Categories: How toWildlife

Easy steps to a clean birdbath

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

 

Empty the water

 

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

 

After 15 minutes, scrub, scrub with a brush

 

The bleach kills the algae

 

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

 

All clean!

 

Happy birds, like these Lesser Goldfinches

Sue Langley

Sue Langley, a passionate gardener and photographer lives and gardens with her husband and Corgi, Maggie on 7 acres just south of Yosemite, Zone 7 at 3000 feet. She also manages the Flea Market Gardening Facebook page and website.

Share
Published by
Sue Langley

Recent Posts

How to Be Lazy Gardener

  ...and still have a pretty garden  With a busy household and jobs, we are…

5 years ago

Summer is Spring at Whiskey Falls!

Take a day trip to Whiskey Falls... Come visit Whiskey Falls and the surrounding high…

5 years ago

California oak acorns: Feast or famine

Why do oaks drop more acorns some years and not others? If you have live…

6 years ago

Mule’s ear and Farewell to Spring

Roadside treasures worth  stopping for In the first week of July in the Sierra foothills…

6 years ago

Our favorite butterfly plants

Wow! Butterflies love these plants! Grow any of these for instant results and each is…

6 years ago

A water-saving veggie garden for the foothills

Your water-wise veggie garden Does everyone in our Mountain Community grow at least one tomato?…

6 years ago