Bird feeder mistake is inviting rats and pests into your garden - but there's a simple fix
If you're not careful, your bird feeder could be attracting some unwelcome guests to your garden - but there's a simple way to avoid it, according to experts.
A simple mistake with your bird feeder could be inviting rats and other rodents into your garden, but there's an easy solution.
Adding a bird feeder to your garden can attract a variety of birds, but it can also invite unwelcome guests if not used correctly. Rodents such as rats and squirrels may not understand that the food left out for robins or tits isn't meant for them, and they will quickly start eating whatever is left on the bird feeder.
No one wants to invite a nest of rats into their garden, so it's important to be careful about how you use your bird feeder.
Predators like cats and foxes can also be attracted to the food in your feeder, potentially harming the birds you're trying to attract. Often, predators and rodents are drawn to your bird feeder because of a common mistake, but it's easily fixed, according to experts.
Experts at Ideal Home explained that a major mistake many people make with their bird feeder occurs before they even purchase one. Buying a feeder of the wrong shape can make it easily accessible to rats or squirrels, who are excellent climbers, as well as cats and foxes.
However, there are many feeders out there that are designed to be squirrel or rodent-proof, and these are the ones that you should opt for if you are concerned that the birds aren't getting as much of the feed as you would prefer.
"If food is really hard to find in your area," explains expert Thomas Hibbert from the Wildlife Trust, "you could offer some seeds or suet in a squirrel-proof feeder".
The best ones to buy are "weight-activated, caged, and domed" bird feeders if you are looking to avoid encouraging pests or predators into your garden. However, if you aren't keen to spend your hard-earned cash on one of these specially designed feeders, then there are a couple of other options, the experts explain.
Most of the time, squirrels and rats will happily chow down on whatever you put out for the birds, but if you sneak in a couple of unwelcome ingredients they will swerve your feeder.
This includes things like sunflower seeds, which birds love but squirrels are not particularly keen on.
You can also slip in certain items to your feeder that will smell so bad to squirrels and rats that they won't touch it with a barge pole.
Garlic, pepper, cayenne pepper, and peppermint are all highly unattractive to rodents, so scattering some amongst the seed will significantly deter them.
"While these smells are unappealing to rodents, birds can't actually taste them, so sprinkling a little cayenne pepper into your bird feeders, for example, will act as an additional deterrent," the experts assert.
