If you have bird baths -a neat trick I came up with

06-21-06, 10:59 AM

Since this is the water fountain and I see all kinds of stuff posted here I thought I would share a little something that I have found that really works if you have birdbaths..if your not interested in Birds or thier bathing habits...move on...
Since I live in the wonderful south and have 2 and sometimes more birdbaths set out there is a constant battle to keep algea from growing in the things, and believe me it happens really fast. I usually refill or refresh a bath every other day if not sooner based on the heat. Well it has been common knowledge to most BIRDERS that by putting a couple of pennys in the bath the algea will not grow ,but the effect is only around the immediate area about 1/2 inch or so of the penny. And before anyone gets all enviormental on me copper will not hurt the birds in the amounts I currently use.
Take a piece of 12 or 14 gauge wire and bend it into a circle that is appropriate for your basin size. Wind the ends together and then take the same size or samller wire and criss cross the circle with it a few times to give a pretty good grid effect. Bend it in the center and you will be pleasently surprised at how effective it is in keeping the green, red and black gunk from growing. You will be well served using a heavy wire or a thin wall copper tubing for the circle. Its stays put better. I have experiemented with a couple of sizes of wire and tubing using what I have on hand. My bird visitors are happy, the basins are clean and not gunky and all are happy. If your not into birds this post is proabbly silly to you but if your a backyard birder you might find it useful....cheers.

klomp10 · 06-21-06, 11:19 AM

Great tip, or you could just go with an all copper birdbath. No alge here.

benots4 · 06-21-06, 11:23 AM

Thanks for the idea. I've done the penny thing to some success. This should be better. Might even make some mid water pirches for the little critters. Any ideas on how to keep the bees out?

reese · 06-21-06, 11:53 AM

awww. i thought you were gonna talk about the multiple batteries spliced together....

j/k

firebush · 06-21-06, 11:59 AM

Bleach works better than anything. 33% bleach to water solution works wonders. Next best thing is antifreeze.

The best thing about it is you never see the same bird twice! :approve:

shloky · 06-21-06, 12:08 PM

Quote:

awww. i thought you were gonna talk about the multiple batteries spliced together....

06-21-06, 12:22 PM

I don't have a problem with bee's so I am no help there. And the bleach stuff works when I need to give them a good scrubbing.....but the copper goes on forever, I use scrap so there is no cost, I do think if i can scrounge up some thinwall copper tubing it will work better for the round outer ring.

**Frenchy** · 06-21-06, 12:32 PM

Good trick Wmrawls :approve:

Originally Posted by firebush

you never see the same bird twice!

BLT · 06-21-06, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by firebush

Bleach works better than anything. 33% bleach to water solution works wonders. Next best thing is antifreeze.

The best thing about it is you never see the same bird twice! :approve:

I know you said that as a sarcastic joke so don't take this personally, but for those of you who don't know it, Antifreeze is highly toxic and unfortunately many of the antifreezes out there are supposed to taste very sweet so many animals will just lick it right up. One teaspoon is supposedly enough to kill a dog or cat in a very slow agonizingly painful death...

With the grim stuff aside, it was a kinda funny comment! :)

FunkyCowie · 06-21-06, 01:38 PM

Now all you have to worry about is all the bird s*** in the bowl lol :)

06-21-06, 02:11 PM

I was just visiting relatives in Tx, and one day I helped out at the ranch. My uncle has fish in the water troughs (it sounded like a common thing to do) to keep the water clean. The tanks set up around to ranch are over 2 feet deep and hold a lot of water.
He ran into a snag and lost all his fish due to the recent drought there, but other than that they do a great job.

goodguy20k · 06-21-06, 02:29 PM

You should be on Martha Stewarts show, wmrawls! Awesome trick... If only I had a bird bath..

06-21-06, 05:20 PM

Thanks for the heads up on a good idea. :approve: I appreciate it.

Pocketbrain · 06-21-06, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by reese

awww. i thought you were gonna talk about the multiple batteries spliced together....

j/k

I got yer battery right here!

Thanks for the tip, wmrawls. I have a little fountain that does a bit of algae-growing. I'm gonna try this out!

Tankman · 06-22-06, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by firebush

Bleach works better than anything. 33% bleach to water solution works wonders. Next best thing is antifreeze.

The best thing about it is you never see the same bird twice! :approve:

If you did see the bird again, would it be a blonde?

Moved to "Blonde Jokes." Sorry.