Birds, Mammals and Wildlife Gardening – Hygiene

Taking care of your bird table will reduce the chances of spreading diseases and this is a vital and little appreciated component of caring for wildlife, because not only is the risk of disease highly likely, other bad things can happen. First, when a large number of birds are attracted into an area to feed, the danger of disease spreading is massively increased, and second, spoiled or spilled food can attract scavengers, which are also often predators like foxes, cats and rats, which take eggs and baby birds from the nest as well as adult birds.

Good hygiene is particularly important during the summer months because warmer weather causes food to spoil quicker and offers the right conditions for harmful bacteria to proliferate.

Monitor your food supply carefully. If the food takes days to be eaten reduce the amount of food offered until it is being consumed within forty-eight hours – you can increase the amount slowly once you reach this point as more birds learn to use your garden as a food stop. The exception is food on the ground which should be should be eaten before nightfall or it will attract rats which carry diseases affecting both birds and humans.
Keep bird tables and surrounding areas clean and free from droppings or mouldy food. Most diseases are transmitted by droppings. If contaminated droppings are in contact with food, the birds will run a risk of picking up any infection.
Clean the bird table and any hanging feeders regularly using 5% disinfectant solution, and move feeding stations to a new area every month to prevent droppings accumulating underneath.
Water containers should be rinsed out daily, especially during the warmer months, and allowed to dry out before fresh water is added.
Our health is at risk too, you should always wear gloves when cleaning feeders and bird tables, and do this work outside – don’t bring bird feeders into the kitchen. Try not to handle a sick or a dead birds but if you must, wear rubber gloves and dispose of them afterwards. If in doubt call the RSPCA and remember over-wintering birds may have been exposed to bird flu.
Whatever your bird feeding tasks, always wash your hands when they are completed.

Birds, mammals and wildlife gardening rat photograph by Whiskymac, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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