If you are really cheap - like me - use a plastic bottle with a cap to control the flow and a small hole in the bottom as a drip hung over the bird bath . Ok . It is not sexy or very long lasting but the drip does attract an amazing amount of birds . If you can get it going slow enough it is quite entertaining to watch . I have a wire basket hung from a tree branch over the bird bath and a Clorox bottle in the basket filled with water with a very small hole in the bottom . It is fun to watch the variety of birds arrive and once they get used to using the bird bath , they seem to return more often .

Along the same lines, I punched a small hole in the bottom of a galvanized bucket and hung it from a branch over a birdbath. It took an entire day to slowly drip, drip, drip empty. I filled it each morning, and the birds loved it.

I have also used a timer for a mister, which really pulls birds into the area for leaf bathing. I ran it only 30 minutes in the morning, and 30 in the evening. I don't feel it wasted an awful lot of water, though I can't say I ever did the math. But it was such a very fine spray, and it sprayed directly into the foliage of a nearby shrub. It was such a very fine mist as to almost be like a heavy fog.

But honestly, the bucket worked really well, and that was just 1 gallon a day.

Just a thought. (And I loved how the bucket looked, too.)

Marcia

Bill, I have a "water wiggler" (my neice refers to it as a bird jacuzzi, LOL) in my main bb. It keeps the water moving and the birds are really attracted to it. I have and like the dripper but, I haven't burried the tubing so don't like the look of it running on top of the ground and also have not seemed to be able to get the drip rate controlled. I do need to pick up a time so I don't waste too much water also. I am not keen on the rocks only because the birds make such a poopie mess that I am hosing out the bb every day. Sometimes twice a day when so much gets splashed out that it is nearly empty. I also have used and like the bottle drip method, just remember to have an air vent in the bottle so it doesn't stop dripping.
Good luck!
Kat

Thanks for the ideas!

Marcia, I want to try the galvanized bucket idea. But I don't have any tree limbs to hang one from. I'm thinking about making a bucket hanger out of conduit. I have to do some testing to figure out a design that'll support the weight of a gallon or so of water. We'll see how it goes. . .

Thanks again.

Bill

Bill, you could also try a "shepherd's hook" from PetSmart or the like. Wrought iron, with a special device at the base to keep it from tilting forward under the weight of the bucket. Stick it in the ground behind your birdbath, and you're good to go.

If you build one, though, be sure to post a piccie so we can see how you did it.

Good luck!
Marcia

I love this idea.

I have had a lot of trouble with the shepherds hooks falling over. I am going to sink a 4X4 or landscape timber in concrete and put a wally world iron basket hook on it for our birdbath. Then I can hang baskets and flower pot rings on the sides that do not hang over the birdbath.

TRose, I get the hooks now that have extra stakes on the bottom to keep them from listing to the starboard side (leaning either way, actually). They work pretty well. Another trick is to sink a piece of appropriately sized PVC pipe in the ground first and drop the shepherd's hook in that. Then it usually won't lean over.

Good luck!