catbasket
Well-known member
We live semi-rural, in a dead-end road of about twenty houses. On Wednesday a guy from the environmental services dept of the council came round and said that a couple of houses at the opposite end of the street have a problem with rats. He explained that stopping feeding the birds OR keeping the feeding areas extra tidy would help them as they tackled the problem.
No problem, says I, by coincidence I've been fitting trays under the feeders and that makes a big difference. Also I tell him I'll have a thorough tidy-up and keep the place super clean. He's happy with that.
I've noticed a big anti-litter/rats poster campaign in town and ask him if the local rat problem is related. No - he explains we have classic conditions for rats: semi-rural with a nearby railway line, a stream through the field opposite the houses, "a guy keeping chickens" and of course people feeding garden birds.
Thursday I did the thorough tidy and clean-up.
Today, Friday, I and the other residents receive a letter asking we stop feeding the birds for six weeks - apparently rats will avoid the pesticides if another food source is available and "bird food also contains Vitamin K which acts as an antidote to the pesticides being used".
Obviously I don't want to stop feeding the birds. I feel I have valid reasons to ignore the request and continue bird feeding, but thought I'd ask wiser heads (I'm talking about you lot ) for an opinion ... maybe I'm fooling myself and really should stop feeding for a while?? Anyway, my thinking on the matter -
The problem is at the other end of the row of houses.
We, and neighbours at this end, have cats. None of us have seen a rat whether alive or brought in dead by a cat.
The Environmental Officer told me, face to face standing at my front door, that keeping the feeding areas clean would be enough. Even though now the letter from the same department (same guy?) says to stop.
The houses with the rat problem have the "guy keeping chickens" right behind them.
The "guy keeping chickens" is actually the local farmer who has a small-holding at the back of those houses where he keeps free-range chickens, ducks, geese and seasonal turkeys.
The rat problem started at the very end house, which happens to be very close to the stream. Also by coincidence, they are looking into buying a bit of land next to their house and have taken it upon themselves to start clearing the undergrowth from that area. By even further coincidence the rat problem didn't start until after they started clearing this bit of land near the stream.
[Oops, had to rein in my sarcasm there. I've obviously convinced myself the rat problem has nothing to do with our bird feeding.]
But I'm still a little concerned that stopping feeding for six weeks might be the correct thing to do.
Any thoughts?
No problem, says I, by coincidence I've been fitting trays under the feeders and that makes a big difference. Also I tell him I'll have a thorough tidy-up and keep the place super clean. He's happy with that.
I've noticed a big anti-litter/rats poster campaign in town and ask him if the local rat problem is related. No - he explains we have classic conditions for rats: semi-rural with a nearby railway line, a stream through the field opposite the houses, "a guy keeping chickens" and of course people feeding garden birds.
Thursday I did the thorough tidy and clean-up.
Today, Friday, I and the other residents receive a letter asking we stop feeding the birds for six weeks - apparently rats will avoid the pesticides if another food source is available and "bird food also contains Vitamin K which acts as an antidote to the pesticides being used".
Obviously I don't want to stop feeding the birds. I feel I have valid reasons to ignore the request and continue bird feeding, but thought I'd ask wiser heads (I'm talking about you lot ) for an opinion ... maybe I'm fooling myself and really should stop feeding for a while?? Anyway, my thinking on the matter -
The problem is at the other end of the row of houses.
We, and neighbours at this end, have cats. None of us have seen a rat whether alive or brought in dead by a cat.
The Environmental Officer told me, face to face standing at my front door, that keeping the feeding areas clean would be enough. Even though now the letter from the same department (same guy?) says to stop.
The houses with the rat problem have the "guy keeping chickens" right behind them.
The "guy keeping chickens" is actually the local farmer who has a small-holding at the back of those houses where he keeps free-range chickens, ducks, geese and seasonal turkeys.
The rat problem started at the very end house, which happens to be very close to the stream. Also by coincidence, they are looking into buying a bit of land next to their house and have taken it upon themselves to start clearing the undergrowth from that area. By even further coincidence the rat problem didn't start until after they started clearing this bit of land near the stream.
[Oops, had to rein in my sarcasm there. I've obviously convinced myself the rat problem has nothing to do with our bird feeding.]
But I'm still a little concerned that stopping feeding for six weeks might be the correct thing to do.
Any thoughts?