How to keep bird bath from freezing

Difficulty when attracting birds to a bird bath in winter is it will freeze over, thus you'd need to prevent this as birds come to rely upon you to drink or bathe, even in wintertime.

How to keep water from freezing in bird bath can be to disturb the water every hour; add floating balls to break up ice; or why not alternative between two hot water bottles in the day. You can run warm water via a garden hose or bird bath dripper every hour - or locate the bird bath near a warm source in the yard.

Unfortunately there are no guarantees of preventing a bird bath from freezing over, but it is possible to delay ice forming over the bird bath water surface.

Regardless, all solutions rely upon your personal intervention once an hour or more, but overnight at least you can finally give it a break.

What you can do to slow down the icing over effect is to float plastic balls on the water, in an effort to disrupt the developing ice.

My personal favorite which I believe is my own idea is to alternate between two hot water bottles to keep ice off all together - but again this will still need your intervention - but only every 2 or 3 hours this time.

How to attract birds to a bird bath to an accessible icy bird bath in winter rather than a closed off frozen over bird bath - is to still make sure any solution used of mine doesn't prevent birds drinking or bathing in the process.

What else you can do is melt the ice with a garden hose or a bird bath dripper which will pour in fresh warm water via an outdoor faucet; only at a pressure you choose in an effort to avoid water wastage.

Ideas set forth relate to keeping your current bird bath ice-free, when in fact the solution can be to buy a heated bird bath.

But in the end, the solution could be to park your bird bath near a warm object in your yard like a generator or mount it on the deck - whereas the bird bath must be set out in direct sunshine to take advantage of at least a bit of winter sun.

My advise for keeping bird baths ice-free is mostly achieved without use of electricity - with options relying on your personal intervention or use of warmed up water.

Regularly disturb water

My personal experience constitutes personal intervention on your part, not just the once as bird bath water can freeze over within an hour.

I know its not the kind of advise you need at this time but I can't say it enough, breaking up ice as it forms on the water surface every once in a while is the most effective way of keeping the bird bath freezing over.

Birds are likely to start using your bird bath in early morning to later in the afternoon before it gets dark in winter - or earlier in autumn when freezing conditions begin.

Regularly disturbing bird bath water in this time - especially in the morning - is the only way to break up the overnight ice, without too much hassle so early in the morning.

I know you want to be concentrate on the kids or family at this time, or you could be rushing off to work; thus to disturb the icy water quickly in the morning can open up the water source to early bird arrivals.

No need to get wet in the process when you can set aside a stick, a pole or anything else you can crack open a thin sliver of ice in the bird bath bowl.

Add floating devices to water

Whilst I can't recommend your personal intervention enough when disturbing the water every hour - when your home or do it the once before you leave in the morning - you can add one thing to the water to prevent it icing over.

Did you know a plastic hollow ball floating around on the surface of your bird bath water can not necessary prevent the bird bath freezing, but it sure can delay proceedings.

How it works is any wind will move the plastic ball around on the surface of the water, in this time the ball will prevent settled water which would otherwise lead to it freezing.

I admit its not a solid solution but it can be considered if you at least use this technique in conjunction with breaking up the ice yourself.

You'd need to use several plastic balls that can bob around on top of the water, while the slightest bit of wind is guaranteed to keep the balls moving.

Once again, this isn't a reliable solution because water will freeze in an overnight forecast, but it can at least delay things for a little longer.

Alternate hot water bottles

What I haven't see anyone provide an idea for keeping bird baths from freezing over thus far, is the use of hot water bottles.

Let me say this is my idea but I haven't attempted to try it out myself, so its up to you to use hot water bottles in freezing cold water, at your own personal risk.

What you do then is of course fill up a hot water bottle which commonly stays toasty warm for up to 6 hours. Dropping a hot water bottle in the cold bird bath water is going to rise the temperature dramatically.

I believe you can still expect to keep a hot water bottle warm for at least 2 to 3 hours in your bird bath, in the dead of winter.

Leaks or faults can form due to ice cold exterior with a hot interior, but if its a small leak, continue to use the hot water bottle while being more careful not to burn yourself.

I don't believe the one hot water bottle will do it because you'd need to re-fill the one in use which can take some time.

I therefore recommend you alternative between two hot water bottles as you add the new bottle in the bird bath - while topping up the second in your cozy warm kitchen.

Risk of frost bite on the fingers can occur if not being careful, thus its vital you remove and place hot water bottles in bird bath water without coming into contact with the water.

Occasionally run hot water

Who yes, this solution for keeping bird baths from freezing over during the day can be avoided with a bit of warm running water.

How that is achieved is running water via a regular garden hose or a purpose made bird bath dripper. What would be a bird bath dripper is a device similar to a garden hose, only its made to slowly drip water into the bird bath to attract birds to it.

Before I go on, a bird bath dripper tends to be used in warmer weather when people like to attract birds to their bird bath with the use of running water - or the sound of a cascading fountain bird bath water - in which can still be used in winter. Remember though other than the sound of running water, you can brighten up a water source in winter by utilizing a colorful bird bath if at all plausible.

What you do is connect the bird bath dripper to on indoor or preferably an outdoor faucet, to then allow water to flow into the bird bath.

Dripper will hang over the rim of the bird bath with the water pressure turned up to your personal preference.

Very effective solution I can assure you whilst your water bill can skyrocket. What you will do instead then is run warm water every hour or so for a minutes just to melt any ice freezing over.

Only you'll know when to and when not too turn on your bird bath dripper at what pressure during the day.

Now its just a matter of figuring out to either keep the dripper connected to an indoor faucet without freezing up the house - or you can just twice an hour - step outdoors to turn the faucet on, then turn it off a minute or so later.

Locate bird bath to outdoor warm area

Birds do use bird baths in winter because of course natural water resources found in the wild have frozen over, hence their reliance on bird baths.

Because its wintertime with the temperature cold enough to freeze over water, we can't rely on the sun to melt the ice - or else what would be the point of finding a solution for how to keep bird baths from freezing.

Regardless, any bit of sunshine despite it remaining freezing cold out can thaw out your bird bath water a little bit.

Have you ever taken a walk after a frost while noticing iced over areas on the ground staying icy as its under cover of shade - well, this is true for any bird bath placed in shade.

Where you have placed your bird bath in your yard currently may now need to be moved into a still cold but sunnier spot to assist in the melting process.

Bird bath water can certainly stay icy despite the move, but this can be an effective way of letting nature take its course.

Bird baths can be out of direct sun to sustain water quality, but as the cold conditions are sure to keep the water at its best - you can re-locate your bird bath out in the sun during the winter to let the heat of the sun do its thing.

Locate your bird bath within direct sunshine but if you have an air conditioning block, heat lamps or other warm features in your yard, then take full advantage of it. It should be a device you currently use, with no additional expense on your part.

Heated bird bath option

My solutions for how to keep bird baths from freezing over while in use in the winter will mostly relate to the current bird bath you may own.

But did you know you can buy a heated bird bath that is designed to achieve what I have being telling you all along - which is to stop the bird bath water icing over.

I understand the need to keep bird bath from freezing without electricity, but in the end this could be your final solution.

Heated bird baths are nether pretty or cheap in most cases, but it can achieve an ice-free water source. Which of course that is what we want for our common backyard birds after all, and not for our own selfish gain.

How to setup an heated bird bath is similar to where you will place a static bird bath in your yard; which can be located in shade during the summer while avoiding shade in the winter... if that isn't too confusing.

Downside to a heated bird bath is you'd need to check on the electricity cord length so it can be run along the ground and into your mains socket.

How you'd plug an heated bird bath indoors while keeping doors and window shut I really don't know - but I think it relies on creative thinking with the potential for an outdoor outlet being made available only.

I promise you heated bird baths are safe providing you buy from a reliable brand, whilst you must still remain mindful of the dangers of the wire pressed on the cold snowy surface.

Heat generated within the water can still feel quite cold, thus birds can continue to bathe or drink as normal - with no risk of algae or mold forming when the heated bird bath is operated in super cold conditions.

Never use de-icer chemicals

I can say with certainty there is such a thing as safe non toxic de-icing chemicals for use in bird baths on the market today, but you'll never find me using it.

In fact, I would never personally add anything to a bird bath water bowl other than water.

Well, you will find me popping in a hot water bottle or plastic balls in my quest to help you keep your bird bath ice-free - but you'd never see me use chemicals.

Reason being is, safe chemicals to use in bird baths to stop it freezing are only effective at a certain temperature. It can be effective up to -4°C and thereafter it won't work so you'd be throwing away good money.

Plant based chemicals so no harsh ingredients used, although to add chemicals in a bird baths just don't work when you need them to.

I believe how to at least slow down the freezing up of bird bath water can be achieved when your bird bath water is deep, as a shallow water source can rapidly ice over.

As you'll be filling the bird bath as deep as you can, far more of these chemicals will be needed - to counteract the de-icing chemical to bird bath water ratio.

Forget about chemicals as even Audubon recommend you never use the stuff, even plant-based chemicals.

Conclusion

Simple solution to keeping bird bath water from freezing up every hour or so would be to simply disturb the water by poking it with a pole or a device.

Not a solution I believe your after as it would be an obvious technique, but it never hurts to remind you the very basics of keeping a water source ice-free. Plus I know you will not want to dash outdoors in the cold to do this every hour.

With that in mind, all of my ideas for keeping an ice-free bird bath will absolutely avoid the use of any plant based but safe to use chemicals.

Don't assume my ideas will guarantee to work when in fact a few can be used to delay the freezing process.

Take one or several small, light hollow plastic balls for the wind to push the floating balls on the water - with the idea to disturb the water enough to stop it freezing.

Better still, alternate with two hot water bottles in your bird bath as the heat generated should keep it ice-free - while the water can still feel quite cold to touch.

You can setup a garden hose or what is known as a bird bath dripper; either will be hung over the bird bird in a way you know best. Warm water can then be filtered into the bird bath every hour or so to melt the ice... and its all done without you stepping outdoors.

What you might not have realized is a bird bath setup under the sun - even in freezing cold conditions - can melt ice, so utilize a sunny spot in your yard.

Similarly, you could situate the bird bath near to a warm generator, outdoor lamps or an air conditioning block that so happens to be giving out heat.

In the end you can just rely upon a handy heated bird bath which will stop the bird bath water freezing over - yet the water will remain cold and not warm up enough to deter wild birds.

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