How to clean a bird bath in twelve photos!
Keeping a birdbath sparkling clean is easy and it’s worth a bit of effort to keep your wild birds happy and healthy. Algae may be a natural thing, but it’s not attractive when your bird bath is within sight of your windows like you want it. It takes about 20 minutes or so to clean this one and 15 minutes of it is waiting!
This cement birdbath has several turquoise insulators in it, the kind that used to insulate telephone wires from the wooden poles. It’s surrounded by shrubbery and is within sight of my living room windows where I can watch the birds in all seasons. The birds come to bathe here as well as to drink and I want my birdbath to be a sparkling jewel in my garden. Every few weeks, here’s what I do:
Take a dirty bird bath
Empty the water
Add a 1/4 cup of household bleach
Diluted bleach kills the algae and salmonella and many more germs quickly,…you can see how fast and effective it is. The time is 10-15 minutes for it to work!
Once you clean the birdbath the bleach is gone. Pennies, vinegar, baking soda do not do the job of killing algae and germs. Toilet bowl cleaner is an expensive way to go when you think that bleach is often an ingredient.
Diluted bleach kills the algae and salmonella and MANY more germs quickly,…you can see how fast and effectively it works in the demonstration photos.
Ten minute job and healthy birds,…no more pathogens from the algae remain for birds to drink.
The Science behind the Process
Merri Scott says, “Bleach has a fairly rapid dissipation rate, especially at ambient temperatures. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t have to put chlorine in my pool as often. Some pool algaecides also have copper in them, but I am not sure that pennies ‘break down’ the copper enough.”
The Garden Professors add, “Bleach and water form hypochlorous acid and that is what actually disinfects. This is the same process when using bleach for emergency disinfection of drinking water.”
If you totally object to using bleach to disinfect, then use detergent and scrub, scrub, scrub.
Keep your birds safe and use this method!
Cover with a plastic trash bag
After 15 minutes, scrub, scrub with a brush
The bleach kills the algae
Spray out the dirty water, with a LOT of water
Spray the surrounding shrubbery
All clean!
Happy birds, like these Lesser Goldfinches
I found the insulators at a yard sale….they go good in the birdbath, don’t they?
Note:
Never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners.
6 Comments
Rinse the basin onto adjoining cement bench or statues and continue the work ?
My birds, especially the robins, would be very upset with all those insulators in the middle of their bathing area.
thanks! but i’m confused…the caption beneath the photo says to add 1/4 cup bleach. but in the paragraph and explanation, it references “diluted bleach.” so, do i pour straight bleach? or do i dilute it? and if diluted, what’s the ratio? thanks!!!!
My suggestion is to NOT use bleach. Use a stiff brush instead and scrub, scrub, scrub. If you happen to have your power washer out, use that. It cleans it better than anything.
You state to use pennies before 1982 and pipe. Do you mean a piece of copper pipe and if so what size. I have several bird baths in my yard so I can constantly cleaning them. Any tricks would be helpful. I put colored stones in my birdbaths. I have some of the blue glass, good idea
Marilyn, I used a 3/4 inch copper pipe, but do measure the holes you’re filling to make sure. I’ve also found that rebar rods are VERY sturdy to hold bowling balls at whatever height you like.