Mary Evelyn said:Hi Jenny,
We have 2 stone baths in our back garden and the birds love them.I thought they were painted with masonary paint.Anyway,I bought mine 12 years ago and have not re-painted them and they are fine.
jennykarl said:What is the best and simplest cleaner that does the job?
o.k. Katey-I haven't seen any birds drop after cleaning my birdbath but I'll give the boiling water a shot.-thanksKaty Penland said:All due respect to Larry, I would be very, very cautious about using even diluted solutions of bleach, especially in porous concrete, as the most minute amounts could be harmful to birds. Boiling water will kill algae -- it's also the best way to clean out nestboxes each year.
I made my mini-pond (about 3' x 4') out of several layers of plastic Visqueen (a heavy, moisture barrier product used in house construction) and lined it completely with river rocks. There's a hidden hose that maintains a constant drip, which doesn't freeze during the winter even in sub-zero (F) temps due to an insulated wood box I invert over the faucet.
I've only ever used a brush and the garden hose (with a high-power nozzle) to clean it, but it's not an ideal situation as it means having to remove all those rocks each time. My fall project this year is to make a concrete "bowl" with smoothed rocks added to it to create varying depths to accommodate the smallest to largest yard birds which'll be a lot easier to clean. :t:
No offense was meant, Larry, it's just that any chemicals around birds have to be used with extreme care. And the smaller the bird, the less it takes to cause problems, whether they keel over instantaneously or ingest enough to sicken them over time through drinking or preening after bathing. My intention was simply to run up a red flag on this as the original question was asked by someone who's relatively new to attracting birds to her yard. :t:lvn600 said:o.k. Katey-I haven't seen any birds drop after cleaning my birdbath but I'll give the boiling water a shot.-thanks
Jos Stratford said:In my opinion, one of those little 'scrubbies' that you use for your dishes, zoom it round the birdbath a few times, then a quick flush and all's ready for the birds again