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Healthy Feeding for Wild Birds

Poorly maintained feeding stations may contribute to the occurrence of infectious disease and mortality.

When you feed the birds, take the following steps to provide a safe and healthy feeding environment for your backyard birds.

• Provide multiple feeding stations in different areas of your yard to disperse bird activity. Crowding at the feeder - which is a more common occurrence in winter months -- can cause stress, which may make birds more vulnerable to disease.

• Dry rake or use other methods to keep the area around your feeder clean.

• Provide seeds from a feeder rather than broadcasting / scattering seed on the ground.

• If possible, move your feeding stations periodically, so there will be less concentration of bird droppings.

• Always wash your hands after filling or cleaning your feeders.

• Place bird feeders in locations that do not provide hiding places for cats and other predators to wait to ambush the feeder. Birdfeeders should be placed at least 10 to 12 inches from low shrubs or bushes that provide cover.

• Keep feeders clean - Clean and disinfect feeders regularly. If you find a dead bird near the feeder that has not been killed by a predator, disinfect the feeders with a solution of one part liquid chlorine household bleach in nine parts of tepid water (a 10% solution) to disinfect. Make enough solution to immerse an empty feeder completely for two to three minutes. Allow to air dry. Once or twice a month should do, but weekly cleaning may be needed if you notice sick birds at your feeders.

• Use a good blend of birdseed. Keep seed clean and dry and watch that it doesn't get moldy in the feeder. Offer only fresh seed. Discard food that smells musty, is wet, looks moldy or has fungus growing on it. Disinfect any seed storage container that may have held spoiled food as well as the scoop used to fill feeders.

• Don't wait to act until you see sick or dead birds. With good prevention, you'll feed birds in the safest way.

• Encourage your neighbors who feed birds to follow the same precautions. Birds normally move among feeders and can spread diseases as they go. The safest birdfeeders will be those in communities where neighbors cooperate with equal concern for the health of the birds.

• The complete picture of bird health in our backyards has rarely been examined. A 1992 study conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology concluded that 51% of bird deaths were caused by window strikes.  There are products available to prevent window strikes. Predation, predominately by household cats, caused 36% of bird deaths. Disease caused only 11% of bird deaths in our backyards.

• In a 1997 study conducted by the American Birding Association, cats were found to be a significant source of mortality among birds that come to feeders. It has been estimated that a single domestic household cat can kill more than 100 birds and small mammals each year.