New way to clean bird feeders! (1 Viewer)

[JayFeatherPL]

One polish ornithologist has suggested a very nice way to clean bird feeders You just need to use alcohol!

1.Take 70-96% ethanol (eg. Salicyl alcohol from the pharmacy used to sanitise wounds or clear ethanol (can be watered to 70%)).
2.Take paper towel/toilet paper/old cloth and wet it with the alcohol.
3.Go to the feeder and clean every stick (perch) + area around every hole.
4.Clean sticks and holes every time you refill your feeder.

Birds won't "get drunk" because the alcohol doesn't get inside the feeder The alcohol evaporates immediately so it will disappear in a moment along with bacteria.

In Poland, we feed birds only during winter (from October/November to March) and after the feeding season (March) you wash the whole feeder in soapy water in a bowl. The presence of snow and frost during the feeding season also reduces the risk of bacteria appearing.

I've heard that in UK you can't buy alcohol (spirit), only soaked tissues or the alcohol is very expensive. Maybe that's why people in UK don't use this method?

What do you think about it?

 

[PYRTLE]

One polish ornithologist has suggested a very nice way to clean bird feeders You just need to use alcohol!

1.Take 70-96% ethanol (eg. Salicyl alcohol from the pharmacy used to sanitise wounds or clear ethanol (can be watered to 70%)).
2.Take paper towel/toilet paper/old cloth and wet it with the alcohol.
3.Go to the feeder and clean every stick (perch) + area around every hole.
4.Clean sticks and holes every time you refill your feeder.

Birds won't "get drunk" because the alcohol doesn't get inside the feeder The alcohol evaporates immediately so it will disappear in a moment along with bacteria.

In Poland, we feed birds only during winter (from October/November to March) and after the feeding season (March) you wash the whole feeder in soapy water in a bowl. The presence of snow and frost during the feeding season also reduces the risk of bacteria appearing.

I've heard that in UK you can't buy alcohol (spirit), only soaked tissues or the alcohol is very expensive. Maybe that's why people in UK don't use this method?

What do you think about it?

We had a lengthy thread about this and cleaning advice regarding bird feeders if you recall.......products, bowls, infecting pets etc. Nothing new to see here.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

We had a lengthy thread about this and cleaning advice regarding bird feeders if you recall.......products, bowls, infecting pets etc. Nothing new to see here.

Well I found out a new method, which hasn't been suggested on BirdForum yet. So it is not "nothing new". Is there anything wrong about it? I wanted to share it with the others (because I think it's not a popular method) so people can also use this method - it's easy and practical. Don't you like it?

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

That method got a mention here: How do I get the birds to find a newly placed feeder

Possibly in other, older Topics also.

Naptha/Isopropyl has been around for a long time, we've grown up with it (cleaning wounds, tape heads, stylii, optics,... ) so it rarely rates a mention until we run out and the local pharmacy assumes we're junkies

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

One polish ornithologist has suggested a very nice way to clean bird feeders You just need to use alcohol!

1.Take 70-96% ethanol (eg. Salicyl alcohol from the pharmacy used to sanitise wounds or clear ethanol (can be watered to 70%)).
2.Take paper towel/toilet paper/old cloth and wet it with the alcohol.
3.Go to the feeder and clean every stick (perch) + area around every hole.
4.Clean sticks and holes every time you refill your feeder.

Birds won't "get drunk" because the alcohol doesn't get inside the feeder The alcohol evaporates immediately so it will disappear in a moment along with bacteria.

In Poland, we feed birds only during winter (from October/November to March) and after the feeding season (March) you wash the whole feeder in soapy water in a bowl. The presence of snow and frost during the feeding season also reduces the risk of bacteria appearing.

I've heard that in UK you can't buy alcohol (spirit), only soaked tissues or the alcohol is very expensive. Maybe that's why people in UK don't use this method?

What do you think about it?

Jay, I suggest you start with watching one of my few videos for which I bothered to add English subtitles... here. I think there's important information in it.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

That method got a mention here: How do I get the birds to find a newly placed feeder

Possibly in other, older Topics also.

Naptha/Isopropyl has been around for a long time, we've grown up with it (cleaning wounds, tape heads, stylii, optics,... ) so it rarely rates a mention until we run out and the local pharmacy assumes we're junkies

Salicyl alcohol isn't drinkable (at least in Poland!) so no one will think we're junkies!

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Salicyl alcohol

For needle cleaning?

Pharmacists might've made more profit selling sterile packaged needles daily?

 

[JayFeatherPL]

For needle cleaning?

Pharmacists might've made more profit selling sterile packaged needles daily?

No. Salicyl alcohol sold in small bottles. 96% of alcohol, 2% of salicylic acid. In Poland we use it to sanitise wounds etc. It can be also used to sanitise feeders as I said in my thread.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

Jay, I suggest you start with watching one of my few videos for which I bothered to add English subtitles... here. I think there's important information in it.

Thanks Valéry! I watched the whole video - it's great and contains a lot of thoughtful advice The subtitles helped a lot. I wouldn't understand what you say without them; thanks for adding them! I stick to what you said in most cases. But actually you haven't mentioned the topic of cleaning the feeders. Is my method good and not-harmful? I find it very easy and practical - you just sanitise (in tube feeders of course) every perch and every whole (area of the whole). I don't think the alcohol is harmful for birds, especially when it immediately evaporates along with all the bacteria, but I'd like to confirm that information.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Thanks Valéry! I watched the whole video - it's great and contains a lot of thoughtful advice The subtitles helped a lot. I wouldn't understand what you say without them; thanks for adding them! I stick to what you said in most cases. But actually you haven't mentioned the topic of cleaning the feeders. Is my method good and not-harmful? I find it very easy and practical - you just sanitise (in tube feeders of course) every perch and every whole (area of the whole). I don't think the alcohol is harmful for birds, especially when it immediately evaporates along with all the bacteria, but I'd like to confirm that information.

To be honest, where I recorded the video in Belgium, it is my mum's house. She only gives organic and dry sunflower seeds, and the tube is protected from the rain. Thus there's hardly any reason to clean. Human immunity is often weakened because we sanitize eveyrthing, I'm not sure we should do the same with birds. In her case, she doesn't wash for almost one year. When it is "break time" in August or September, she removes the tube, wash only with water, maybe sometimes little soap if it looks necessary, and leave it inside (so unused) for a couple of weeks, then put back in the garden.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

To be honest, where I recorded the video in Belgium, it is my mum's house. She only gives organic and dry sunflower seeds, and the tube is protected from the rain. Thus there's hardly any reason to clean. Human immunity is often weakened because we sanitize eveyrthing, I'm not sure we should do the same with birds. In her case, she doesn't wash for almost one year. When it is "break time" in August or September, she removes the tube, wash only with water, maybe sometimes little soap if it looks necessary, and leave it inside (so unused) for a couple of weeks, then put back in the garden.

That's an interestic and reasonable point of view! I've heard many opinions that we should wash the feeders once a week or once a month, we should wash them in a bowl (only ever used to wash feeders!) with soapy water, then we should sanitise them...and at last dry them using cloth that's only ever used to clean feeders...Here is an example BTO video of how to clean bird feeders. Personally, I've always been sceptical about this.
And by the way humans or pets (mammals) can't catch birds', avian diseases, can they?

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Salicyl alcohol isn't drinkable

No one suggested it was, purchasing isopropyl alcohol was difficult, as I suspect salicyl was, in the UK, maybe because prospective purchasers were looking to disinfect/clean their (possibly shared) hypodermic needles. How dare young people grow their hair long and spend their hard earned money on lots of vinyl and expensive hi-fi, cartridges/stylii.

And by the way humans or pets (mammals) can't catch birds', avian diseases, can they?

Bird flu, anyone?

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

That's an interestic and reasonable point of view! I've heard many opinions that we should wash the feeders once a week or once a month, we should wash them in a bowl (only ever used to wash feeders!) with soapy water, then we should sanitise them...and at last dry them using cloth that's only ever used to clean feeders...Here is an example BTO video of how to clean bird feeders. Personally, I've always been sceptical about this.
And by the way humans or pets (mammals) can't catch birds', avian diseases, can they?

"And by the way humans or pets (mammals) can't catch birds', avian diseases, can they?"

That will be quickly out of BF topics. There's, however, a important point. Birds and humans live with billions of viruses and bacteria, it is not a problem. The problem is when immunity get low, and this is very often related with diet. Wild birds don't get sick of Avian flu while they problably live with it since millions of years ; farmed animals get sick of it, as well as garden birds when they feed on junk food we give to them, such fatball and bread.

To avoid disease for birds, don't feed them or feed them properly ; and to avoid being sick yourself, eat properly...

 

[JayFeatherPL]

"And by the way humans or pets (mammals) can't catch birds', avian diseases, can they?"

That will be quickly out of BF topics. There's, however, a important point. Birds and humans live with billions of viruses and bacteria, it is not a problem. The problem is when immunity get low, and this is very often related with diet. Wild birds don't get sick of Avian flu while they problably live with it since millions of years ; farmed animals get sick of it, as well as garden birds when they feed on junk food we give to them, such fatball and bread.

To avoid disease for birds, don't feed them or feed them properly ; and to avoid being sick yourself, eat properly...

You're completely right! Thank you for this interesting discussion.

Bird flu, anyone?

Bird flu is not common in gardens with feeders. Bird flu is caught by domesticated birds (eg. hens) or birds that have a contact with humans (eg. gulls) as Valéry said. I haven't heard about the bird flu in a garden.

 

[PYRTLE]

The problem is when immunity get low, and this is very often related with diet. Wild birds don't get sick of Avian flu while they problably live with it since millions of years ; farmed animals get sick of it, as well as garden birds when they feed on junk food we give to them, such fatball and bread.

Can you clarify your statement please Valéry in regard to "wild birds don't get sick of Avian flu....." particularly with a view to the strain H5N1 that has affected tens of thousands of North Atlantic seabirds, wiping out many colonies along the way.

 

[Montereyman]

I use a weak bleach solution which is cheap and highly effective at killing bacteria. An ounce of household bleach per gallon of water is sufficient.

I pick feeders based on how easy they are to clean and maintain. Designs vary greatly in this regard. The worst are the thistle feeders so I have two and replace the one in use with a clean fresh one every few weeks.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Can you clarify your statement please Valéry in regard to "wild birds don't get sick of Avian flu....." particularly with a view to the strain H5N1 that has affected tens of thousands of North Atlantic seabirds, wiping out many colonies along the way.

Yes, the virus is not the cause of the problem, food problem is the cause of the crash in immunity. When an animal has a weak immunity, he gets an infection or another, the type of virus or bacteria is not a significant detail. I've not the figure in mind for birds, bu for human, when in good health, we have some 20 virus types in us that a potentially pathogen. They are not a problem in themselves. When the immunity weaken, one of them can increase an overpopulation, then we are sick.

It is like wild boars, rodents, starlings, gulls or any animal in an ecosystem. They have a balanced population when the ecosystem is healthy and are not pests, disease or whatever categories we want to use. When human being destroys or modify the habitat, one of these species can increase and become superficially a problem but, in reality, they are only a symptom, not the cause. If human stop his activity, the "overpopulation" will actually help to restore the ecosystem as it was.

Many colonies were affected in North Atlantic, as over fishing is massive in this part of the world and has made the food resources too rare for these birds. Pollution is also a part of it. Generally speaking, when an animal (including Homo sapiens) gets an infectious disease, it is because the immunity was made weak by wrong food (poor quality and/or not enough quantity) or by something toxic that was ingested.

It is easier to tell a virus is responsible instead of admiting that it is our own behaviour that leads to biodiversity extinciton, isn't it ?

Birds in a proper ecosystem, not polluted, where food is abundant, seldom (not to say never) get any infectious disease.

 

[JayFeatherPL]

I use a weak bleach solution which is cheap and highly effective at killing bacteria. An ounce of household bleach per gallon of water is sufficient.

I pick feeders based on how easy they are to clean and maintain. Designs vary greatly in this regard. The worst are the thistle feeders so I have two and replace the one in use with a clean fresh one every few weeks.

Yes, I know this method. But in my opinion there's no need to dismantle the whole feeder in order to wash the whole feeder. I think that wiping perches and holes using 70-96% ethanol is completely enough. (Of course after the feeding season the whole feeder can be washed in a bowl).

 

[PYRTLE]

Birds in a proper ecosystem, not polluted, where food is abundant, seldom (not to say never) get any infectious disease.

Thank you for your views.

 

[pianoman]

Being lazy, I have double the number of birdfeeders, and while one set is out in the garden, the others are washed in the dishwasher. The temperature and dishwasher detergent sterilizes them thoroughly. They have to be reasonably robust of course.