My Veterinary Page

I qualified (with Honours) as a Veterinary Surgeon from the University of Glasgow in 1990 (which seems like a very long time ago!) Before becoming involved with our bird seed business, I worked in Practice for a number of years and also for a large Animal Health Organisation.

As a vet, I obviously have a keen interest in animal and bird health and particularly the Epidemiology of disease – that is, studying the causes, the distribution and the control of disease within populations.

Garden bird feeding has become massively popular over the last 10-15 years and this phenomenon has not been without its impact on the health of our garden birds. When you bring a population of any animal or bird together into an 'unnaturally close' environment – you are likely to have a significant impact on the health of those species. We have a saying in Scotland that “a sheep's worst enemy is another sheep” and this is very true. They are supposed to live out on Scottish hills breathing fresh air. When you bring them together and house them, they share the same airspace and immediately become prone to respiratory infections – a bit like young children going to school for the first time!

And the same is true for garden birds. Back in the 1970s when very few people used to feed garden birds, they were surviving in the countryside, in hedgerows and bushes. Since then of course, most people now love to feed their garden birds and this has encouraged a huge flux of birds into gardens and (relatively) small spaces.

This increase in population density has an impact on the quality of the air they breathe and also the cleanliness of the surfaces they feed from.

If we encourage our garden birds into a higher risk environment, then we really have a duty of care to ensure that we reduce the chances of them contracting diseases.

So what can we do to reduce the chances of disease build up in our gardens? Well here is a list of some of the most important things you can do;

Ensure that feeding surfaces are as clean as they can be.

Many of the most important contagious diseases of garden birds are transmitted by the oro-faecal route; that is – from droppings to beaks! Therefore limiting droppings contamination will have a major impact on your garden birds' health.

• Scrape new and loose droppings from bird table and feeding station surfaces on a daily basis. Scraping will also remove uneaten and unwanted food.
• Disinfect these surfaces with a brush and quaternary ammonium disinfectant every 2 weeks
• Scrape up uneaten food and black sunflower husks from the area under and around feeding stations weekly and transfer to the bin or bonfire.
• If you can't scrape up food waste from the ground – consider feeding 'No waste' foods such as Tidy Garden Mix, Premium Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts or Suet
• Move feeding stations to a new clean area of garden every two weeks if possible
• Try to optimise the number or birds feeding at any one site. Whilst we all want to encourage lots and lots of birds into our gardens – it is healthier if they are not all feeding at the same location. Getting back to air-space and population density – if you can spread feeders around the garden and create a few feeding areas, this will be better from a disease prevention point of view, than creating one feeding area and having all your birds visiting it.
• Bird baths should be cleaned every two weeks with a brush and quaternary ammonium disinfectant, and on a daily basis, try to power wash any faecal contamination out of the bath and refill with clean water. This is where bird baths with gentle sloping edges are really useful.
• Feeders should also be dismantled and washed with warm water and disinfectant at least monthly if possible. It is a good idea to have a couple of feeders as spares to rotate – you can fill and hang your spares while cleaning the others. There are now some really fantastic, easy-to- dismantle feeders (e.g. these brilliant new flip top feeders) on the market, which make cleaning very easy (no more struggling to get the brush right down into the base) and are well worth investing in.
• Autumn is also a good time to clean out and disinfect bird boxes
• • Please remember that some of the organisms which may be in bird faeces can infect people so always make sure that you wear either rubber washing-up gloves ( which are kept for bird feeders and not then used to do the dishes!) or disposable latex gloves which cost about £5 for a box of 100. Ideally also, clean feeders away from food preparation areas (so not in the kitchen sink if possible!)

• It is really important not to feed to huge excess – so that food remains uneaten in feeders for days/weeks. Ideally, offer food that will be finished within a couple of days.
• You may have to alter how much food you put out according to the time of year and obviously the conditions. e.g. during the early Autumn months, when natural food is more readily available, consumption in the garden is likely to fall dramatically.
• It may be that you modify the size of the feeders which you put out, the number of feeders or just the physical amount of food offered.
• If food like niger seed and peanuts are sitting in the feeders for more than a few days, we empty the feeders, give the products a shake up and re-fill. This keeps them fresh.
• Seeds which get damp and remain uneaten will very often become black and mouldy – and not very tasty! If this happens – discard the food and thoroughly clean the feeder before re-filling.
• If you find that food within tube feeders is getting wet, try re-siting the feeder to avoid the prevailing wind driven rain, and a rain guard can often help ( and it give the birds somewhere dry to sit!)

Regarding food storage, the best place to store bird food is in a cool dry environment and usually a garage is best. Seeds and peanuts are best stored in vermin proof metal dustbins or metal containers; plastic containers will be fine until the mice find them! We recommend to our customers that they keep their bird seed for a maximum of 3-4 months – so again, purchase to requirement and try not to have huge stocks of bird seeds sitting for more than 4 months. Peanuts which you buy should be of 'nil- detectable aflatoxin' status – worth checking since garden birds are exquisitely sensitive to aflatoxins, which, if chronically ingested, will cause liver disease and death. Aflatoxins are mycotoxins produced by the Aspergillus fungus. The fungus tends to produce these mycotoxins under conditions of high humidity and warmth – so e.g. if peanuts have been subjected to this type of storage condition – they are more likely to be contaminated with aflatoxins. All our peanuts are tested at import and carry a 'nil detectable aflatoxin' certificate.

How do you know if something has gone wrong?

Hopefully no birds in your garden will exhibit any signs of disease. However if they are unwell, the first sign which you may notice, is a bird sitting on a feeder or the ground for longer than you would expect. Healthy birds are usually flighty and will fly away with any sudden movement. However sick birds are lethargic and will sit for much longer before responding to any stimulus. These sick birds often look really 'puffed up'. This makes them look bigger than they really are. Like humans (where we feel cold when we are ill ) – our garden birds are affected the same way and puff up their feathers to try to maintain body heat – which is harder to generate because they are not moving so much.

How do you know if something has gone wrong?

Other specific signs of disease may be evident; pox virus nodules can be dramatic and things like beak deformities will affect their ability to eat thus reducing chances of survival.

Occasionally a completely healthy dead bird may be found. These usually have flown into a window and died. Occasionally, you may find a bird which has hit a window and is lying stunned but not dead. Carefully pick it up and place it in a dark ventilated box somewhere quiet. It is not uncommon for these birds to gradually regain the ability to stand and eventually fly off, but it is important not to stress them at this time by 'over-interfering!'

Window alerts and warning webs placed on glass panes can help prevent window strikes.

You can find more specific information about diseases of garden birds in some of the other pages in this section of our website. If you have any queries relating to garden birds and disease prevention, I will be very happy to help.

Please just email me at vet-query@streetendfeeds.co.uk