8 Things To Put In Your Bird Bath To Prevent It From Freezing

As the temperatures drop to below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it's time to start taking care of one of our favorite garden features: the bird bath. While this structure isn't one you think much about during the warm months, it requires a different maintenance process over the winter. A bird bath requires a bit more TLC as the water can easily freeze. If you want to ensure your bird neighbors can still visit the bird bath over the winter months, you may want to try either placing a lightweight object into the basin, painting the basin black, or adding a heating feature.

If you don't want to spend the money on a heater that keeps the water warm by itself, you don't have to. A simple object like a cork or tennis ball can keep your bird bath water from freezing, allowing your winged friends to still use the water even when it's cold out. Believe it or not, birds still do use bird baths during the winter for both drinking and bathing. In fact, some experts claim that your bird bath may the one of the few unfrozen water sources for birds when it's cold, making this an even more important garden maintenance task.

If you have the resources, you can purchase a heater or de-icer specifically designed to keep the bird bath water from freezing. While you can also buy a bird bath with a heater already built in, you can also grab a separate heater or de-icer to attach to the basin and submerge it in the water. These products typically come with a temperature-controlled feature that ensures the heater only turns on when it's needed.

Another way to keep the water flowing in your garden's bird bath is to purchase a solar aerator that fits inside the basin. You can also find nozzle heads or bubblers that complete the same goal of keeping the water from remaining stagnant and freezing. While a de-icer is more appropriate for a smaller bird bath, an aerator works best with larger-sized baths and small ponds. 

If you don't want to spend money on a heater or aerator, an easy way to ensure your bird bath doesn't freeze is by placing a lightweight object into the water. You can use something as simple as a rubber duck to float in the water, which will help keep it from freezing. Thanks to its constant movement in the water, a rubber duck will help keep the water flowing and less likely to freeze.

Similar to the rubber duck hack, you can also use a tennis ball to keep in your bird bath water to ensure it doesn't freeze during the fall and winter months. Tennis balls are made of a rubber core covered by felt, making them a lightweight enough object to float and move in liquid. Chances are, you probably have an extra tennis ball or two lying around the house. Toss it into your bird bath to keep the water from freezing.

Instead of adding an object into your bird bath to keep the water from freezing, you can also try removing the water, inserting a black liner into the bottom of the basin, and adding your water back in. You know how stepping on dark asphalt during the summer hurts your feet thanks to the heat? This same principle can apply to maintaining heat in your bird bath. You can use just a simple piece of black plastic, or even a trash bag. Make sure to secure it to the bottom of the basin so it stays in place. Dark surfaces can retain the heat of the sun longer, keeping the water from freezing. 

If you have a few extra wine corks leftover from the holidays, don't toss them into the trash just yet. These lightweight items may actually be the key to keeping your bird bath water from freezing during the winter. Similar to the rubber duck and tennis ball tricks, placing a cork in your bird bath will help keep the water from being stagnant, giving it less of a chance to freeze.

Another easy way to ensure your bird bath holds onto the sun's heat for longer, thus reducing the risk of the water freezing, is to add dark rocks to the bottom of the basin. Similar to the black plastic liner trick, adding dark rocks to the bath will help trap heat and hopefully keep the water moving and accessible to your garden's birds. 

It may seem like a silly idea at first, but you can actually use your standard camping handwarmers to help keep your bird bath water from freezing. While you don't want to place the handwarmers directly inside the basin in the water, you can secure them in place underneath the basin to help keep the water slightly warm and above freezing level. While this may be a more temporary solution, it can still help keep the water accessible to the birds and animals that utilize it.