How do you clean your bird feeders?

[EnchantingDecoration]

I have one of those bottle brushes and the special disinfectant, fine for the wire mesh peanut / fatball holders but with the plastic sided ones (seeds, mealworms, niger seeds no matter what I do there are always seeds wedged in the crevices that eventually go mouldy. I am tempted to just chuck them away and buy new but cheap ones don't survive magpies and the like and it’s not eco friendly. What do you do?

I have the same problem. One of ours totally dismantles so you can get to the crevices but it’s such a faff to do especially in winter when it’s freezing cold and I’m using the hose to clean them.

I got fed up with having the same problem. The manufacturers of some feeders have obviously never cleaned one.

When the old ones fell apart or became beyond cleaning I bought new ones with my main criteria being that they completely dismantle and are easy to clean.

I just soak in disinfectant and hope that's enough. I have various tools to try and poke out the mouldy seeds but it is annoying. You'd think the manufacturers would consider this when designing their product!

Yes, that’s the other problem, we don’t have a utiliity room so I either have to do them with the hose / bucket of water outside or the kitchen which I don’t like on hygiene grounds.

I soak mine in a bucket of hot soapy water, scrub and rinse well. Rightly or wrongly I tell myself birds eat most of their food off the floor etc so the feeders don’t need to be scrupulously clean at all times.

I think you're right. From a scientific perspective, most bacteria & viruses are killed or rendered inactive quite quickly by hot soapy water. Even if they're not scrupulously clean afterwards it won't really make much difference.

Yes, soap and scrubbing are underrated for getting rid of bacteria and fungi and birds will be exposed to all sorts naturally (microbiology is part of my work so it all interests me). I think getting into a regular routine is probably key TBH, I am guilty of refilling them and thinking "next time" and they only get worse. Ones with big lids are good too for keeping rain out as much as possible. All in a big bucket of hot soapy water outside the back door now. I have used a metal skewer to poke into the side bits as much as possible.

I hate cleaning the feeders, it's a real chore for all the reasons above. Wish someone would invent one that comes apart easily and has no crevices!

Dishwasher. I only have ones that come apart with screws though. Generally speaking the cheaper ones e.g. the ones you buy filled with seed in the supermarket are the worst for reusing.

I think as they need replacing I will look at getting ones that come apart completely for cleaning - any recommendations for brands?

It's been quite a few years so can't say whether their current quality is good, but the RSPB ones are normally good.

Good soak in a bucket with Citrox, bamboo kebab skewers can then pry most of the crud out of the corners. Rinse with boiling water.

A squirrel baffle helps keep the contents dry, so it doesn't get as stuck together.

I have feeders that I think were from RSPB website. They unscrew completely so you can scrub them properly. You've reminded me that I need to do ours, thanks!

We’ve changed feeders to plastic screw on bases which fit onto plastic bottles. We use the small squash bottles. Easy to clean and can be periodically changed to another bottle.
Otherwise it was a bucket of hot soapy water outside.

I just came onto this board to see if anyone could recommend a feeder (for sunflower hearts) which is easy to clean. Mine has a couple of fiddly screws, my hands are freezing after trying to clean it out under the outdoor tap. The bits are all soaking in a tub with some bleach at the moment.
i need to do this more often - idk if feeders are liable to spread things like bird flu - but it’s such a pain.

seems like most people have the same problem.