Keep those feeders clean! How to help keep your backyard birds healthy.

 (CC Photo By Sharon Mollerus)

**Warning** This post contains some medical images of live birds with with avian pox, disfiguring boils on their bodies, so please take care in continuing to read if this sort of imagery will upset you. 

You feed the birds because you love seeing them in your yard, watching their antics and getting to know your local flocks. 

You want to help the birds you feed, and certainly not to harm them or spread deadly disease. 

A few simple steps can ensure your feeders are healthy and safe for backyard birds!

1. Empty your feeders at least once a month and wash with a diluted bleach solution. Detailed instructions can be found at: https://www.audubon.org/news/3-ways-keep-your-feeder-disease-free-birds.  Every two weeks is much better, especially when feeders are busy.

2. If you notice diseased birds at your feeder (crusty eyes, sores or lumps on their faces, overall ill look or behavior) up your cleaning to twice a week. These diseases are highly contagious and easily spread by dirty feeding stations!

3. Rake or clean below the feeder. Droppings can collect here and uneaten food can mold or attract rodents. 

4. If your feeders are busy, add more feeders! Avoid crowding.

Part of caring for these birds you attract is feeder hygiene; there are some common and highly contagious and often deadly avian diseases that can easily spread at bird feeders.

This little goldfinch fledgling was found sick near a backyard bird feeder, its eyes crusted partially closed and easily caught by the homeowners. It has conjunctivitis, (also known as Finch Eye Disease or more properly ‘Mycoplasma gallisepticum’), a bacterial infection highly infectious to finches and some other species such as chickens and wild raptors. Without treatment, birds with conjunctivitis will generally die; as the condition worsens the eyes swell shut and the bird can no longer see to fly or feed. In a wildlife rehabilitation setting it can be treated with antibiotics, for the lucky birds which can be found before it progresses too far. 

*Please note that avian conjunctivitis cannot spread to humans, so while it’s good to be careful and wash your hands thoroughly when cleaning feeders you don’t have to worry about catching this particular condition.

(CC Photo of an advanced case of disfiguring avian pox by By Becki Lawson)

Conjunctivitis isn’t the only disease which can be spread at bird feeders. Avian pox (another disfiguring and deadly disease which can infect a wide range of species), salmonella bacteria, trichomoniasis (a parasite) and many others can all be spread through feeders. 

Regular cleaning and proper use of birdfeeders can help keep your beloved birds healthy and happy! If you take the time to feed them, please make sure you’re also taking the time to keep them tidy and disease-free.  Help spread the word to neighbors that also feed birds to be sure your neighborhood is a safe and welcoming place for the birds you attract. This little finch, and many others, will thank you!