You like to invite adorable hummingbirds into your yard and enjoy their beauty. That means you provide a feeder with nectar or water. When you decide to invite them into your yard, you also need to take responsibility for replacing nectar frequently and cleaning the hummingbird feeder. Otherwise, It’ll cause their serious health issue and you’ll cause of their dead.
Here in this article, I’ll provide you with a brief guide on how to clean mold from inside hummingbird feeders, especially black mold.
how often clean hummingbird feeder?
Hummingbird feeders need to be cleaned frequently. If you see the sweet water become cloudy or moldy, clean it as soon as possible, but the ideal time is to clean the feeder every 2 to 7 Days. It depends on the weather condition and temperature. Follow the below chart to know when you need to clean your feeder according to the temperature of your area.
| Temperature | Days |
| 71-75° F | 7 Days |
| 76-80° F | 5 Days |
| 81-84° F | 4 Days |
| 85-88° F | 3 Days |
| 89-92° F | 2 Days |
| 93+° F | Everyday |
how to clean mold from hummingbird feeder?
Equipment
Here are some essential things you need before starting the cleaning process.
- Unscented dish soap
- Feeder Cleaning Mop ( Amazon Link)
- Bucket
Clean with Dish Soap
Disassemble the feeder:
Take the feeder inside and pour it with hot water to discard old nectar from the reservoir. Detach all removable parts carefully as bee guards, perches, and moats, etc. But, Don’t forcefully try to remove any component. Otherwise, It’ll break your feeder.
Check out: Top 5 Bee-proof hummingbird feeders.
Soak:
Take a medium-size bucket and pour it with hot water. To make a mild cleaning solution, mix dish soap with hot water. Drowning all the feeder parts into the solution for around 1 to 2 hours. For this, It’ll make the scrubbing work more straightforward, and mold and residue nectar will loosen for a longer time soak.
Scrub the Reservoir:
- Use a feeder cleaning mop to scrub the feeder thoroughly both inside and outside.
- Scrub other parts of the feeders.
- If your feeder reservoir neck is small, try to use a small bristle brush to get a better result.
This step is most important: Scrub the feeder several times, even the feeder looks clear and clean, and try to reach out to every corner of the feeder to remove growing mold or fungus. Otherwise, They might again contaminate the feeder rapidly.
Rinse:
Remove all the solution from the feeder and rinse every part of the feeder with clear and clean cold water for at least 30 seconds to remove any soap trace.
Dry ever parts:
Use a dry towel or cloth to air dry the feeder parts. To do this part, quickly use a cloth and individually wipe each piece carefully.
Reassemble:
Then, Assemble the feeder carefully, fill with nectar, hang it in your desired place, sit back, and enjoy the beauty of beautiful hummers.
Can mold kill hummingbirds?
Mold and fungus will cause Hummers Candidiasis, which means these infect their tongue and make it swell. For this, Hummingbirds won’t eat and painfully lead them to death.
Also, They’ll carry the disease and infect their babies after visiting your feeder. So, If you won’t clean your feeder regularly, It’ll cause of their dead who are trustingly visiting your feeder.
According to Melissa Maynts, A wild Bird Expert, “ A dirty feeder act as toxic to hummingbirds.”
Final Words
As a backyard birdwatcher, You need to keep in mind that dirty or moldy feeders can lead birds to death. So, You need to keep your feeder clean. The above guide helps you to clean a moldy hummingbird feeder. So, You can provide them a healthy feeding station.
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