How to clean feeders properly

We recommend having at least one spare, clean feeder ready so you can swap it straight in while the dirty one is being cleaned and dried. This makes the process much easier and ensures your birds always have food available.

Step by step

• Empty completely — remove and dispose of all remaining food properly. Never simply top up over old food.
• Disassemble fully — take the feeder apart including ports, base and any perches. If your feeder cannot be fully disassembled, replace it with one that can.
• Scrub with hot soapy water — use a dedicated feeder brush (not your kitchen sponge). Pay attention to crevices around ports and perches where debris accumulates.
• Disinfect — apply a wildlife-safe disinfectant such as Ark-Klens, CitroSan or Safe4. Follow the product instructions.
• Rinse thoroughly — remove all soap and disinfectant residue.
• Dry completely before refilling — a damp feeder undoes all your cleaning. Leave it to air dry or dry with a clean cloth before reassembling.

Positioning and spacing your feeders

Where you put your feeders and how many you cluster together — has a significant impact on disease risk. Two simple principles make a big difference:

Move feeders after every clean

Even if you clean thoroughly, the ground beneath a static feeder will eventually accumulate contaminated debris — droppings, husks, saliva-contaminated seed fragments. Moving to a new spot after every weekly clean breaks this cycle. Don't move it too far so the birds can still find it, just far enough to be away from the last feeding area.

Spread feeders around your garden

Feeding stations that cluster multiple feeders together bring birds of different species into unnaturally close proximity — which is exactly the condition that maximises disease transmission risk. Instead:

• Only use one or two feeders on a single feeding station
• Hang the rest at separate locations around the garden
• Avoid placing feeders directly under trees where roosting birds drop onto them from above
• Keep feeders within 20m of cover (trees, hedges) so birds can retreat quickly from predators

What to avoid and why

Exercise Caution with flat feeding surfaces

You can still use bird tables if you wish as long as you look after them and take precautions. The RSPB took the approach to simply remove them but we want to give you the choice.

The risk comes from food placed on flat surfaces which could remain there for days, becoming damp and mouldy. Sick birds tend to perch on flat surfaces and regurgitate contaminated food that other birds then pick up. The RSPB's own study found feeding trays and bird baths had a 23% positive rate for Trichomonosis — hanging tube feeders had 0%.

If you do use a bird table, we recommend:

• If you put food out on it, clean it daily daily — not weekly
• Only putting out food you know birds will eat in a day
• Add hooks to the sides of the table and hang feeders from them

Avoid cheap seed mixes

Low-quality seed mixes can contain high proportions of fillers that some birds will not eat. Birds rifle through looking for the preferred seeds and discard the rest. That discarded food sits on the ground, gets damp, rots, and becomes a contamination risk. It is also a false economy: you pay for food the birds largely ignore.

• Choose husk-free seeds where possible — sunflower hearts leave virtually no waste
• Only put out as much food as birds will eat in one day
• Clear up any dropped food regularly, especially in warm weather
• Choose good quality feeders with excellent drainage
• If necessary, use a rain guard on seed feeders to help keep the contents dry