How to protect garden birds during the Avian Flu outbreak

Amid the current UK outbreak of Avian Flu, take steps to minimise the risk and protect garden birds.

Although Avian Flu mainly affects poultry and sea birds, it is really important to take steps to protect the birds in your garden too.

Avian Flu is a viral infection with multiple strains that causes disease in birds. It can spread between birds when they are exposed to infected saliva or droppings, and in rare cases can even spread to humans. The second largest cause of death in garden birds is disease caused by unclean bird feeders, so this puts them at risk when a flu outbreaks happen.

There are so many wonderful options to feed the birds with on the market. From seeds to straights, suet products and much more, people across the UK love getting out in their gardens. According to the British Trust for Ornithology Garden Bird Feeding Survey, half of UK households feed birds in their garden around 60,000 tonnes of bird food each year.

A representative from Harvest Wildlife Products said: “Bird feeders and baths are a breeding ground for harmful fungi and bacteria, which can infect garden birds so easily. Once infected, these birds can spread the disease to other birds and feeders. Diseases like salmonella and E. coli that can quite easily lead to death. The risk is only heightened during an Avian Flu outbreak.

“It’s amazing that people across the country love feeding birds, but we need to educate ourselves more on the importance of keeping bird feeders clean and disease-free. At the bare minimum, bird feeders, feeding stations, baths and water dishes should be cleaned every two weeks. If you see mould start to develop, clean immediately.”

Simply empty the feeders, and hand wash them with hot water and soap, or a weakly diluted bleach solution. It might be tempting, but don’t put them in the dishwasher as this is extremely unhygienic. Once clean, make sure to leave these to dry naturally before filling up again, otherwise you will just end up with damp food that will spoil more quickly.

Find out How to Choose the Perfect Bird Feeder for Your Garden.

Birds in your garden will be hungry during the colder months, so it’s completely normal to be refilling your feeders once a day or more. Make note of how much they eat and make sure to never leave too much food out. This should help reduce the likelihood of food decomposing and becoming mouldy.

On top of this, more birds will visit your feeders at this time of year and urinate/defecate on the food and surrounding areas as they eat. This is why cleaning feeders and bird baths is imperative.

If you spot signs of disease in the birds in your garden, please stop feeding and providing water for them for several weeks to ensure they don’t spread the disease to healthy birds using your feeding station. Report sightings of deceased birds to the Garden Wildlife Health project.