Importance of Cleaning

There are probably as many types of bird feeders as there are types of birds. Some are fancy, some are practical, but all will do the job of feeding the birds. What you need to determine is which one is right for you? No matter what model you decide on, the most important questions that need to be answered are:

• How easy is it to clean?
• How well does it protect my seed from the elements?

Too many feeders sold today are difficult to clean, resulting in dirty feeders with wet, rancid seed in them.

Here on the West Coast it is even more important to have feeders that you can clean because of the rain. Wet seed leads to mold in your feeders, which then helps spread disease throughout your backyard birds, if your birds are already under stress, due to cold weather or nesting season, the results can be devastating.
Sometimes the easiest way to keep your feeder clean is with the use of accessories, like weather proofing domes and feeder fresh (Bird-safe moisture and seed preservative for all seed and feeder types). Proper cleaning and protection from the elements will keep your birds healthy and happy.

 

Accessories

Now that you have your new feeder, it is time to accessorize!
Most feeders will benefit from the addition of domes and trays. Domes are important to keep the rain off (no west coast feeder should be without one!). You can get domes in several sizes with either a top slit (to slide over the top of feeders) or with a hook to hang feeders from. You can also purchase them for hummingbird feeders. These helps keep the sun, rain and snow out of your feeders.

 

 

 

 

Keeping the ground underneath clean of seeds and debris is important for the health of your birds. Trays help accomplish this. Some feeders, like Aspects, allow you to attach a tray directly to the tube feeder. For most other feeders, we recommend Seed Hoops. Seed hoops are a plastic mesh tray that is suspended by adjustable ropes below the feeder. Very easy to clean! They come in 16", 24" and 30".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feeder Fresh is a non-toxic, absorbent silica. It works to absorb moisture that enters your feeder from rain, humidity, and condensation.

By keeping the seed drier this helps keep any dangerous molds and toxins from affecting your birds.

 

 

 

 

No matter what feeder you have, it is important to keep it clean! One of the best ways to do this is with an appropriate sized brush. 

With a tube feeder you can easily clean your feeder with a long stem bottle brush that can get to those hard to reach places.

Hummingbirds feeders are extremely important to keep clean, with a bottlenecked styled feeder you can use a bottle brush and a port brush to ensure your hummers are feeding from a clean feeder, this is very important as you do not want to get any hummingbirds sick from feeding from a dirty feeder. Our flat basin styled feeders (High Perch) only require a port brush as you can fully clean the inside by removing the lid.

 

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It is not just hummingbirds that like the sweet sugar solution! Ants, wasps, and bees all would like to use your hummingbird feeder as well.

Ants can be deterred with an ant moat. Bees or wasps can become a problem, we recommend using our high perch feeder, along with nectar guard tips. Nectar Guard Tips protect nectar solution from bees, wasps and contamination by creating a barrier.

 

 

 

Cleanliness is always important when you are offering birds food, water or shelter. Cleaners are now available that use organic components to clean away parasites, bird droppings and other organic contaminates that affect the health of our birds. Simply spray and clean following the instructions on the bottle for the correct procedure. You can also add a similar solution to your bird baths to help remove algae.