How To Clean A Cement Bird Bath
Table of Contents
How To Clean A Cement Bird Bath
Knowing how to clean a cement bird bath will help ensure a healthy backyard habitat and will allow bird watchers to easily maintain their bird bath. Cleaning your bird bath is one of your most important responsibilities as a bird bath owner. If left uncleaned and un-maintained, the standing bird bath water can encourage algae growth, attract insects and even encourage mosquitoes to breed in your bird bath. Because bugs and mosquitoes can carry diseases, it is very important that you clean your bird bath regularly, for the safety of both humans and birds.
Cement bird baths are popular choices among homeowners because they are durable. They also don`t tip over easily in the wind. Their texture also makes them a good choice for birds because their texture makes it easy for birds`s feet to hold on to them. However, because cement birdbaths are heavy, they can be more challenging to clean. This guide is intended to help owners of cement birdbaths clean and maintain them more easily.
Materials Required To Clean A Cement Bird Bath:
- A few ounces of bleach or a non-toxic cleaning solution of your choice. Vinegar, olive, or cinnamon oil will work well.
- A garden hose with a connection to high-pressure water
- A plastic trash bag
- A pair of rubber gloves
- A stiff wire or plastic brush
- Some towels to wipe the bird bath down
8 Steps To Clean A Cement Bird Bath
- Remove debris from your bird bath. If your bird bath is well placed in your yard, this step should not be a problem. Bird baths should be placed in areas close to trees and vegetation to provide birds with a fast escape route from predators, but they should not be placed directly under trees or under bird feeders. A well-placed bird bath should contain little debris. Here’s where your rubber gloves will come in handy. Make sure your don’t come into direct contact with fecal matter, which could carry diseases.
- Drain the water. This step should be done carefully to avoid injury. Tilt the bird bath slightly to the side, just enough to allow the water to drain on to the ground. Make sure you get help if the bird bath is extremely heavy.
- Hose the bird bath down. Cement is a porous material, making it easy for algae, pathogens and other germs to lurk in the tiny holes of your bird bath. Hosing your cement bird bath down with high pressure water will remove a lot of the algae growth in the basin and will also help remove and pathogens in the pores of the cement.
- Scrub the bird bath. For this step, you will need your stiff brush and some cleaning solution. Depending on your preference, you may use a cleaning solution of one part bleach and nine parts water. Remember that bleach is toxic to both humans and animals, so the bird bath will need to be rinsed out well (see step 7). Less toxic solutions of cinnamon oil, olive oil, or vinegar and water may also be used, but in a ratio of 35 to 65, as these substances are not as strong. There are also non-toxic bird bath cleaning solutions that can be purchased inexpensively online.
- If using a bleach solution, let the solution sit in the bath for 15 to 20 minutes. Cover the bird bath with a plastic bag while the basin is soaking to prevent birds from drinking from it!
- Drain the water. Remove the plastic bag and drain the water. If using bleach, you can avoid getting the bleach solution on plants and vegetation either by soaking the solution up with sponges, or draining the bleach solution into a bucket and dumping it elsewhere.
- Rinse the cement bird bath with high-pressure water. This step is crucial if you have used a bleach solution. Rise the bird bath well with high-pressure water and keep rinsing until you can no longer smell bleach on the bird bath.
- Let the bird bath dry. Allow your cement bird bath to dry in the sun before filling it again with clean, fresh water. Rinse, refill and repeat frequently in order to avoid having to use the more thorough cleaning methods described above.
Conclusion
As you can see, it requires some effort to clean a cement bird bath, but it is not difficult. Your efforts will help keep birds and humans healthy.
Check out these cleaning supplies on Amazon that will help you keep your bird bath clean naturally!