How to maintain your bird feeding accessories

How to maintain your bird feeder accessories

Maintain your bird feeder accessories. Dirty bird feeders and accessories can harbour bacteria and diseases that could be harmful to our wild birds, that’s why it’s important to take good care of them. Unhygienic bird feeding accessories can also attract unwanted visitors like insects and rats, meaning squirrels could soon become the least of your worries! If like us you want to take good care of the beautiful birds in your garden, take a look at our tips for keeping your bird feeding accessories in top condition.

Tips to keep your bird feeder clean

First things first, it’s important to keep on top of cleaning your bird feeder and not just the accessories that come with it. As the feeder itself is storing bird food, it’s much more prone to build-ups of bacteria and fungus. We recommend investing in an easy to clean bird feeder, such as the Jacobi Jayne ring pull feeders, to make your job a whole lot easier. If you’re looking to clean your existing bird feeder, you’ll want to invest in a bird feeder cleaning brush. There’s no need to invest in anything fancy or expensive, a simple bottle cleaner brush is the perfect tool for keeping your feeder in pristine condition. You should definitely invest in some disinfectant or antibacterial soap, though! We recommend that you clean your bird feeder about once a month. However, if the little birds in your garden are particularly messy, you might want to give it a good clean every two-three weeks.

Cleaning your bird table or tray

If you have a bird table in your garden or a bird feeder with a tray, it’s important to clean these regularly. Whenever you put fresh bird food out you should brush off or empty any old food. Alongside this, you should give them a good scrub, with antibacterial soap, every couple of weeks to maintain good hygiene.

How to clean a bird bath

Cleaning a birdbath is relatively straightforward. It’s important to replace the water daily to prevent any bacterial build-up - after all, we wouldn’t want to drink or bathe in dirty water and neither do wild birds! Follow these steps for a sparkling bird bath the birds will love to splash about in:

Pour away any old or polluted water.
Remove any debris that might have fallen in the bird bath.
Use an antibacterial solution to clean the basin itself - letting it soak for a couple of minutes before scrubbing and pouring the solution away.
Rinse the basin thoroughly to ensure the solution has been fully removed.
Allow the birdbath to dry before filling with fresh-clean water - that’s it!

How to clean bird houses

Do you have a birdhouse in your garden to provide a safe nesting place? If so, you’ll need to clean it out once breeding season is over. Once birds and their fledgelings have left the nest, usually around mid-August, you can remove the old nest from the house and give it a good scrub with an antibacterial solution. After cleaning, rinse it well so no solution is left and simply leave the house to dry naturally. Once clean, your birdhouse will provide a cosy nest for new (or perhaps the same) birds next time around!

Choosing the right bird food

It’s important to fill your bird feeder with the right bird food. Putting live mealworms in a seed feeder could soon get messy, and now that you’ve got a spotless bird feeder to keep your garden birds happy, you’ll no doubt want to invest in the food they’ll love. Our bird food range is complete with seeds, such as sunflower and nyjer seeds, and live bird food so that you can cater specifically to the needs of the birds in your garden. You could even mix and match our selection of seeds and suet products for a healthy, hearty mix all birds will love!

20th Mar 2019 Kennedy Wild