How To Clean A Bird Bath To Protect Our Feathered Friends

Here’s how to clean a bird bath safely, and why you should be cleaning your bird bath regularly to help protect our feathered friends.

Bird baths are a great sustainable addition to any garden. They help to provide a safe drinking spot for birds as well as a clean bathing area. Ours mainly attracts bigger birds, such as magpies, crows, pigeons, and doves – which are all so fun to watch.

Bathing might not seem all that important for birds, but it’s vital for keeping their feathers in top condition. A good splash in the water helps loosen dirt that can build up in their plumage, which would otherwise make flying harder.

Bathing also makes preening easier. Preening is the process where birds spread oil from their preen gland through their feathers, keeping them waterproof. It also helps trap a layer of insulating air beneath the feathers, which keeps birds warm.

The simple act of providing a bird bath can help your local bird populations in immeasurable ways. Particularly so in freezing winter or dry summer conditions when natural sources of water can be scarce. However, it’s important to keep it clean. Thankfully, it’s a quick and easy job. Here’s all you need to know:

Why You Need To Regularly Clean Your Bird Bath

Bird baths do come with a little upkeep. It’s not just a case of popping one in your garden and leaving it there to do its thing. It’s actually incredibly important to keep your bird bath clean by thoroughly cleaning it at least once a week.

This is because, like humans, birds prefer to drink from and bathe in relatively clean water to help keep them free from water-borne diseases and illnesses.

Bird baths don’t stay clean for long. Between bird droppings, feathers, dust, and the odd leaf or bit of plant matter or soil blowing in, it doesn’t take much for the water to get grubby.

Dirty water like this can be a breeding ground for harmful bacteria that can spread diseases within the local bird populations. This includes a disease called trichomonosis – the most common disease that can kill off birds after visiting dirty bird feeders and baths.

Trichomonosis is spread through food and water that is contaminated by freshly regurgitated saliva. The more birds at a feeder or birdbath there are, and the less the feeder or bath is cleaned, then the more likely it is that the disease will spread. Greenfinch and chaffinch populations have been hit particularly hard, to devastating impact.

Algae can also bloom in stagnant bird bath water, which can also make the water slimy. These kinds of blooms appear particularly when water is exposed to sunlight and temperatures above 4°C. This means algae can be a problem at most times of the year – not just in summer.

The good news is that algae generally isn’t harmful to birds. However, the presence of it will put birds off visiting your bird bath.

How To Clean A Bird Bath

To help keep your local bird populations disease-free, roll up your sleeves, pop on some rubber gloves, and let’s get cleaning!

What You Need

You don’t need much by way of cleaning equipment. The chances are you have most of these in your home already:

• A bucket or garden hose
• A scrubbing brush not used for any other purpose
• A measuring jug
• 100 ml of white vinegar
• Rubber gloves – it’s important to wear these, as bird faeces can spread salmonella to humans and pets

The Preparation

There’s a tiny bit of prep work to do first before we get cleaning. Here’s what you need to do:

• Firstly, remove any rocks, stones, or gravel from the bottom of your bird bath. Pop them to the side of your bird bath, as these will need to be cleaned later.
• Next, empty the water in your bird bath. Depending on your bird bath, you will either be able to remove a plug to drain the water away or else you will have to tip the bath over to remove the water.
• Once the water has drained away, remove any lingering debris from the birdbath. This could include debris such as leaves, grasses, or feathers. Pop these into your compost or garden waste bin, and then you’re good to get on with the cleaning.

The Cleaning Process

Now that you’ve done the prep work, here’s how to get that bird bath clean so that it’s a healthy place for birds to visit:

• First, hose the bird bath down or tip some clean water over it to remove any remaining dirt or debris.
• Next, you need to disinfect the bird bath. To safely do this, it’s best to use 100 ml of white vinegar mixed with 900 ml of water. Mix this up in a measuring jug, and then pour the solution into the bird bath.
• Now take a scrubbing brush, and scrub to remove any faeces, algae, or dirt stuck to the inside of the bird bath. If the dirt/poop is particularly stubborn, allow the solution to soak for 15 minutes or so. However, do stay with the bird bath to make sure no birds come down for a bath in the vinegar solution! They won’t like you very much if this happens!
• Give any stones that you’ve removed from your bird bath a scrub in the solution, too.
• Once you’re done, pour the solution away – preferably down a drain. This is so that the acidic vinegar solution doesn’t harm your plants. Vinegar can be used as a natural weed killer after all, so it’s best to keep it away from your plants or lawn.
• Finally, thoroughly rinse the basin and your stones with clean water. Add your stones back in, and refill the bath with fresh, clean water for the birds to enjoy.

Why You Should Use White Vinegar, Not Soap

I recommend sticking to plain white vinegar when cleaning your bird bath. Soaps and detergents, even eco-friendly washing-up liquid, can strip the natural oils from birds’ feathers without actually tackling algae. And other harsher chemicals can be harmful to birds, too, which is why vinegar is the safest option.