22
Feb
2018

The Bird Feeder Pest Control Connection

February 22nd, 2018

Your bird feeder attracts a lot of different birds to your yard. If you have a bird bath as well, it’s like a whole bird day spa for them! Watching the birds eat their seed and play around in your garden or backyard is very peaceful and relaxing. However, there is a downside to your bird feeder if you aren’t careful; it can attract squirrels, mice and other pests into your yard and even your home.

If you want to keep your yard and home free of unwanted pests, you should use the following tips to make sure your bird feeder is for birds only!

WHY RODENTS ARE ATTRACTED TO YOUR BIRD FEEDER

Before we get into how to get deter rodents from your bird feeder, let’s quickly go over why they are attracted to it in the first place.

Quite simply, rodents love to eat anything they can get their hands on. If they smell food, they will seek it out no matter how hard you think it is for them to reach. Squirrels are great at climbing the bases of bird feeders or trees to gain easy access to the seeds.

They aren’t the cleanest eaters either, so they will spill a lot of the seeds onto the ground, which attracts other rodents like mice. Once the seeds run out, they will still stick around to see if they can find any other food sources and could find their way into your home to find more!

HOW TO RODENT PROOF YOUR BIRD FEEDER

The first thing you should do is buy a squirrel resistant bird feeder. These are specifically designed so that squirrels aren’t stable enough to get any seeds out of the feeder. They will eventually give up after they can’t get any seeds and will move on to somewhere else to find their food source.

You can also try changing your current seeds with Nyjer or Safflower seeds. These types of seeds are still healthy for birds to eat, but it’s been proven that squirrels do not like the taste of them so they won’t waste their time eating them.

To keep mice and other ground rodents away from your yard and home, always keep your bird feeder area clean. Wind and birds will still make a mess of the seeds, so you should sweep up the grounded seeds up every so often to keep away those smaller rodents.

HOW TO GET RID OF RODENTS

If rodents are still persistent to get into your bird feeder, or if the worst case scenario has happened and they’ve made their way into your home, it’s time to take action. At Gilpin’s Pest Control, we can prevent birds, rodents, and wildlife from entering your home. All of our tactics are humane and will not harm the animals.

If the rodents have made their way into your home, we can help you with that as well! Contact us today to receive your free quote for rodent exclusion and ask about our 1-year guarantee warranty for keeping out the most common pests.