How to Clean and Maintain a Birdbath in Your Yard

Animals & Wildlife, Furniture & Accessories, Lawn and Garden, Video by Danny Lipford

A birdbath makes a great addition to your landscape, but the debris and algae they collect are far less than attractive. Here’s a tip for getting the bath clean and keeping it clean.

  • Remove the leaves, debris and stagnant water.
  • Spray out as much gunk as possible with a garden hose.
  • Mix up a mild bleach solution and use a stiff scrub brush to clean the bath (this will kill the algae and remove the stains it leaves behind).
  • Thoroughly rinse the bath out with clean, fresh water.
  • Finally drop several copper pennies into the refilled bath to prevent future algae growth (the chemical reaction between copper and water stops algae growth).

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2 Comments on “How to Clean and Maintain a Birdbath in Your Yard”

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  1. DIY: August Lawn & Garden To-Do List - Danny Lipford Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 11:52

    [...] close watch on your birdbath, water features, and hummingbird feeder – take steps to correct or avoid mold, stagnation, and [...]

  2. Stephen Says:
    March 31st, 2009 at 15:10

    I don’t know if the pennies work but as I’ve posted elsewhere, only pennies made before 1982 are 95% copper. Newer ones are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. Use a piece of copper pipe instead.

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