Fall 1999 Table of Contents

It bears repeating: Clean up your act!

You’ve heard it here before, (unless you’re a newcomer to the program) and you’ll hear it again and again: when it comes to backyard bird feeding, "clean up your act!"

Clean feeders and bird baths can help control some diseases of wild birds, although there are others that spread no matter how clean you are.

The "unstoppables" are those that spread simply by lots of birds coming into close contact with each other (like avian pox); the only thing you can do is provide lots of different feeders to try to spread the birds out.

But there are other diseases that you can prevent by keeping feeders clean and dry. These are caused mostly by mold, which grows when seed gets wet or even moist. Moldy seed can cause aspergillosis, a fungal disease that can be fatal to birds.

The first thing you can do is wash all feeders with a very mild bleach solution and dry them thoroughly. Feeders should be checked for mold and cleaned periodically throughout the season. If you feed birds year-round it’s especially important since the combination of warm weather and moisture can spoil seed easily.

It’s best to let birds eat all the seeds in a feeder to avoid adding fresh seed on top of old and possibly moldy seed. If spilled seed starts piling up on the ground long enough to grow mold or bacteria, clean it up. Never use seed that gets damp, or allow it to lie around where birds can get into it.

Use feeders that are covered or sheltered from rain and snow, and types that don’t allow birds to stand or poop in the seed. To conserve seed and limit the number of birds at a tube feeder, remove some or all of the perches or cover some of the feeding ports with heavy-duty tape.

Put suet out only when it’s cold. Birds can get "rancid fat disease" from suet that goes bad in warm weather.

Buy smaller amounts of seed more often to keep it fresh and to be able to store it in airtight containers or refrigerate or freeze it. Test seed for freshness by trying to sprout a few (just like you would garden seeds); if they grow, they’re at least nutritionally sound for birds.

Previous section

Next section