- Do you have to clean birdhouses?
- When and how often should birdhouses be cleaned?
- How to clean bird feeders
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Cleaning bird feeders should be a weekly gardening practice as it can prevent the transmission of many bird diseases.
Bird feeders in the garden bring many advantages. You support the birds and at the same time you can watch their impressive flight maneuvers directly from the apartment. But if you regularly watch the birds in the aviary, you will also notice that the house gets dirty quickly. So do you have to clean bird feeders? We explain why keeping birdhouses clean is necessary, when it's best done and how to do it. We also give tips on what to consider when buying birdhouses in order to save yourself a lot of work.
Do you have to clean birdhouses?
Many have had birdhouses for a long time, cleaning them at most once a year at the beginning of spring. This raises the question of whether bird feeders need to be cleaned at all. Birdhouses are the meeting place par excellence for birds in the garden and this is also where they feed. Since many pathogens are excreted in the faeces and taken up again with food, bird feeders are the ideal place for disease to spread. So the question of whether it makes sense to clean bird feeders is a yes. Bird feeders usually get dirty very quickly, whether it's from rain causing the feed to stick together or from birds leaving small piles of droppings in the bird feeder.
By the way, it is also necessary to clean nest boxes once a year. Because in addition to the birds, parasites and other vermin often settle in the nest material.
Which bird feeders are easy to clean?
When buying, you can make sure to buy bird feeders that are easier to clean. It saves a lot of time and effort during use.
It is best for hygiene when birds do not sit on the feed. Free-hanging feed silos therefore require the least effort. Damp, sticky lining is difficult to remove and quickly starts to cloggo moldy. Therefore, birdhouses with a silo that keeps the feed dry are more hygienic.
There are birdhouses that have a removable bottom panel, which makes cleaning easier. If your bird house still lacks this, depending on the type of construction, you can simply saw a piece out of a thin wooden board and insert it into the bottom of the bird feeder.
Metal or plastic are easier to clean than wood and make it harder for bacteria, to hold - so if you want less effort in cleaning, you can choose houses made of this material.
When and how often should birdhouses be cleaned?
How often and when you should clean birdhouses depends on the type of construction and how dirty it is. The more frequent the bird feeder is visited, the wetter the weather and the larger the area in which birds can perch, the more frequently the bird house should be cleaned. As a rule of thumb, cleaning bird feeders should be done about once a week. It is best to choose a day when the weather cooperates. The warmer and drier it is, the quicker the birdhouse dries and can be refilled.
Tip: There is also often leftover food around the bird feeder. This is because many types of bird food contain shells or ingredients that birds dislike. These are simply sorted out by the animals and thrown next to the feeding house. If you want to avoid this or also want to feed birds on the balcony or terrace, you are well advised to use our Plantura scatter feed with high-quality fats. It contains no shells and was developed in collaboration with ornithologists so that the composition is perfectly adapted to the needs of the different bird species in winter.
How to clean bird feeders
Cleaning birdhouses can be done in minutes. All you need is a brush, a rag and a bucket of very hot water.
- Dispose of any food lying on the feeding area. Feed that was still in the silo and is dry can be reused after cleaning.
- Roughly brush the feeding area and the rest of the bird feeder.
- Now use very hot water to clean the bird house. Detergents and disinfectants should beNormally not mixed in. After all, it is a feeding area and there is a risk that these substances will be ingested with the feed. In order to still achieve sufficient disinfection, the water should be as hot as possible.
Tip: This is where the advantage of removable floor panels comes into play. On the one hand they are easier to clean, on the other hand they can simply be replaced if they are too dirty.
- Let the birdhouse dry well.
- Now it can be filled with food again. It is better to fill the house more often with smaller portions. One serving should last about 2 days. This reduces the risk of contamination and mold.
Tip: If you find a dead bird near or even in the aviary, you should consider this a serious problem. Because it indicates with a high probability of death from pathogens that spread quickly in bird feeders. Therefore, a particularly thorough cleaning is necessary, for which special disinfectants can also be used. Be sure to wash the bird feeder thoroughly with water a few more times after using detergent.
We explain in a separate article what else needs to be considered when feeding birds correctly.