How to Clean Bird Feeders and Birdbaths

As helpful as bird feeders and birdbaths can be for providing food and water for the bird population in your yard, they can also transmit diseases if you don’t care for them properly. As birds visit your feeders and birdbaths, they can contract diseases from droppings, moldy food, or contaminated food and water. Common diseases for wild birds include:

• Salmonellosis: Sometimes simply referred to as salmonella, the infection caused by salmonella bacteria is common in birds that visit feeders. While some birds show no symptoms, others will be lethargic (they may not fly away when you approach them) and their feathers may be puffed up or unkempt. Once you see these symptoms in a bird, it’ll usually die within three days. Contact with an infected bird or its droppings can lead to sickness in people and pets.
• House Finch Eye Disease: Also known as house finch conjunctivitis, this bacterial infection can spread by bacteria on feeders. It can cause a bird’s eyes to become red and swollen or appear crusty or runny. An infected bird may also appear lethargic and unkempt. The infection can eventually lead to blindness and death. While it primarily affects house finches, other species such as goldfinches and purple finches can also contract it.
  
• Avian Pox: Many species of wild bird are susceptible to this viral infection. It’s often spread by insect bites. However, it can also spread by contact with infected birds and with surfaces, food and water contaminated by the virus. One type of infection causes growths around the birds’ eyes, feet or beak. Another type leads to breathing difficulties and can eventually cause death.

Keeping your feeders and birdbaths clean and well maintained can help prevent the spread of these and other diseases.

In addition to keeping feeders and birdbaths clean, there are a few things you can do to help keep wild birds healthy:

• Rake up seed hulls from around the feeder and dispose of them.
• Have multiple feeders with enough separation to reduce crowding.
• If you notice that the seed is clumping or getting damp or moldy or the suet is developing mold, dispose of it and replace with new feed.
  
• Pay attention to local bird-watching organizations and local wildlife officials for information about outbreaks in your area. If there’s an outbreak, you may want to take down your feeders, clean them and not put them back up until the outbreak has passed.

Don’t approach a bird if you think it may be sick. Don’t touch a dead bird. Check with your state or local wildlife agency for instructions on disposing of dead birds. Take down your feeders and birdbaths, clean them thoroughly, and don’t put them up again for a couple of weeks. Be sure to clean out the area under the feeders as well.