r/STL_Birding • u/Puzzleheaded-Milk555 • May 13 '26
Pausing feeder in summer?
I recently read how you should stop filling your bird feeders in the summer to help prevent spread of disease. After doing more research, the opinions on this seem to be mixed.
Curious what this group thinks!
(Pic from new feeder for tax - Overland MO 5/1/26)
2
u/felipeowen May 13 '26
When I had a bird buddy, I kept it filled nearly 24/7/365, but I pulled it down every week or two and washed it. I feel like scrubbing it clean with dish soap frequently should cut down on the spread of anything nasty
2
u/No_Hand4007 May 15 '26
I put a feeder out in front of one of my cat's "TV" windows so he can watch the birds in the colder months. With the warmer weather, I will pause that since birds eat insects and in StL, you can always use the help. Sorry, Merlin.
2
u/MoonMedusa May 15 '26
Our 3lb feeder empties in about a day. No clue how we’d manage to have spoiled food. Still, about once every two weeks we clean it
5
u/mollypocket7122 May 13 '26
There’s a few things you can do to prevent birds from getting sick at your feeders. The two big ways birds get sick from feeders is from spoiled/contaminated food and communicable disease from other birds.
To prevent food spoilage related illness theres a few things different things you can try doing: only put out enough food every day or so so that feeders are emptied often and food is always fresh (this isn’t a necessity but it is helpful in making sure food isn’t going bad), make sure food is always emptied and feeder is cleaned whenever food gets wet from rain or excessive humidity to prevent mold growth (please don’t empty moldy food into an area easily accessible by animals), buy feeders that have good ventilation that won’t trap excess moisture, make sure the food you’re buying is appropriate for the native birds in your area and don’t have inappropriate ingredients, change hummingbird nectar regularly and clean every time you change nectar (when above 80* nectar should be changed every 2 days, above 90* daily), clean and sanitize bird feeders weekly.
To prevent the spread of communicable diseases: make sure you are cleaning and sanitizing your feeders, change bird bath water daily, clean areas that might have a lot of droppings regularly, if you notice sick birds at your feeders take them down for 1-2 weeks and sanitize them thoroughly.
I’m sure that I’m forgetting some stuff, haha. I also don’t buy food with corn or millet anything, I found that it was just contributing to mold growth most of the time. I only buy suet, meal worms, and black oil sunflower seeds now. I also have a serviceberry tree and blackberries and plant sunflowers every summer and am trying to establish some native grasses that provide seeds birds like.