What steps are you taking to help prevent West Nile Virus?

Several of us are wondering what steps we should take to help prevent West Nile Virus among the songbirds in our yards.

What new info have you read?
How often do you clean your feeders?
HOW do you clean your feeders?
How do you keep the area clean under your feeders?

When it comes to breeding places for mosquitoes, I don't just add water to my birdbaths and dog bowls, I either dump or flush the old water out first to remove any mosquito larva.

We would all be grateful for any tips you could pass along!

I use the "dunks" type, doughnut shaped larvacides in my wet weather pools and the granular larvacide in my flower pot trays. I move my feeders every month or so and feed the ground eating ones in different areas of the back yard.

The last 2 years I have had to bury so many of the larger birds... I sure hope to get some good tips here;-)

I throughly clean clean my feeders once a week and also dump all the water and replace it with fresh everyday.

I use drippers in both my bird bathes and use the water in the dog's pool to water the plants, if there is still water after 4-5 days I dump it out.

DW and I both had West Nile a couple of years ago. We keep Mosquito fish in our container water lilies.

We had hundreds of Dragon Flies that kept all the skeeters down to rare, but then one of our neighbors installed several Martin houses, 8, I think. The Martins then ate all our Dragon Flies, and the skeeters ate us. It has been very dry so far this year and I have not seen a skeeter.

We lost all our Jays and Crows to West Nile. Others have moved in lately and full recovery is on the way.

oy Trois, it's a delicate balance, isn't it.

It sure is. Unfortunately, Martin houses are sold around here as controlling skeeters. Martins don't eat skeeters, just the insects that do. The more Martin houses they installed, the more skeeters they have. Due to dry weather they now think they are correct.

d'oh. that's some bad marketing!

I'm glad when the bats come out. seems like they eat lots of bugs for us. Plus, fun to watch.

This message was edited May 30, 2008 2:24 PM

I wish we had bats. I have never seen one here.

I see them here at night, their pretty cool to watch.

When we camped in the Grand Canyon under the stars I woke up on Houston time and watched the bats hovering just over all the peeps sleeping, and we never got a skeeter bite. The camp was near a marshy stream. Had they known I am sure many would have freaked out.

We have sooo many bats out here and we love watching the come out at night!

Us too, and we're in town. At about 8:30 pm in the summer they come out. I'd love to be able to get a picture. maybe this year with continuous mode and a flash.

I hate mosquitos! We purchased a mosquito magnet last year and I thought it helped. We have not set it up yet this year. We also have EEE to think about. We do have bats that we see often, they are so neat.

We haven't yet been greatly affected by west nile, but thanks for your tips, friends. Hosed down my feeders this a.m. Should I use a bleach solution or something to clean them?

I just naturally hose out the bird bath every couple of days because seeds and pollen fall into it and it looks dirty, so I'm probably okay with that.

We have black flies. Those teeny tiny bugs that draw blood when you least expect it. I have several welts from weeding the garden. They really get you when you trim the shrubs - it really stirs them up.

Vinegar is a better "high acid" cleanser to use on feeders. It is used in school kitchens and on respiratory equiptment to sterilize without poisoning.

Ah. Good idea. Thanks nanbernier.

Careful where you tilt and dump, vinegar will kill the plants or grass.

I forgot to say that! I have it in a spray bottle and use it as a cheap round-up, and as a way to kill germs on the grandkids toys.