Bird baths in winter (1 Viewer)

Good weather finally just settled in to Western New York, but I'm thinking ahead to my feeder setup this coming winter, and I'm thinking of adding some sort of circulating, heated, water source for the birds. I assume this is doable. Anyone have any practical advice for going about it. I have an exterior outlet. I wonder about keeping it clean.

In my humble opinion, the best way to keep it clean would be to put fresh water out everyday.
Here in the UK I have no need to warm the water (I suspect you get colder winter weather though) and I'm able to get out most days pre-dawn to refresh.
I have a cheap tennis ball sized rubber ball floating in my garden pond which prevents full freezing - although that hasn't been an issue for a few years.

I think your circulation problem could be solved by a pump from a fish tank, I think they're available at reasonable prices to experiment with. Moving water doesn't freeze as readily as still water, so maybe it won't need warming ?

May not be a good idea to provide artificially warmed water when it is seriously cold - birds could be tempted to bathe, and then get their wet feathers frozen as soon as they leave the warm water.

Thank for the info, folks. I should clarify, despite what I said, I never intended to heat the water. Just want to keep it moving to keep from freezing.

Yeah they have them, they're called agitators. Or water wigglers. I think the water wigglers are cheaper. You have to google around for a good price, otherwise they're kind of ridiculously priced. I don't know how big your bird bath is, or if it's multi tier or single, but this is an example of the agitator you can get https://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=8063
$60 is a bit much, in my opinion. But yeah that's most likely what you are looking for. A lot of people use them because birds for some reason are attracted to moving water. I assume you could even get one of those cheap "fountains" that are solar powered and just float atop the water....they seem kind of bulky though and they only work when they're in direct sunlight.

I still wondering how all this is going to play out. Could you please share some pics, I am curious to see the setup.