Cleaning your bird houses, bird feeders, and bird baths is essential for a variety of reasons. Always remember that birds like cleanliness, and they are more likely to visit houses, feeders, and baths that are clean!
The main reason you must clean bird houses is because birds can carry lice and mice. While these pests cannot affect humans, they can easily spread from bird to bird. If birds decide to live in a bird house that is infecting with lice, you can expect them to be very uncomfortable, as well as possibly succomb to an early death.
When birds leave bird houses, there is a good chance they are leaving parasites behind. To ensure that new birds will not come in and become infected with parasites, you need to open up the bird house and remove any materials that are in the house. You should rinse it out with water, and allow it to dry before you allow other birds to use it. During the winter time when birds are not nesting, you should close the opening of the bird house to prevent any unwanted guests from inhabiting.
Cleaning out your bird feeder can be a difficult task. Tube feeders are especially difficult to clean. For tasks like this, you will require a specialized cleaning brush, like the Birdfeeder Cleaning Brush, pictured to the right. The 24 inch long natural bristles stemming from the thin wire post make for the perfect tool to clean out a variety of bird feeders. The bristles are strong enough to remove unwanted debris, but soft enough so that they will not scratch the feeder. If you have a hummingbird feeder, you will require special brushes. I use the Perfect Little Brushes for Cleaning Bird Feeders. One package comes with 3 tiny brushes that will fit in the tiny opening out of your hummingbird feeders.
And finally, you need to clean your bird bath! People may think that since the bird bath is filled with water that it isn’t dirty, but this could not be further from the truth! Using a formula specifically made for cleaning bird baths would be best. I recommend you use the Birdbath & Statuary Cleaner 32 oz, which will sterilize the bird bath to prevent the spreading of infectious diseases among birds. Use it as often as you wish, but I would recommend using it at least once every 2 weeks.