Water for birds in winter: how to prevent it from freezing

Do you want to take the birds in your garden under your wing now that the cold winter months are approaching? Great idea! In doing so, however, you can’t just provide supplementary food such as suet balls. You also have to be sure to give the birds water in winter.

Water for birds is just as important in winter as it is in summer. When it isn’t snowing, water is also difficult to find in this season, which can cause problems for birds. So be sure to put a bowl of water outside. But how do you prevent it from freezing?

Adding salt: do or don’t?

We’d like to debunk the biggest and most dangerous myth right away: never add salt to the water for birds! Although salt water freezes much more slowly than fresh water, the birds that drink it can become very sick.

There are other tricks to prevent the water from freezing: for example, pouring salt water into plastic bottles and letting them float on the surface of the water bowl. This creates a constant movement in the birds’ water bowl, so that the water freezes less quickly in winter. Is your birds’ water bowl too small for plastic bottles? Then use ping pong balls instead.