When a neighbor told me my feeder setup was drawing rats

I live in Columbus and have been feeding birds for about 10 years now. Last spring a neighbor two houses down came over and said he saw rats running under my feeder at dusk. I felt terrible because I never noticed that. He explained that cheap mixed seed with lots of milo and cracked corn tends to spill on the ground and attract rodents. So I switched to a tube feeder with just black oil sunflower seeds and put a tray underneath to catch falling shells. I also started bringing the feeder inside at night. Within a week the rats were gone and I still get cardinals and chickadees every morning. Has anyone else had to change their setup because of unwanted guests like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

kevin_west19d ago

One time I counted fourteen rats under my feeder in a single night it was a nightmare. Switched to straight safflower seed and that cleared them right up, plus the squirrels hate it too.

adamthompson19d ago

Wait, @kevin_west, are you sure about safflower seed clearing up the rats? I thought they actually love safflower too, it's just the squirrels that skip it. I've heard black oil sunflower seed is way more of a magnet for rodents than safflower.