Your bird feeder could be hiding infection and disease — here's how to tell, and what to do about it

Bird feeders are a popular way to encourage wildlife to visit a garden, providing valuable and consistent nutrition in exchange for a sighting of our feathered friends.

They are usually quite affordable and are an easy way to connect with the local ecosystem, especially as more and more people are drawn to the quiet satisfaction of birding and birdwatching. But they can also be a real source of harm to bird communities.

Simply put, your bird feeder could be spreading disease around the local bird population.

When bird feeders are popular, they receive a lot of visitors who will all be in close proximity to each other. This makes it a prime opportunity for disease to move between visitors, infecting a larger proportion of the population. And since the bird feeder is not a naturally occurring phenomenon but a man-made accessory, the local environment has not evolved to absorb and respond to this degree of disease spread. This means that a single infected bird feeder could have an outsized impact on local birds.

So how can you tell if your bird feeder is infecting its visitors — and how can you prevent it?

Disease in bird feeders

There are five diseases that most commonly affect birds that visit bird feeders, according to the National Wildlife Health Center. These are:

• Salmonellosis
• Aspergillosis
• Avian pox
• Trichomonosis
• Mycoplasmosis

Each of these diseases presents in different ways, and some have multiple forms; for instance, mycoplasmosis is a broader bacterial infection, but is often identified by the symptom of conjunctivitis. In the worst instances, these diseases can be fatal to the bird. Often, they greatly inhibit the bird’s quality of life, whether through respiratory distress, lethargy, or even blindness.

None of these diseases are unique to the bird feeders themselves. Rather, the bird feeder makes it easier for disease to spread between different creatures – especially if the feeder is not maintained and cleaned regularly. Diseased birds can transmit the disease to others both directly through oral contact, but also through fecal matter that often accumulates around the feeder. A disease that may organically have been contained to just one or two birds can quickly infect an entire community, through the easy access of a bird feeder.

This is why it’s so important to be vigilant about potential infected feeders: One diseased bird feeder can contaminate entire local populations.

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How to diagnose

The range of diseases and their different symptoms can make it tricky for people to know for sure if the birds that visit their bird feeder are infected. However, there are a few visible symptoms that should trigger an alarm and prompt you to take action:

• When mycoplasmosis presents as conjunctivitis, birds will appear to have crusty eyes and may even be visually impaired; look out for birds that bump into the feeder or other birds, or that don’t fly away when approached.
• Birds with salmonella may appear especially lethargic.
• Avian pox produces wart-like lesions on the bird’s body and head, which are easily noticeable. There may also be lesions inside the throat, which can make eating and breathing difficult.
• The fungal infection aspergillosis causes respiratory distress, which may be visible.

Any of these symptoms should be cause for concern and treated seriously. However, you don’t need to wait for visible signs of infection to act. Instead, experts recommend that anyone with a bird feeder should regularly clean and maintain the device, regardless of whether disease seems to be present.

How to maintain disease-free feeders

Since the bird feeders themselves don’t cause disease, you can still keep one in your garden and enjoy its benefits without guilt. However, it is important to keep them in good, safe condition in order to minimize the risk of them becoming a spreader site.

Cleaning the feeder

The most important thing to do is regularly clean the entire apparatus. Infected birds will leave behind contaminants, in their saliva, fecal matter, or other fluids. If they have a lesion, these may also transfer the disease onto the surface of the bird feeder for a time.

By regularly disinfecting the feeder, you eliminate these contaminants and prevent them from being picked up by another healthy bird. You should clean feeders weekly, with experts recommending a solution of 10% bleach mixed with water.

Let it air dry afterwards. Make sure to also wipe down any nearby feeding surfaces.

Rake up any debris and fecal matter

During the eating process, many birds will scatter seed or hulls onto the ground underneath the feeder, which could be contaminated if the bird has a disease. Birds will also defecate in this same area, which is both unpleasant for humans but also a prime source of infection.

Make sure to rake up this debris at least twice a week, more if you have a lot of birds visiting or you notice a higher volume of detritus collecting under the feeder. This minimizes the likelihood of a healthy bird coming into contact with an infected surface.

Space out feeders

If you have more than one feeder, make sure they are placed several feet apart from each other. This encourages birds to spread out across the area and limits the number of birds crowding around a single feeding point.

When birds have more room to breathe and are spaced out, a single infected bird is less of a contagion risk. If you keep domestic poultry, such as chickens, try to place the bird feeders far away from their habitat; this lessens the risk of avian flu spreading from wildlife to domestic birds.

Ensure feed is in good condition

While the bird feeder apparatus doesn’t cause disease, wet or old feed stored inside can become a breeding ground for fungus and bacteria that then infects local birds.

Make sure you replace your birdfeed regularly with high-quality seed and inspect its condition often, especially after a heavy rain or exposure to moisture. The seed should be stored in airproof containers, to help preserve quality.

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