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Express your love for birds uniquely through glass bird feeders. The artful designs done on glass feeders are sure to make your bird cage, porch, or garden a little more interesting and lively. The intricate designs, placed around the feeders so that you can view the patterns from any standpoint, will surely give a sense of authenticity to your enthusiasm for birds.
Glass is steadily becoming the material of choice for bird feeders. Glass can offer greater flexibility in terms of design patterns. Glass artwork can give your feeders exotic finishes limited only by an artists or your imagination. More importantly, glass feeder designs are reputed to be more resistant to scratches, rusting, or flaking off.
Adding glass bird feeders as accent pieces to your garden is one sure way to elevate your enjoyment for birds, be it wild. However, as glass feeders can definitely increase the level of activity for birds in your area, they may be a little bit delicate to clean. So read on for a few pointers on how to have easier time sprucing up your glass feeder.
Bleach And Water
Cleaning up a glass bird feeder should be fast and easy when you use bleach and water. Bleach can effectively eliminate molds and other unwanted microscopic organisms. With the rise of various avian diseases that can be contagious to humans, keeping glass feeders clean down to sub-atomic levels can be the best preventive measure for bird enthusiasts to avoid catching bird related diseases like the bird flu.
By adding bleach, a standard disinfectant, to water, you can be sure that your glass feeders are not only visibly clean, but pathogenically safe as well.
However, bleach is not so good on the smell. In fact, household bleach can cause allergies to some people. To prevent allergic reactions or stop the disturbing odor, the measure of the bleach mixture must be in the ratio of ten parts of water to only one part of bleach. This solution is enough for an effective yet smell-free cleaning.
For people who are really allergic to bleach smell, letting the feeders air dry or, better yet, applying a coating of sugar extract on the feeders can surely suppress the violent smell of bleach.
And, of course, you want to be sure to rinse off any bleach residue so you do not poison your birds with it!
Two Glass Bird Feeders Are Better Than One
Having two feeders for each spot you want to put feeders on can surely cut your cleaning chores into just a few seconds. Use one bird feeder for a couple of days then replace it with the other one. To clean the first one you used, soak it in bleach and water solution. Alternately using two bird feeders and switching them regularly shortens your cleaning and handling time without the rush that could make you break your glass feeders.
Use A Cleaning Mop Or Brush
A feeder cleaning mop or brush can be a very effective tool for cleaning bird feeders. Basically a cleaning mop or brush is made up of a lump of foam or bristles fastened on one end of a ten or twelve-inch wire or rod. Glass bird feeders, particularly those made by blowing glass, have intricate designs and forms; hence you need a cleaning mop or brush to definitely reach and clean the lowermost and innermost parts of a glass feeder.
Sure, a bleach solution can effectively clean your bird feeder; but when you are unable to scrape off stubborn slime building up on the bottom of the feeder, molds and other undesirable organisms will eventually attach themselves and grow inside the feeder. A cleaning mop or brush can often last a year, at the very least.
Nothing Beats Hot Water
Some bird enthusiasts disagree with using bleach and water solution in cleaning glass bird feeds. They argue that, unlike most humans, birds have a more sensitive sense of smell. Any amount of bleach left on the feeder, no matter how small, can drastically affect the birds.
So instead of bleach, enthusiasts who avoid using bleach swear by the effectiveness of plain hot water and good old brushing. They reason that hot water can do the job of killing unwanted organisms while brushing can scrape off molds and other stains.
So there you have it, make a statement for all the bird lovers out there by using glass bird feeders. Unlike common feeders, glass feeders have unique design patterns. Above all, remember to keep your bird feeders clean.
Lee Dobbins writes for http://birdfeeders.topicgiant.com where you can learn more about feeding your backyard birds as well as different types of bird feeders like the glass bird feeder.
Article Source: Home and Garden Advice
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