Garden

[MalteseMomma]

I had an adorable little black mouse a few months ago.

Actually I think it came in the Chewy box.  (really)

But this is the last yr I'm feeding birds after feeding for 30 yrs or many  more.

I'm getting too old and it is too expensive,now .

I have hundreds of birds here daily.  Parrotts too (I'm in Nj)I call them greenies.lol  They  eat a 20 lb seed  bag a day ,plus a 20 lb bag of peanuts. 

I also feed the squrriels  <3

[Lali1]

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@MalteseMomma wrote:

I had an adorable little black mouse a few months ago.

Actually I think it came in the Chewy box.  (really)

But this is the last yr I'm feeding birds after feeding for 30 yrs or many  more.

I'm getting too old and it is too expensive,now .

I have hundreds of birds here daily.  Parrotts too (I'm in Nj)I call them greenies.lol  They  eat a 20 lb seed  bag a day ,plus a 20 lb bag of peanuts. 

I also feed the squrriels  <3

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Are the greenies Green with a grey belly? If so they are monk or Quaker parrots. I used to have one as a pet. They are fun little birds with lots of personality. They can talk quite well too. 

[amyb]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

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@amyb wrote:

I'm on a second floor condo...so far no problem with rodents!...I'm just still waiting for most of the birds to figure out it's here. Only put it out a couple weeks ago, usually there's more by now...had titmouses, sparrows, a bluejay (once) and a sweet female cardinal that makes me think of my mom. ❤️

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@amyb   The squirrels will find it sooner or later - and create a mess.  I have a first floor condo and my one-time overhead neighbors - a young couple - thought it would be fun to hang a birdfeeder on their deck, which is over mine. Squirrels got into it one day and not only did they have seed all over their deck, but I had it all over my deck and in all of my potted plants - which eventually sprouted.  It spilled through between the floor boards.  So, funtime was over.  They took it down, and I cleaned up my deck and spent the summer weeding grass out of my 15 - 20 potted plants.

All that to say - please be considerate of neighbors below.

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Of course. My neighbor below and I are good. I've been here many years, same neighbor below..birdfeeder has never attracted a squirrel, not that it can't happen. Seeds falling through the cracks to her patio below has also never been an issue, they just haven't done that..we don't have open cracks in our decking. Hopefully not, but if any of this, rodents, squirrels, scattered seeds became an issue...it'll come down.

[walkingal]

I don't feed anything in my yard.  Wildlife can take care of themselves.  Our community has a major rodent problem, mostly rats.  I have a pest control company coming to my house on a monthly basis.  Neighbors on both sides of me feed birds, squirrels, and who knows what else.  Squirrels are a nuisance.  They come into my yard with their peanut shells that my neighbors feed them, and that attracts even more rodents!  

[Mary Bailey]

I only feed humming birds late spring to middle fall.

[NeNe1010]

They make Bluebird feeders. The feeders have a 1 1/2 entrance hole on each side & we put dried mealworms in them. Larger birds cannot enter. I don't know about rats, It took the bluebirds on,y a few days to learn to use them we have two & generally have 5 to 6 bluebirds at a time. I got ours on Amazon.

[NeNe1010]

Starlings do not like & will not eat Safflower seed. Cardinals, chickadees, titmice etc will eat Safflower. You might want to try feeding just Safflower. 

[Eileen in Virginia]

I stopped feeding the birds and squirrels over 30 years ago when I saw a rat looking for peanuts in the spaces between the deck boards. Any type of outdoor food will attract rats and other rodents. If any birdseed falls from the feeder onto the ground, you run the risk of attracting rats.

This past weekend, our neighbors across the street found 2 dead rats in their driveway. It was time for our quarterly pest inspection, so I asked them to check around our home while they were here - luckily, our property is rat-free. Although I haven't seen any since that fateful day, apparently there are rats in the area and some of our neighbors have bait traps around their homes. The inspector thought the rats across the street may have eaten from the bait traps and died in the driveway. Ewww! 😬

[AngelPuppy1]

I don't know what the solution to this is!  Our neighbor had about 10 different birdfeeders up ---no joke!  And our properties adjoin.  This past summer it got to be a real problem.  There were a million pigeons and they just took over everything.  They took over his bird feeders, as well as crows, and other larger birds, and then there were groundhogs and other wild ground animals.  Then the pigeons and other large aggressive birds started taking over not only our driveway but our patio.  What a mess!  Then, we started seeing large rodents!  My husband finally had to go over and talk to him and he was very nice and said he was upset that all his "nice birds", as he referred to them, were all chased away by all these other birds and animals.  He agreed to take down most of his feeders that were very close to our property.  He still has a couple but they are further up and much closer to his home.  I feel bad for animals and birds as I know they are just trying to find food, but it just gets out of control.  

[Dazlin]

I'm not feeding for a few days.  I'm only putting out a few mealworms in the morning,  which will be gone quickly,  so nothing leftover.   It's mainly for the bluebirds.  All my feeders are hung from metal shepards hooks.  The one I saw the rat in was close to a tree, so im sure it jumped in.  I took that one down.   Haven't seen any rats around here except that one, but im sure they're around.   I'm on five acres of pasture, and a pond.   Last time the cowbirds took over, I took everything down for a week and they left...so ill try again.