Fat balls and possible garden pests

[DrBlackbird]

Hoping that fatballs, garden birds and possible garden critters is a fit adjacent topic for the gardening threads.

I tried numerous bird feeds and numerous bird feeders until finally finding a combination that works for our garden birds. Lived in harmony for about 10+ years. However, recently the crows and magpies have moved in and they leave much more of a mess of seeds on the lawn than the song birds did.

In the last week or do, our two dogs are incredibly interested in sniffing and running around the garden at night. I’ve found one smallish hole/burrow in the flower bed where they are particularly interested.

DH now saying it’s the fatballs and he’s not happy. Thinks the leftover’s dropping to the lawn are attracting critters either mice or rats. Anyone else with this experience and if so did they have to give up the bird feeding?

I have my bird feeder in the border not the lawn. The ground feeder tray is under one of those cages meaning all the lovely blackbirds can get to it but the pigeons and magpies cannot. Same with the water dish I fill daily, they bath in it, drink from it but again only the smaller birds, sparrows, robins, thrush, blackbirds and the local squirrel.

The fat ball feeder is positioned over the ground feeder with the cage so most of the bits fall into the caged area. I took these drastic measures as the pigeons were just sitting in the water and in the ground feeder tray for long periods.

I only put out enough food in the ground feeder tray so it is eaten easily in a day so no food sat out on the ground at night.

Thanks @RoofTopSingers so the fat ball cage feeder does let a blackbird feed? I wondered if they were too big but I’ll look into those.

And the ground feeder hasn’t attracted critters? Pigeons have definitely moved in recently as well.

Blackbirds are ground feeders. I have a lot in my garden and at least two nests.

I have that usual pole with a fat ball cage on it about 5ft off the ground. That hangs over this https://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/products/ground-feeder-cage and my ground feeder tray is under that. My feeder tray is smaller than the one in the picture as I didn't want pigeons etc to be able to get their head in. The blackbirds can easily get inside as can the other smaller birds. I can see the ground feeder and I don't appear to have attracted any rats but then I live next to woodland and there are foxes which no doubt help keep the number of rats down.

I have that same ground protector cage over a large plastic flower pot tray that I fill with water at least once a day. I have had magpies raid nests in my garden for both eggs and young chicks so I wanted them out.

I've had to stop feeding the birds (for the 3rd time in about 10 years) due to attracting rats into the garden. They then set up home nearby and twice have moved into my house! I live in a rural environment so there's plenty of food sources for birds here. I've also planted loads of things that attract insects and I always leave fresh water out.

We had some admittedly cute mice move in beneath our feeder so I stopped. I miss the birds though.

I only put out enough sunflower heart seeds that can be eaten in a day now, so there’s no mess or birdfood left by evening time. I bought a hanging table thing and got rid of the other feeders as I sadly had a rodent move in under the shed. Wood Pigeons, doves & squirrels do have a munch, but I like them as much as the small birds who also use it so not a problem for me. Not seen the rodent under the shed since I got rid of fatballs and other messier feeders.

See, this is my worry. I love having a bird feeder. The ground feeder with the cage would stop the bloody magpies (utterly decimated a nest of baby blackbirds one year and took a few years before the blackbirds came back). But neither do I want mice in the garden!

@Houndmumma what does your feeder look like now?

Crows and magpies would come for any food that they can get though, not just fat balls. Our magpies will even try to move the cover on the ground feeder!

The hole does sound a bit rat-like, but again rats could move in just because, and not only due to the fat balls. But it might be an idea to stop feeding them for a bit, and try to encourage them to go elsewhere.

Every time I have used fat balls, I have attracted rats

Oh dear. The DH might be right then. I think it’s a recent neighbour as the dogs have never been so interested in the garden at night before. Looks like I’ll have to stop the fat balls for a while and see what happens. We also have a wood pile that we probably need to clear out.

Sorry for the late reply. Here’s a photo of my two hanging bird feeders. I put half a cup of sunflower hearts in each a day. I don’t really get magpies. I get robins, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, nuthatches, wood pigeons and collared doves. Also squirrels, but as I say I don’t mind any of those. I actually find the wood pigeons very funny. When I had fat balls we saw the rat under the shed quite often, since we’ve moved to these feeders and only do no mess sunflower seeds and limit it to all they can eat in a day we’ve been ok. No food left for overnight.