Disease & Feeder Cleanliness
Introduction
Feeding birds is a lot of fun and can be rewarding in seeing so many of these magnificent creatures flock to your yard and giving us a glimpse into their world. We also have the feeling that we are helping them by providing food. It is also so relaxing to hear their songs as they dance around in the trees and at your feeder.
However, as stewards of providing this food source, we also have a duty to ensure that the food, the feeders and water sources that we provide remain clean and safe for the birds. Just like restaurants are inspected for their food handling practices, as well as food preparation and serving surfaces, we also have to adhere to a high level of standards. By doing so, we ensure that the birds are less likely to contract diseases from our feeders or water sources. If we don't adhere to this higher level of standards and put in the necessary work to do such, then it's best not to feed birds at all.
First, let's look at some of the consequences that can result from a lower standard of feeding practices, which are primarily diseases. Then, let's discuss some of the preventative practices that reduces the probability of birds contracting disease from your practices. Lastly, let's watch an instructive video on how to conduct a deep clean of your feeders.
Diseases Resulting from Poor Feeder Practices
Lately, here in early to mid Spring of 2021, there has been a lot of press about bird diseases, some of which have also been transmitted to humans, forcing hospitalizations. Part of this problem resulted from the great irruption of Pine Siskins mobbing in crowded spaces on bird feeders spreading Salmonella. Most recently, starting in May of 2021, a mysterious disease has been infecting birds with many bird mortalities reported in Washington, D.C., with the disease also reported in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Individuals in theses states who were feeding birds are being urged to take down their feeders to slow the spread of this deadly disease.
Type of Diseases
Let's go over the three main diseases that affect wild birds, that mostly feed at bird feeders and how feeders can potentially play a role in the spread of each disease:
Salmonella
House Finch Conjunctivitis
Avian Pox
Mysterious Unnamed Disease
Salmonella
Salmonella (Salmonellosis) is a fatal bacterial infection that can rapidly spread through populations of birds via feces-contaminated food and water. Salmonella is also a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transferred from animals to humans, and vice versa. Pine siskins, a type of finch, have been found to be infected with the same strain of salmonella found in infected humans. So, this disease, while not usually fatal in humans, is fatal to birds. The CDC has recorded 19 illnesses across eight states resulting in eight hospitalizations.
Salmonella starts when bird food gets wet and bacteria grows on the seed, is ingested by the birds and then it spreads through feces dropped in the same place. Any wildlife eating seed in your yard, resident or migrator, can spread or contract salmonella. Infected birds appear lethargic, often closing their eyes more frequently and they puff up, like they do in cold weather, even when it's not cold or they are not cold. On occasion eyes may also appear swollen, red, or irritated.
Humans who don’t wear rubber gloves or wash their hands after touching contaminated bird feeders, or birdbaths are at risk of illness.
House Finch Conjunctivitis
House Finch eye disease (also called Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis) is caused by a parasitic bacterium previously known to infect poultry, known as Mycoplasma gallisepticum. This poultry pathogen made an unexpected cross-species leap, and House Finches debuted a new form of conjunctivitis.
This discovery, made back in the Winter of 1994 by project FeederWatch participants in the Washington, D.C., area, who began reporting that House Finches at their feeders had swollen, red, crusty eyes and in extreme cases, the eyes become swollen shut and the bird becomes blind. Infected birds either recover, or die from starvation, exposure, or predation.
Several other wild bird species, including American Goldfinch, Purple Finch or the Evening Grosbeak have known to also be affected.
In 2018, researchers studying the disease found that the pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum is becoming more robust and more dangerous than earlier versions of the pathogen.
Avian Pox
Avian pox is a viral disease (a member of the poxvirus family) that affects a large number of bird families in North America. This virus is a slow-developing disease that can cause mild/moderate skin lesions and rarely causes death. These lesions mostly occur on the featherless regions on the face, legs and feet.
The spread of avian pox virus occurs when active poxvirus particles enter the body of a susceptible host through a breach in the skin, which oftentimes may come from biting insects who have fed on an infected bird and then bite an uninfected bird. This virus may also be spread by direct contact with an infected animal, by aerosol particles or contaminated objects (bird feeders, perches, nesting material).
The wart-like lesions can be found on the beak, eyelids, nostrils and the feet and legs and usually starts as red and swollen and eventually cracks, becoming raised lesions.
Impaired vision, poor respiration, and inability to feed are symptoms that can result from these lesions. This virus is highly contagious and can be easily spread through mosquitoes, contact with contaminated surfaces or ingestion of infected scabs. A program of decontaminating the feeders and birdbaths that the infected bird may have visited is the best remedy in slowing or stopping the spread of this virus.
While there are different Avian Pox strains, they generally affect specific bird species or groups, strains have been known to cross family groups and infect new birds. As of today, no evidence has ben produced that Avian Poxvirus can infect humans.
Mysterious (unnamed) Disease
A mysterious illness has been infecting and killing songbirds across the mid-Atlantic US for months, according to authorities. Since it was first detected in May 2021 in Washington, D.C., the disease also has been reported in Delaware, New Jersey, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and even further south in Florida.
According to authorities in Pennsylvania, the disease has been reported in 11 species: American Robins, House Sparrows, Blue Jays, European Starlings, Common Grackles, House Finches, Northern Cardinals, Eastern Bluebirds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens.
According to a news article “Mystery bird disease update: Tests have found some things that it might not be” from Marcus Schneck, pennlive.com on 7/8/2021 on MSN News - The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources on July 6 reported a list of “infectious agents have not been detected in any birds tested.” These include the following: Salmonella and Chlamydia (bacterial pathogens); avian influenza virus, West Nile virus and other flaviviruses, Newcastle disease virus and other paramyxoviruses, herpesviruses and poxviruses; and Trichomonas parasites.
This is an ongoing issue at the time of this publication as authorities scramble to conduct further research. However, in the meantime, residents of the affected states are being asked to take precautions to stop the disease from spreading, including cleaning feeders and bird baths with a 10 percent bleach solution weekly.
Disease Preventative Feeder Practices
After reading about all these diseases, it nearly makes one too scared to feed birds for fear of either catching the disease yourself or further spreading one or more of these diseases and actually doing harm to the birds! However, most of the risks associated with these diseases can be mitigated with a good program of feeder maintenance and feeder practices. While these may not be all inclusive and some controversial, here are 15 practical tips that can help ensure the safety of both you and the birds:
If you can afford it, it is generally better to offer multiple feeders that are spaced far apart. By hanging them far apart, any dropped food isn’t ending up in the same, limited area. Using multiple feeders increases the area the birds have to feed and reduces incidents of close-contact disease transmission. Crowding can also cause stress which may make birds more vulnerable to disease. This is especially good if you get a lot of flock-feeding birds at your feeder.
Also, by offering your birds multiple food sources, healthy birds aren’t necessarily feeding from the same one as infected birds.
Clean feeders, birdbaths and all hardware regularly, scrubbing and wash feeders with warm, soapy water. Clean out birdbaths by using a brush and replace with fresh water daily.
Clear away any debris and bird deposits (droppings or feces) from the feeder and the ground below the feeders as ground feeding birds can also incidentally ingest ground seed that has been contaminated. Consider use of feeding trays under your feeders. See some of the ones that I recommend in the Product section of this website. I also have a video showing the replacement of the ground underneath my feeder if interested.
Since sick birds often have trouble swallowing and often drop their food, it is a good idea to place feeders away from water sources. While this won’t eliminate the risk of infected food being dropped in the water (and thus contaminating it), it will lower the risk substantially. This practice, combined with a daily program of changing the water out for fresh water and cleaning out any bird deposits in the water or on the surfaces of the water container can reduce disease transmission.
Keeping in mind that moisture is a bird feeding station enemy, always inspect the quality and condition of the seed after rain events or prolonged periods of high humidity. Discard seed that has become wet and is in questionable condition. You know the seed is bad when there are more insects flying around the seed or it smells. One should never let the seed get to this condition.
Always limit the amount of food that you provide in your feeders, especially platform feeders. Consider the maxims (supply, demand and weather) in my blog post called Feeding Considerations . Moisture can accumulate quickly in overfilled feeders, especially after a rain event or periods of high humidity. Mold has a better chance of growing when your feeders are overfilled. Using Supply, Demand and Weather maxim, should tell you to put even less food in a feeder if rain is expected. Even In rather dry conditions, only add enough food to last a couple of days at most.
When refilling the feeders, always inspect the quality of the food in ALL feeders and ensure that no bird deposits are on feeding surfaces. Also check food distribution as clogged ports can cause seed to gather and retain moisture.
If your food does get wet, a method for trying to preserve the quality of the food is to use a tool such as a small pointing trowel to transfer the seed from the corners and sides of a platform tray, turning the wet seed over to be exposed to air, sun and wind to dry out. Only add the dry seed around the edges. If the seed doesn't dry out, discard it as it will soon deteriorate, decay and mold.
If you perform a quick food dump from one of your feeders and then rinse it off, even giving it a little scrub to ensure cleanliness, don't immediately put new dry seed in it. Ensure that you dry it first before refilling. Try to remember not to put dry seed in a wet feeder.
Store all bird seed in rodent and insect proof containers to avoid contamination. It is even a better practice if these containers are mostly sealed to keep the seed in a more dry condition. Storing seed outside in humid environments in unsealed containers allows humidity to affect the quality of your seed. If you do store the seed outside, do not buy seed in large quantities. This way the smaller amount of seed is used up before humidity takes its toll.
Since some bird diseases can be transmitted to humans, protect yourself by wearing a pair of rubber gloves. I found some at Tractor Supply for less than $5.00 that have the rubber covering the knuckles. But you may also consider the use of disposable latex or nitrile gloves. Also remember that gloves won't protect you if you touch your mouth, eyes, or exposed skin while wearing them.
During known outbreaks, cleaning as often as possible is recommended. At minimum try to clean feeders weekly.
One way to maintain a good program of disinfecting your feeder is a to put it on your calendar. Depending on the level of preventative maintenance you perform on your feeders, try to aim at least every 30-45 days. During disease breakouts, increase the frequency.
Here is a video that I made that details bleach cleaning my feeders:
Ken Little Deep Cleans His Feeders
Conclusion:
As mentioned in the opening of this blog, feeding birds can bring a lot of joy into one’s life and should be done responsibly. By following the 15 practical tips mentioned above, we can safely keep both the birds and yourself healthy and disease free. While there are some that advocate cleaning feeders more often and some less often, I think it boils down to how often you are at your feeders, the extent that you limit the amount of food in your feeders, your program of quality control of the feed and feeder surfaces while keeping moisture under control. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks for your continued support of my channel and this companion website! God bless you and yours!
