Households warned to never put common bird food out or risk rats

The last thing anyone wants in their garden as the weather begins to warm up is rodents. But if you’re putting bird feed out to be kind to wildlife, you could be accidentally attracting them with the type of feed you’re using.

According to the British Trust for Ornithology, feeding birds supports their survival by providing reliable nutrition during harsh winters or busy breeding seasons, especially as natural habitats disappear.

It aids in maintaining bird populations, helps weaker birds survive, and provides natural pest control, while offering educational and therapeutic opportunities for people, as it feels good to help the birds out, and many people encourage others to do the same on social media.

However, the seeds you put out for birds can also attract unwanted rats. But with a few simple swaps and smart feeding habits, you can help wildlife survive the cold without giving rodents a free buffet.

The brown rat, also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread, common species of rat. They can do considerable damage, carry diseases and breed at an alarming rate.

Garden bird feeding expert Lucy Taylor of Vine House Farm Bird Foods shared that “there are simple steps you can take to help ensure rats don’t set up home in your garden, with an absolute key one being to remove their key requirement of a source of food – and in this case bird food”.

Never put out cheap bird food mixes

This might not seem like an obvious step, but actually, cheap bird food seed mixes can be a major cause for attracting rats to gardens (while also a waste of money as far as birds are concerned).

The reason being that bird food mixes which contain cheap fillers like wheat and pulses, aren’t eaten by most birds and instead will be turfed-out of feeders and fall to the ground, as birds like Blue tits and Greenfinches rifle through the mix in search of the odd edible morsel.

The food then sits on the ground below the feeder, and although some species like Wood pigeon and Jackdaw may eat some of it, chances are it will remain there and therefore be available to a passing rat at night (rats are mainly nocturnal).

Instead, it’s better to buy good quality seed mixes, or just straight foods like sunflower hearts, as both will minimise the amount of food which falls to the ground.

Use a metal feeder pole or feeding station

Although rats can climb and would probably have little trouble reaching a feeder hung from a fence post or tree branch, they will struggle to get up a smooth metal feeder pole or one on a metal feeding station.

As a further measure, you can add a plastic baffle to the steel pole, which goes below any feeders, with these often sold to prevent Grey squirrels from getting to the food – but they work just as well for stopping rats.

Bring in ground trays at night

With species such as Blackbird and Robin ideally needing a ground tray or dish to feed from (as ground feeding species, they struggle with hanging feeders), leaving this type of feeder out overnight could be an invitation for rats.

So by bringing it in and storing it in a garage or other safe place overnight, then putting it back in your garden the next morning, the risk is removed.

In summary, now is the time of year to increase the level and variety of food you put out in your garden for wild birds. Rats are generally only attracted to gardens by bird food if precautions aren’t already put in place, with the absolute key one being to avoid cheap seed mixes and only use high-quality bird food, which therefore minimises waste.