Are bird feeders safe

Certainly there are many ways a bird feeder can be made unsafe, but if you continue to attend to feeders to clean up and change out bird food, you should be in safe hands.

While its vitally important to remember bird feeders do have their risks, bird feeder safety is usually low with only bird food allowed to rot, and therefore produce bacteria a real concern on feeders. Collapsing bird feeders is possible while indirect issues like wind, predators or pests is possible.

Its important to begin with bird feeders hung up in your yard with a commitment on your part to clean bird feeders on a regular basis, while changing out all bird food as often as you can to avoid bird food bacteria developing.

Similarly, an unkempt bird feeder will begin to loose its quality in due course which will see plastic fade, or hopefully never made possible... rust bleeding into the bird food.

Hummingbird feeders risk cheap plastic leeching into the nectar, whereas rust could form on a once nicely maintained plastic coated wire suet bird feeders - with the visible signs of rust coming into contact with suet cakes.

You must only use wild bird food intended for bird feeders at this point, as general food found in the home - like jelly or peanut butter - can be safe for birds, but unfortunately won't last very long in an outdoor environment.

What is safe to feed wild birds in your backyard is specialty bird feed only, like bird seeds, peanuts, suet, live or dried mealworms.

Unkempt bird feeders or disease developing among wild birds can be responsible for local government to advise residents to stop feeding birds via a bird feeder.

When this happens its vital to follow instructions carefully so you know when its safe to put bird feeders back out in your yard, just as you did before.

Issues involving a bird feeder can be avoided if cleaning and maintaining bird feeders regularly; whereas indirect issues like the weather, nuisance animals or predators can create unexpected issues you'd have to deal with when they arrive.

Bird feeder food can be deadly

What is the biggest health concern involving any kind of bird feeder, is the bird food often rotting soon after its put outdoors.

Often bird food like seeds or even dried mealworms can have a longer shelf life outside in the bird feeder; whereas bird food like peanuts or sometimes suet pellets can begin rotting soon after - thus will have to be thrown out only a day or so its put in the feeder.

Bird food doesn't rot rapidly but it sometimes can catch you out, which is why you must be careful not to provide wild birds, bird feed riddled in bacteria.

Birds will know good quality bird food like when moisture is retained in the seeds, whereas dried up bird food will naturally be missed because its old.

In spite of that, there's no guarantee your wild birds will avoid eating rotting bird food, as it is unbeknownst to them the seeds or peanuts have begun to germinate.

Similarly, a bird feeder for use by hummingbirds can show signs of poor quality nectar due to it clouding over; it could be contaminated with ants in the nectar; or indeed mold can be found in or around the hummingbird feeder body.

When making use of kitchen scraps you should only expect it to last for one full day, whereas peanut butter bird feeder safety is different, in that its limited to a short time of use only - because its regular peanut butter for people - which is used for wild birds.

Remain safe if cleaned out

To keep any type of bird feeder safe for wild birds for the conceivable future, its vitally important you commit to cleaning and maintaining these feeders over the course of its life time, while I'd expect feeders to last a minimum of three years at least.

Cleaning bird feeders on a regular basis will of course kill off bacteria or mold growing on feeders, whereas this can encourage you to change out the bird food - including changing the nectar in hummingbird feeders as often as you can.

Similarly, jelly in an oriole feeder will require replenishing often as ants and other bugs can swarm jelly on it regularly, and therefore risk contamination.

Bird feeders made for suet cakes, fat balls or pellet - including any type of seed or peanut bird feeder - must also be cleaned out once or twice monthly at the minimum.

Ideally you'll need to get ahead of bacteria or mold developing on the feeder which can make it easier on you when it comes to clean out.

Imagine bird food in feeders never cleaned up, well, when it does come time to clean it out the bird food residue would stick to the bird feeder interior like glue - making it near impossible to remove.

How you will clean any type of bird feeder is to use a simple boiling hot bowl of soapy water, before proceeding to scrub any bird feeder clean with a scour or brush.

Feeder collapse a possibility

While it can depend on where you place your bird feeder and how well its secured in its hanging location, of course safety of a bird feeder can be compromised due to a potential collapse.

Depending on the hook, rope or wire the bird feeder intends to hang on, it could be a weak joint at the point of sale - or indeed it could be made faulty due to wear and tear.

Result is an overloaded seed bird feeder for example could give way, leading to the bird feeder come crashing down to the ground.

Bird feeding station poles or a thick tree branch is super safe to use, its only when you begin experimenting with where else to hang any kind of bird feeder, does it get a little unsafe on your wild birds part, and anyone standing below.

Some like to find a point under their eaves to hang a bird feeder which can be a super safe location, only it risks collapsing as the height off the ground can make it difficult for anyone to make a secure hang - as you're forced to stretch high off the ground.

In the eaves location, to safely hang bird feeders on the guttering can only be made safe if hung on metal guttering, or its corresponding steel brackets.

Why it won't always be safe under eaves is because there's no guarantee people will avoid hanging a too heavy bird feeder on a super old plastic guttering.

Similarly, some may choose to mount their bird feeder to the window, which will depend on a suction cup retaining its vacuum.

Result of a faulty suction cup can lead to the whole window bird feeder come crashing down to the ground.

Indirect safety issues

Of course all risks of owning and operating any type of bird feeder can lead to unknown issues down the road, most of which we can predict which is important to get ahead of it to be sure it can never happen.

While bird feeder food can rot we can stop that ever happening by changing anything from seeds, nuts, jelly, nectar, suet or mealworms on a regularly basis.

Want we don't have control on that can jeopardize our wild birds safety at the feeder, is the arrival of nuisance animals.

Pests like squirrels, chipmunks or even raccoon's can lead to them all accessing the bird food, which will likely lead to more disease at the feeder spreading among birds.

Not always mind but its vital no animals other than birds can access bird feeder food, intended for wild birds only.

While I've mentioned a potential collapse of bird feeders due to an unknown error, its worth remember nuisance animals attempting to access bird food could weaken the hang point or mount, thus a fall could happen later when occupied by feeding birds.

Indirect incidents that you don't have control over can also invite predatory birds who risk injuring friendly songbirds, or indeed cats wondering into your yard who are likely to lie low to pray on birds on your feeder.

With nothing you can do other than keeping bird feeders heavy with weight or food - wind of course could violently spin and swing a bird feeder - which will again lead to the feeder collapsing anytime in the near future.

Last but not least, I don't believe you need to worry about a bird feeder made in plastic or copper for example.

Bird feeders can lose quality in years of which time you'd probably buy a new set. And with that, don't expect any material to bleed into the nectar on hummingbird feeders, or rust contaminating seeds or peanuts for other types of feeders.

Conclusion

While all kinds of issues can develop in and around all types of bird feeders in due course - with some problems coming sooner rather than later - there's nothing that will come up out of the blue that couldn't be avoided early.

Bird feeder safety usually involves bird feeder food, and the quality of it.

Sure, some bird food can last for weeks outdoors in colder weather, whereas the same bird food will only last less than a week in summer.

You can't possibly know this as it can depend on other issues, thus its vital to always consider changing any type of bird food on a regular basis.

Don't change the bird food mind until you've properly cleaned out all bird feeders with a deep wash, using dish soap and a disinfectant if needed.

Bird feeders are often made to by hung which is why we hang them on a bird feeder pole, or a tree branch if made available to any of us.

I don't believe a collapse can be caused by a strong thick branch or a metal bird feeding station - but what is used to hang the bird feeder could have an unknown fault.

Result of that is the bird feeder plus its load crashing to a big pile of heap on the ground.

Birds could get in trouble if they are present at the time of a collapse although wild birds are usually quick on their feet whenever trouble arises.

Indirect issues involving your bird feeders could include windy conditions weakening the bird feeder hanging chain or wire, or indeed bird feeder food could attract pests.

Similarly, predatory birds risk hurting songbirds while stray cats in the yard will lie and wait before pouncing on feeding birds.

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