Subject: Rats at bird feeders
Date: Sep 5 21:06:16 1999
From: REWilley - rewilley at localaccess.com


This evening I spotted what looked suspiciously like a rat at the base of
two hanging bird feeders...appeared to have emerged from a hole and was
nosing around the spilled seed/hulls. The hole is about 3-4" across.
The animal had a slender body about 5-6" long with a tail about as long.
He didn't stay in view long, but seemed quite at ease while visible, even
though we were using power saws and have a German shepherd wandering the
yard.
So, was it a rat? And, if so, what do we do to eliminate it, but not
endanger the birds or dog? There seems to be little seed spillage, but
lots of empty sunflower seed hulls under the bird feeder. We have a catch
tray under the feeder as well. I rake out the seed hulls weekly and dump
them in the compost bin, mainly because they are unsightly.
I checked under another bird feeder, this a wire one we use for niger and
saw no tunnels under it, but there is a small hole (2" across) under
another hanging feeder that has sunflower seeds in it. I haven't noticed
these holes before today and they are quite visible, so I think they are
relatively new.
We also have chickens in a chicken coop with fenced yard...we keep the feed
in a metal garbage can and there don't seem to be any holes inside the coop
or in the yard. However, we usually keep several days' worth of chicken
feed in the feeder in there, which seems as if it might attract rats.
And, we have been feeding birds, owning chickens for 20 years and this is
the first we've noticed anything like this. Occasional moles and possums,
but not rats.
Trying not to panic,
Nancie
Centralia, WA