Copper for self-disinfecting feeders: thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[Tired]

Copper is known to kill many different bacteria and viruses on contact, in times ranging from a few minutes, to a few hours, to a couple of days. It's so effective that, if a hospital ward coats its heavily touched surfaces in copper, it can see up to a 51% decrease in hospital-acquired infections. It even kills pathogens in water held in copper containers.

Now, obviously any physical debris has to be removed, as the copper can't kill germs that are on top of poo. But "this bird feeder will kill most germs that the birds leave on its various surfaces" seems like a pretty good deal to me. Is there any reason a bird feeder shouldn't have its perches and other contact areas electroplated in, if not outright made of, copper?

The main thing I can think of is that water held in copper containers will have more copper in it. If you have Wilson's disease, a tendency for your body to retain excess copper, that can make you sick. I don't know if coppery water would be bad for the birds. But I also don't think that dry seed in a copper feeder would pick up any extra copper, so that seems like it would be fine.

If nobody can think of any reasons to avoid them, I might have to look into copper bird feeders. A quick Google says they do exist. The hopper part isn't copper on any of those, but a bird probably wouldn't be getting many germs on that part anyway. I'm not going to forego actual feeder cleaning, of course, but, if the copper won't do any harm, extra germ-removal ability seems like a good plan.

 

[Elkhornsun]

It would need to be solid copper as a plastic or glass container with a copper base is not going to work. Better to rotate the feeders and clean them with a bleach solution periodically.

I have 6 hummer and oriole feeders and have 3 out with sugar solution and 3 that are soaking with a weak bleach solution (1 tsp per 32 oz water is all that is needed). When one of the feeders is empty I replace it with a new one and the empty one is rinsed out and the bleach solution is poured from one of the reserve feeders into the one just brought inside. This minimizes the amount of bleach that goes down into my septic tank.

I have duplicates of my seed feeders so I can rotate and clean them thoroughly as well. My main possible problem are is with platform feeders that collect debris and bird poop but it is what the grosbeaks and the woodpeckers and juncos and chickadees will feed from so I have gone to using metal liners that can be replaced and cleaned.

 

[dantheman]

The main thing I can think of is that water held in copper containers will have more copper in it. If you have Wilson's disease, a tendency for your body to retain excess copper, that can make you sick. I don't know if coppery water would be bad for the birds. But I also don't think that dry seed in a copper feeder would pick up any extra copper, so that seems like it would be fine.

Thought on copper and birds - as they have relatively shorter lifespans any negative effects of copper would be lower compared to humans? So not sure if comparable.

On the other hand, if copper is known to be toxic, and can also leach into water, would be wary of using if to hold water. Would agree dry seeds should be fine?

Googling a bit unrelated - https://www.hunker.com/12003785/what-are-the-dangers-of-copper-cookware.


Copper outside will oxidise (go green) unless coated (varnished?). So I guess you want to know if you will get the benefits of uncoated copper (guessing anything that stays shiny coppery colour would be pointless??)

 

[Tired]

I'm not sure that article is quite correct in calling copper a toxic metal, at least for the purposes of cooking with it. It's toxic to aquatic invertebrates like shrimp, but as far as I know, it doesn't harm vertebrates in any reasonable amount. Unless they're fish swimming in a ton of the stuff. The main reason why a human would want to not use copper cookware is if they have Wilson's disease. Though I guess if you regularly make tomato sauce in a copper pan, you might end up eating rather a lot of copper.

From what I've read, oxidized copper still kills pathogens quite handily. I might see if I can find a copper feeder, as a supplement to the proper cleaning. No harm in having your feeder kill germs, since it's not going to leach anything into dry seeds.

I have 6 hummer and oriole feeders and have 3 out with sugar solution and 3 that are soaking with a weak bleach solution (1 tsp per 32 oz water is all that is needed). When one of the feeders is empty I replace it with a new one and the empty one is rinsed out and the bleach solution is poured from one of the reserve feeders into the one just brought inside. This minimizes the amount of bleach that goes down into my septic tank.

Doesn't bleach lose most of its effectiveness pretty rapidly once exposed to the air? I was under the impression that trying to save and reuse bleach solutions generally doesn't work very well.