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Hummingbird Garden

birds won't use our bird bath

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hello,

We bought a used bird bath from a local used furniture dealer. It is just one of these normal concrete on a pedestal bird baths. The birds just loved it. My favorite sweety asked me to clean up the bird bath, you know, paint it, make it look nice. Well, I bought some rattle cans for the pedestal and rim of the bath section and swimming pool paint for the reservoir. I sanded the reservoir bottom so the birds have some traction. Now, however, for some reason, they will not use our bird bath and it has been several months. The bowl is within the 1-3 inch depth even if it was totall full, and we only fill it to the blue line. It is in the same spot as before, so the positioning should be good.

Any suggestions?

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Comments (5)

lexilu73
8 years ago
Most birds like about 1 inch of water. I would try not filling it full and see what happens.
zzackey
8 years ago
We put a brick in the middle of ours. They can stand on it and test the depth of the water or stand there and get a drink.
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That's what I use. Just no rocks. During winter, they just use it to drink out of. The problem with rocks is when you dump the water out to clean the bowl, you'll need to remove all the rocks and clean them too cause they'll get funky. I don't worry about birds bathing to much during winter to require a shallow bowl. They capitalize on melt puddles when weather warms in between cold spells. I provide water in the heated dog bowl just for drinking. I've had mine over 10 years and no problems...unlike heated bird baths which last about 2 years in my experience. Plus, my dog doesn't mind sharing with the birds!
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marinaka Ito_10a
7 years ago
Hummingbirds like very shallow water. They also like splashing water.

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/outdoor/diy-bird-bath.html

I am going to make one with a solar pump, not quite like the above, but more natural-looking cascading bubbling fountain.
mehitabel zone 6
7 years ago
I wondered why the birds drank out of the humdinger ant cups instead of the birdbath. Will try the brick and not filling as full. Thanks for the suggestions.
mehitabel zone 6
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
A standing birdbath on the patio has gotten only limited use for several years. Also far from the house and a pain to keep clean. This year I bought one of those deck-railing birdbaths. It's only steps from the kitchen so easy to keep clean in hot weather, and it's being used for both drinking and baths. The red-headed sparrows that drink from the ant cups unfortunately still use the ant cups as well as the birdbath. Well who wouldn't like to have two sources of water? :)

I thought a brick too high so used a small flagstone type stone and a couple of 3-4 inch river rocks in the middle. However, they drink from the edge.

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