5. Clean Yard
One way to reduce the chances of rats showing up at your bird feeder is to reduce the chance that they’ll be in your yard at all! To do this, make your outdoor space as unappealing to rodents as you can. Make sure that openings around your home are plugged up, remove any piles of debris, stacked wood, as well as ground-covers that rats and mice love to nest in. You should also make sure there aren’t any rodent-friendly food sources around, such as pet food stored outdoors, open garbage, or even dog waste.