Easy steps to a clean birdbath

By 4 commentsCategory: How to, WildlifeTags: ,

How to clean a bird bath in twelve photos

Keeping a birdbath sparkling clean is easy and it’s worth a bit of effort to keep your wild birds happy and healthy.  Algae may be a natural thing, but it’s not attractive when your bird bath is within sight of your windows like you want it.  It takes about 20 minutes or so to clean this one and 15 minutes of it is waiting!

This cement birdbath has several turquoise insulators in it, the kind that used to insulate telephone wires from the wooden poles.  It’s surrounded by shrubbery and is within sight of my living room windows where I can watch the birds in all seasons.  The birds come to bathe here as well as to drink and I want my birdbath to be a sparkling jewel in my garden.  Every few weeks, here’s what I do:

Take a dirty bird bath

Take a dirty bird bath

 

Empty the water

Empty the water

 

Add a 1/4 cup of household bleach

Add a 1/4 cup of household bleach

Diluted bleach kills the algae and salmonella and many more germs quickly,…you can see how fast and effective it is. The time is 10-15 minutes for it to work!

Cover with a plastic trash bag

Cover with a plastic trash bag

 

Scrub, scrub with a brush

After 15 minutes, scrub, scrub with a brush

 

The bleach kills the algae

The bleach kills the algae

 

Spray out the dirty water

Spray out the dirty water, with a LOT of water

The water and bleach mixture doesn’t affect the surrounding plants when diluted with more water from the hose.  The effectiveness of the bleach action dissipates quickly after a few minutes.

Spray the surrounding shrubbery

Spray the surrounding shrubbery

 

All clean!

All clean!

 

Happy birds, like these Lesser Goldfinches

Happy birds, like these Lesser Goldfinches

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  3. Encouraging wildlife with a ‘habitat’
  4. Steller’s jay means cool weather in Autumn

4 comments

  1. Thank you. I liked your birdbath cleaning method. -

    50726 Falcon View Road Coarsegold

  2. Connie -

    I will try this as my birdbath/fountain gets so much algae. I have a question about adding bleach to birdbath water. A friend adds a few drops to his birdbath and he claims it not only keeps the algae down but the birds really seem to like it. He thought that perhaps the bleach got rid of mites and parasites that the birds have. I was skeptical because of the possible toxicity of bleach on birds. What are your thoughts on this?

    • Sue Langley -

      I wouldn’t pretend to know what dose to give a bird with unknown , if any, ailments, would you? I would think, birds would like to drink fresh water better than say, pool water or any water with any amount of bleach in it. Just go fresh! 🙂

      • Connie -

        I agree and thanks for your input. I know we have gone to lengths to get the chlorine out of our drinking water as we know it is not tasty or good for us. I would assume it is the same for birds and other animals but I wanted to run it by you in case you had heard of such a thing. Yes, go fresh!

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