect. Because of various factors there isn't an abundance of natural food available even in the summer and the birds really need a helping hand. But OP I really think if you know you have rats I would definitely give the feeding a break for now. But it's really distressing having to do that.

I always used to be paranoid about Weils disease when drinking from glass bottles or cans!

😆 great typo! Funnily enough there is no obligation to keep agricultural areas free from rodents so just shoo them under the hedge 🫢

It's so lovely getting to know your "locals" 🥰

Educate yourself
my old boss friend died from weils disease caught it work in manholes and the underground cable network

google weils disease

My mum has the same problem. Honestly as long as the rats stay in the garden it wouldn't bother me. Realistically there are rats everywhere. They're smart and generally stay away from humans, that's why we don't see them.

@ahe2If you decide to kill them a jack russell terrier would be both more effective and more humane than a cat. My young, fit, lightning-fast cat has brought a rat into my flat completely unharmed. Cats bring prey back to their homes to "help" their poor ineffective humans learn to hunt.

There is a large Yemeni / Syrian community where we are (and our neighbours on the other side are a mosque!) so this makes sense!

You can just stop feeding the birds, no need to kill them.

I love the don't worry about rats around your house and garden attitude. No problem with incontinent rodents who carry a number of serious diseases pissing all over the outside play areas ir even on your work surfaces if they get in. There are reasons we have strong legal requirements to prevent rats and mice or not to create harbourage for them. They were identified as a public health issue 200 years ago. They still are.

Then i really would not worry about it. Predators will keep them in check.

Rats are very sweet and as intelligent as dogs. I hate to imagine how they suffer being poisoned. Those who think it’s ok to do that should read about how it works. Shameful.

This is a thing in the park near me too, bread and nuts and sometimes even fat balls smashed into the grass. It just gets eaten by dogs (mostly my dog, annoyingly) and foxes.

Apparently it is a cultural/religious thing. Possibly in Islam, might be remembering that wrong though

I had this exact issue too. I love seeing the birds in the garden but DH was adamant we had to stop to deter the rat (family). We stopped for about a month and now I’ve started using the bird feeders again. No sign of ratty yet but I’m sure he’s not far away!

I agree rats are lovely, but you want to avoid a situation which sees wild ones from getting into your home. That usually has to end with pest control or snap traps, which isnt a good outcome for anyone.

I'd be very happy to see some ratties in a park, not so much wild ones around my house (unless I had good reason to think they were just passing through- but that's probably not the case if you're providing them with a food source).

Same thing happened to us, I tried putting things down to get rid of the rats but it didn't work so I just stopped putting out the bird feed.

I'd stop feeding them, no need at this time. Get a birdbath instead?

I wouldn't worry about there being rats in the garden sometimes, or on your children's play equipment.

For the most part, squirrels and other rodents carry the same diseases as rats and mice, and nobody panics when you see a squirrel in the garden. I actually like seeing rats in the wild, and pet rats, too. Lovely little creatures in the right context.

The wrong context, though, is when wild rats or mice get into your home (squirrels sometimes get into the roof, but seldom into food prep areas).

I'd cut back on feeding for the summer months, or perhaps investigate some alternative types of feeder. No need to panic, though (i wouldn't get pest control or anything like that) you just want to prevent the situation from escalating, with sensible preventative steps.

We had this problem last year. We've been here a long time and it was the first time we had this. We stopped putting seed out for three weeks until they moved off. It was a shame, in a weird way I enjoy observing all things, but I knew our neighbour's wouldn't be keen, and also they were growing in number. They seemed to move off after the 1st week, but we didn't put seed out for 3 weeks

This year we're feeding differently. Instead of keeping the sites stocked, we just put seed out in the morning. We have a couple of very small mice, but we have always had that and it's been easy to keep on top of.

Cab you stop long enough for the rats to move off and then be more strategic in feeding the birds? I must say, it doesn't matter if you only use high up feeders as birds drop bits.

Whether they “need” it or not, it’s a fun hobby.