Hi Swampcreature
I love it that the blackbirds were going into the hog box for food! I have sometimes seen birds going into the entrance of mine, but always thought they weren’t there long enough to get any food.
Re. the rat. I have found – so far – that the rats don’t eat kitten biscuits. so cat biscuits, probably likewise. But never say never! Re. deterring it – you will find that rats like to have nearby bolt holes and if you repeatedly fill these in and try to prevent them from redigging, that helps. Also, if you feed birds, make sure that anything they spill is cleared up. Also just keeping an eye out and scaring the rat away. I have found that rats are much more jumpy and sensitive to, for instance, noise than the hogs are, so that a tap on the door (I’m watching from inside) or a turn of the key might scare away a rat, but not a hog. I wouldn’t be tempted to use one of those electronic scarers (other than during daylight) becaused I’m not at all convinced that they don’t effect the hogs as well.
