How to Properly Clean Your Birdfeeders
If you have dead or sick birds in your yard:
- Immediately REMOVE bird feeders and birdbaths.
- Disinfect with bleach solution (9 parts water to 1 part bleach.)
- Scrub well to remove all debris and allow to soak 10 - 20 minutes.
- Rinse very well and allow to dry.
- Do not rehang feeders or bird baths for at least one month after the last sick or dead bird is seen in your yard.
- Resterilize and allow to dry before rehanging.
- Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling feeders or baths.
If you have not yet seen sick or dead birds:
Please use the following guidelines as preventative measures to protect your local birds from a outbreaks of Salmonella and other avian diseases. These measures should also be practiced as regularly scheduled maintenance to ensure healthy birds:
- Bird feeders should be disinfected every two weeks regardless of disease outbreaks.
- Bird baths should be emptied and cleaned daily regardless of disease outbreaks.
- For feeders: Do not use wooden feeders (click for more information). Immerse feeders in bleach solution (9 parts water to 1 part bleach.) Soak 10 minutes, scrub, rinse thoroughly and allow to dry fully, ideally in the sun, before refilling (a dry feeder will deter mold growth on seeds).
- For baths: You can make a 9:1 bleach solution in a jug to bring outside. Scrub with a hard brush, cover with board while soaking to prevent birds bathing in bleach, rinse very thoroughly, allow to dry before refilling.
- For hummingbird feeders: NO BLEACH! Change food often. Clean and fill with only enough to last 1-2 days (sooner if gets cloudy/moldy). Use vinegar and water in a 9:1 solution (9 parts water to 1 part vinegar) and special bottle brushes to get into small holes. Rinse thoroughly!
- Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling feeders or baths.
Additional Tips
- Always wear gloves (latex or dishwashing) to keep bleach off your skin and a facemask to keep from accidentally ingesting feces, bleach, etc.
- Always keep a large tray under feeder to collect hulls/seed that fall. Empty discards every evening. This will prevent mold & disease for ground-feeding birds and also prevent rodent infestations.
- Another suggestion to prevent wildlife problems (from rats, raccoons, skunks, etc.) is to bring feeders inside at night.
Click here to download and print this information (will open as a PDF.)
Frequently Asked Questions
How likely is it that kids or adults could get Salmonella from handling the bird feeder or feed?
Salmonella is primarily transmitted through contact with fecal matter, so, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), avoiding hand-to-mouth contact during, and washing hands thoroughly with soap and water after contact with birds or their fecal matter will minimize or eliminate any risk.
The following recommendations from the CDC pertain to avoiding contracting Salmonella from domestic or exotic pets, but the general rules apply to wild bird feeders too.
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Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching animals, their food (e.g., dry dog or cat food, frozen feeder rodents, etc.) or anything in the area where they live and roam. |
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Running water and soap are best. Use hand sanitizers if running water
and soap are not available. Be sure to wash your hands with soap and
water as soon as a sink is available. Directions for washing hands can
be found here. Adults should always supervise hand washing for young
children. |
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Do not let children younger than 5 years of age, older individuals,
or people with weakened immune systems handle or touch high-risk animals
(e.g., turtles, water frogs, chicks, ducklings), or anything in the
area where they live and roam, including water from containers or
aquariums. |
How can I avoid transmitting Salmonella from the birdfeeder in my yard into my home?
The CDC recommends always cleaning items that have been in contact with animals outside. If it is necessary to clean a feeder indoors, the sink or tub used for cleaning should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with a bleach solution afterward.
Common sense precautions to avoid tracking bird feces into the house should be taken including checking shoes for fecal matter.
Are the domesticated birds in my home at risk?
Check with your veterinarian if you are concerned about your pet birds. Salmonella is transferred between birds from contact with fecal matter, so making sure domestic birds do not come into contact with the droppings, seeds or hulls from your wild bird feeders is the first step to ensuring their safety.
Can my cat get Salmonella from an infected bird?
Check with our veterinarian if you are worried about your cat. Studies have shown that it is possible for predator animals to get Salmonellosis from eating their prey, and cats can contract the disease. Cats under stress or with weakened immune systems are more susceptible to the infection.
WildCare strongly recommends keeping your cat indoors to prevent him or her from coming in contact with sick birds or other hazards, but also to protect the songbirds that are drawn to your yard by your feeder.
Is my dog likely to get Salmonella from playing in the yard?
Check with your veterinarian if you are concerned about your dog or other pets. Salmonella
is transferred from contact with fecal matter, so making
sure domestic pets do not come into contact with the droppings, seeds
or hulls from your wild bird feeders is the first step to ensuring their
safety.
How often should I rake the hulls and fallen seed under my bird feeders?
According to Melanie Piazza, WildCare's Director of Animal Care, for
optimal bird health, and especially in an outbreak situation like this
one, hulls should be removed every night.
The problem with feeder seed and hulls is that the birds sit above
and knock seed down to the ground, but also drop their droppings down.
As Salmonella and other bacteria are transmitted through feces,
this means a concentration of potentially infected feces beneath the
feeders which can be dangerous to ground-feeding birds, even when there
isn’t an epidemic.
In fact, Melanie says that raking the hulls isn't necessarily sufficient. The
best choice is to put a pan or, even better, a sheet held down by rocks
under the feeders and remove it and dispose of the hulls every night.
This will also prevent rat and mouse infestations which is a bonus.
I've heard wood is better for cutting boards in the kitchen.
Why do you recommend against wooden bird feeders?
This is a somewhat controversial issue in the kitchen— there are studies both proving and disproving the bacteria-killing properties of wooden cutting boards, and many chefs do prefer wooden cutting boards.
Whatever the best choice is for the kitchen, WildCare still recommends against wooden bird feeders for the following reasons:
- Wooden bird feeders sit outside 24 hours a day and get cracked, soft and moldy which, Salmonella aside, can be detrimental to songbirds.
- The wood used for bird feeders is usually not the same hardwood used for cutting boards and softer woods are more likely to mold and rot, trapping bacteria.
- People are often less likely to want to bleach their wooden feeders because frequent soaking in bleach (especially of feeders made of pine and softer woods) will ruin them.
- A plastic feeder will last longer through the recommended bleach soakings and can be rinsed and dried more thoroughly.
The main point, however, is no matter what kind of feeder you have, be sure to keep it clean!
Will bleach harm the birds? What if some of it gets on the bird food?
Please be sure to always THOROUGHLY RINSE the feeders and baths you have bleached , and allow them to DRY COMPLETELY to prevent any contamination of bird food. If properly rinsed and dried, using bleach on feeders and baths will not pose harm to the birds. However, any bleach residue on feeders or food is bad for the birds.
Can Salmonella survive on an all-metal bird feeder?
Yes. The bacteria resides in the birds' fecal matter, and fecal matter can stick to metal surfaces. Clean all feeders, no matter of what material, by scrubbing well to thoroughly remove any stuck-on debris or residues, bleaching in a 9:1 bleach solution (nine parts water to one part bleach) for 10-20 minutes, rinsing thoroughly and allowing them to dry completely.
Can the owls and other raptors in my neighborhood contract Salmonella from their songbird prey?
Yes, but the impact seems to be less in larger predatory birds.
WildCare has not gotten any raptors that tested positive for Salmonella
as a cause of death. Many of the raptors without obvious injuries that
we've taken in this month have tested positive for rodenticide
poisoning, which is another serious issue facing wildlife.
In a study from the Journal of Wildlife Diseases of 94 Barn Owl nestlings in New Jersey, eight of the nestlings (8.5%) were found to harbor Salmonella, probably contracted from infected rodent prey. According to this study, (Salmonella spp. in nestling common barn-owls (Tyto alba) from southwestern New Jersey jwildlifedis July 1, 1986 22:340-343) all eight nestlings fledged normally without obvious adverse effects from the infection. Our own records do not contradict this study.
Be sure to keep your feeders clean and tell everyone you know to do the same and hopefully we can stop the epidemic and diminish these concerns!
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