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Avian Pox--->Please keep your feeders clean

Posted by Douglas douglas@hummingbirdmarket.com on

PLEASE CLEAN YOUR HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS WELL Humans who feed hummingbirds can be one of the first steps where pathogen transmission can be decreased by instituting proper preventive measures such as diligent hummingbird feeder cleaning. Soaking and scrubbing with a 50/50 vinegar/ water ratio can eliminate molds and bacteria. Also, washing with bleach can help. But rinse well. And using a small brush on the food ports will keep their little bills fresh and clean. Detergents and soaps are not suggested at they leave a residue.  First report of laboratory-diagnosedavian poxvirus infection in a hummingbird https://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/pdf/10.7589/2012-09-230 CHARACTERIZATION OF AVIAN POXVIRUS IN...

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Feeding Jelly to Birds

Posted by Douglas Everett on

JELLY I am not an enthusiast of feeding jelly to birds---it attracts bees, especially the Africanized type and Bald-faced hornets. And the bird droppings are very staining. In parallel, Laura Erickson reports that "Kent Mahaffey, who was manager of the San Diego Wild Animal Park's famous free-flight Bird Show for more than two decades. Kent had primary care responsibility for hundreds of birds from many families. He said he would never allow any birds under his care to have jelly. He added the following: In general, any food that exceeds the balance of sucrose in a bird's natural diet is suspect. Natural...

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Microbial Communities in Hummingbird Feeders Are Distinct from Floral Nectar and Influenced by Bird Visitation

Posted by Douglas Everett on

A big title for a research paper but essentially it is " Most microbes in hummingbird feeders do not pose health hazard"https://phys.org/news/2019-03-microbes- ... ealth.htmlIt basically says: "They also found that birds, feeder sugar-water, and flowers hosted distinct bacterial and fungal communities" and "However, a tiny fraction of those microbes has been associated with disease, so we encourage everyone who provides feeders for hummingbirds to clean their feeders on a regular basis and to avoid cleaning feeders in areas where human food is prepared."

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