What do you put in a bird bath
In no time is it safe to put any chemicals in a bird bath to beat off bacteria, thus only stones or rocks can be added as a way to attract birds to a safe to use bird bath.
What can you put in a bird bath that is sure to benefit birds rather than hinder their bathing or drinking time, is a heap of pebbles to line the bowl for safe footing, and a way to manage the depth. Also add up to three rocks to act as additional perches, thus birds can enter and exit the water more safely.
Without a doubt the two most important things you can sit in the actual bird bath water, are pebbles to line the base with rocks used as better placed perches.
Birds will use bird baths at times thus you don't want to waste an opportunity if the bird bath isn't as safe as you first thought. Danger in a bird bath lies in the water depth along with risks of drowning if you don't put safety features in place.
Well, pebbles are sure to provide all wild birds a great way to step in the shallow water with no risk of slipping due to a slippery surface like glass under foot.
You could say metal bird baths can get a little hot too thus pebbles will put distance between the hot metal bird bath surface and the birds delicate feed.
Great bonus of pebbles mind is the way you can bring the bird bath water level down to a safe depth, with the more pebbles used the more shallow it will become.
Sitting on top of the pebbles compacted underwater can be rocks that will act as a better way to provide carefully situated perches.
Birds naturally perch around the rim of bird baths while a rock perch sitting in the water is sure to be the safest option for all wild birds.
Don't use too much space in the bird bath water bowl though as you need room to potentially sit a solar powered fountain bird bath feature, that sits right in the water.
Remember, all items put in the bird bath will need to be removed for cleaning and maintenance, thus its vital you don't make any of this a permanent feature. Pebbles will be mixed in with bird poop and so will the bird bath exterior, so it must be cleaned regularly to avoid a build up of poop and bird bath slime.
Pebbles to line the base
What is the number one thing you'd need to put in any brand new bird bath in use today is a good helping of pebbles.
Why you would line the bird bath water bowl with pebbles is to essentially create better footing for all size birds who wish to use your bird bath.
While made in glass bird baths can get on the slippery side - the pebbles in use will create a slip-free surface - now safe for all birds to enter the water without risk of them getting in trouble, which will lead to drowning.
And when your bird bath in particular is too deep to begin with, what will fix this too deep water depth is a pile of pebbles to bring the water level up to an ideal 2 inch depth for large birds - along with a 1 inch depth for smaller backyard birds.
Birds tend to land on the rim of any bird bath in spite of what material it is made of, yet the next stage will involve birds entering the water to bath, or they will hop to the side of the water to drink.
How safe this will be completely depends on you, with pebbles certainly making it safe for all with no serious negatives.
Bring the level of pebbles you use up to 1 or two inches to the top of the bowl, as a way to control the water level that will even prevent rain water making it deeper.
Rocks to substitute as safe perch
Other than pebbles which must be used to make the bird bath water bowl safe with better footing, what else you can use is rocks as a substitute for a perch.
When any wild bird comes to a bird bath of any type, just watch as they always land somewhere around the rim of the bird bath bowl.
Never will you find birds to land directly in the water out of direct flight as any bird knows trouble can lie ahead.
What this area is where a bird perches on is always the outer rim of the bird bath bowl.
While this rim does tend to be open to the largest birds like Cardinals to perch, it can be restricting if it hangs due to the chains used to suspend bird baths, being in the way.
Well, you can be sure all birds can avoid the rim when you carefully position a number of rocks directly in the water bowl, to act as additional perches if needed.
With that, these rocks will need to sit in the water but need to be a little way out so birds aren't forced to perch in the water, because they will avoid that.
What's more important when utilizing rocks that will hopefully sit on top of the bed of pebbles, is these rocks provide a safe way for birds to enter already shallow water.
Optional water feature
Absolutely not essential but I can assure you this is a feature that will go within the bird bath water, in part to attract wild birds to your bird bath.
Let me be frank, static bird baths sitting quietly in the yard can be ignored by bird in the best of times, but there is a way to do more to make your bird bath both seen and heard, with a feature that is sure to gets birds attention.
Birds can be attracted to a once static bird bath that now uses a fountain feature to get birds attention to the sound of running water. If at all posssible, do make sure this fountain is added to what can be a brightly colored bird bath to draw a birds eye.
Sound of running water is a sure fire way to do that, while the ripples on the water surface can be spotted as water glistens in the direction of any birds flying overhead.
Bonus of what can be wired or hopefully a wireless solar powered bird bath fountain, is it will make running water loud and highly visible.
Bird baths will need to set the scene as a shallow water depth will be needed to operate a solar fountain feature.
Similarly, a flat base you can create with pebbles will be used to sit the fountain safely on, and it must always be facing direct sunshine to operate.
No chemicals in water
What you can put in a bird bath other than fresh plain tap water are water-safe pebbles and one or two rocks to act as perches.
People don't often pay much attention to bird baths needing pebbles or rocks to assist in attracting birds, as a static bird bath is bound to be ignored. Final thing to put in a bird bath is a solar powered fountain feature if you like, and nothing more.
What I am getting at is you cannot put any kind of chemicals in the bird bath water, in order to fight off dirt, slime, bacteria, and of course algae.
Bleach can't be used nor can you use the correct measurement of chlorine in bird baths, as its super deadly to wild birds.
Safe for us yet for a wild birds organs it simply won't cope with these deadly chemicals.
What you must do to care for your bird bath is actually clean it as often as you can, because clean water is a safe bird bath overall.
You'd need to remove all pebbles, rocks and running water features like a solar fountain to clean individually, while scrubbing the bird bath water bowl - and the exterior rim - to wash away any bacteria and avoid the build up of slime and algae.
You can think about killing off bacteria on a bird bath after the dirty water has been poured out, with a household antibacterial spray or homemade disinfectant - if only you wash off these chemicals off after with clean boiling hot water.
Summary
What you put in a bird bath will of course be fresh clean water while replenishing it once or twice weekly in order to clean the bird bath with soapy water.
In addition, you can make your bird bath more appealing to wild birds by adding a solar fountain feature, as birds will be attracted to both the noise it makes and the movement that is made on the water surface.
I strongly advise you to use a heap of pebbles to line the base of the bird bath water bowl, while managing the water level to a safe 1 or 2 inches for larger birds. While the pebbles will create safe footing, it will be effective for slippery prone bird bath material.
Where wild birds perch before entering the bird bath water is usually around the rim.
While that would do for most of you of course this rim can be restricting, and at the same time it can be made unsafe for birds to walk or hop down into the water safely.
Instead you'd want to insert a series of rocks in the water which will stay out of the water on the top side, where birds will perch out of the water and in the dry.
Rocks in question will need to slope into the water to allow birds to enter and exit the water at a depth that remains a safe one or two inches only.
Don't go overboard with rocks as room needs to be made to place the solar powered fountain feature, which will sit nicely on top of the pebbles beneath the water line.
With all that in mind, you absolutely cannot put chemicals in the bird bath water to kill off bacteria, or use it as a kind of self cleaning liquid to put in the water.
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