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I used to clean my feeders with just soap and water until a lady at the bird store set me straight
For about 3 years I'd just rinse my tube feeders with dish soap and call it good. Then last spring I noticed some finches acting sluggish around my nyjer feeder. A lady at Wild Birds Unlimited in Decatur told me I needed to soak everything in a 9 to 1 bleach solution for 10 minutes every single month. I thought she was being extra until I actually tried it and the water came out BROWN the first time. Now I do that soak on the first Saturday of every month and my goldfinch numbers doubled. Has anyone else gotten sick birds from slacking on deep cleaning?
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spencer_thomas417d ago
Had a buddy from the station who lost half his chickadee flock one winter. He was just rinsing with hot water between fills. Turned out green mold was growing inside the perches where you can't see. After he started doing the bleach soak like you describe, his birds came back but it took a full season.
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jadep4116d ago
Cringed reading that about the chickadees, that's brutal. Green mold growing inside the perches is exactly the kind of hidden horror that makes me double check everything now. Have you ever taken a feeder completely apart to see what's hiding in the nooks and crannies?
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