Hi Misty,

There’s a link on the bottom showing the defroster I’m using now. This is the third winter I’ve had it and it’s still purring along nicely! To keep it “flat” in the birdbath I just put a rock on top of it, then I hang the (short!) cord over the edge and plug it into an outdoor cord. Then, just to be sure no water gets into the plug connection—since I’m constantly “overflowing” the bath to keep the water clean—I put a plastic bag over the plug and use garden twist tie to tightly seal the plastic on both ends. Have been doing that for years and have never had a problem with anything shorting out, even with water constantly running over it!

I had one of those “covered” defrosters one time, the one they say looks like a “rock,” and it was awful. It kept the water way too “warm”—no it wasn’t actually warm to the touch, but you could always see “steam” coming off of it in cold weather, and the bath needed to be constantly filled up because of the evaporation—and—it lasted barely a year—and—it was considerably more expensive than this one!

I got one of those heated pet water bowls one time too, but (having had defrosters in the past) decided it was too small and too deep. While the birds can drink, there’s no way they can effectively “bathe!” I recommend you find a rock, flat on top if possible, that comes up to “just below” the surface of the water so the birds can get on it—in shallow water—and splash around. Except for robins or other “big” birds, they won’t get into ”deep” water. If it’s even just a quarter inch deep they’ll love it—and you’ll get to see them bathing as well as drinking.

What I use for the bath is a BIG plant saucer! The one I have now is about 16” across on top and about 3 1/2“ deep. (It’s one of the terra cotta colored plastic ones, and it’s nice and “sturdy!”) It’s big enough that I have two “shallow” rocks in it, and between those I have a very thin, long rock that’s a couple inches wide leaned against the top of the saucer so it sticks completely out a little bit and then “gently” slopes down into the water all the way to the bottom of the saucer. The small birds can get on it and “walk down it” until they get to the depth they like and then bathe there. Recently I’ve had several chickadees using it—they’re my favorite bird, and I LOVE watching them! The saucer is big enough that there’s still a “deep place” where the robins can get in “the deep end!” I also have a bunch of dead branches from bushes and that have fallen off of the neighbors’ cottonwood trees stuck in all around the bath so the birds can “fly in” and have somewhere to “sit” while they check out the situation to be sure it’s “safe” to drink—and after bathing they also “hop” up onto one of them to “shake off” the excess water and “preen” for a little bit before they fly back to the feeders. The bath is less than a foot outside of the family room window—where I’m sitting—warm and snug!—right across the room looking directly at it! I love it! (And my binoculars are on the table right next to me for the really close up view of both the feeders and the bath!)

For any of you who already feed the birds, please consider adding a defrosted birdbath so they have water too! And for those of you who don’t do either, try it, you’ll like it! And even if you decide to just do it for your own enjoyment, the birds will still benefit from the seed—and, hopefully, from the liquid water! When it gets this cold out all the water in gutters and puddles is frozen! Step outside of your door for just one minute and see how cold you get! Then consider that the birds are living out there—all the time!

Skybird

Pic of the defroster I’m currently using:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121542723229

Here’s a link to some info that I found to be very interesting—How Do Birds Survive the Winter?

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/how-do-birds-survive-the-winter/?utm_source=Cornell%20Lab%20eNews&utm_campaign=72de864285-Cornell-Lab-eNews-2019-02-11&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-72de864285-302450646 

That's awesome, Misty! I got my de-icer plugged in yesterday afternoon. I checked it when I filled the feeders today and it's working. I'm sure the birds will appreciate a drink in this coming cold and I'm very glad we had a nice day yesterday to get things ready!

I know the birds will appreciate having water. Most birds seem to prefer shallow vessels for water. But in the winter, they may be more motivated by lack of other sources and go for it. Let us know how it works out.

I provide water for the birds in my yard year round. In the winter months, they often seem more excited about water than the seed. I go out in the morning and pour warm water into the shallow trays. If it refreezes, I may repeat later. It's kinda silly I guess. But I do know they like having a water source and I love to watch them!

Very creative solution!! Your feathered friends will thank you for it. Put a small rock in the middle of the bowl that just rises above the water level so smaller birds have a perch to drink from.

I've had this heated bath for years...works well.

https://www.duncraft.com/All-Seasons-Heated-Deck-Bird-Bath

if this link doesn't work just copy and paste.

It will bring you to the catalog page. If main page go to baths.

The one I have is deck mount heated bird bath.

Hi Misty,

Sorry I didn't get back to respond right away when you posted your second picture! I think the branches you have in the water will help them get close enough to drink more easily, but from what I've seen in my own yard, I kind of doubt that they'll hang onto them to bathe--they seem to to really like having a flat surface to stand on the way they "shake their body" when they're splashing the water all over themselves. I suspect that the big rock you have laying over the edge on top is probably too high above the water to help the small birds at all--they seem to prefer the branches or rocks that are very close to the surface of the water for me. If you can rearrange some of the big rocks you have out there now so they're as close to level with the top of the water surface as you can get them--and they'll need to be pushed right up against the edge of the bath, since the small birds can't "reach" very far, I think that will help them the most.

If you have a couple bricks laying around somewhere they can be very useful for "building platforms" right against the outside of the bath since they have flat surfaces that can be pushed right up to the bath.

One other thing I'll mention, that probably won't matter much now when it's cold, but when it starts to warm up again I think you'll find that the branches that are actually in the water will develop algae much more quickly than rocks in the water do. Even rocks get "slimy green" when they stay in the water, but I believe the "organic nature" of the sticks will cause it to happen much more quickly. Not positive about that either, but I usually try to keep any "wood" out of the water. All the branches I have are ALL around the bath, but not IN it, and I try to be sure none of them are directly OVER the water either--poop-poop-de-doo--if you get my drift! [You should see me sitting inside here sometimes talking to the birds! Don't POOP in the water! You're gonna be drinking the water!!! They don't usually listen to me! ;-) ]

I definitely think that what you did between the first and second pics will help attract more birds! Since you have all those "nice holes" around the outside of the actual birdbath, I'd recommend sticking more branches thru the holes for them to perch on--if you have more branches!

And if you don't see any birds at the bath on days like today, remember that when snow is melting they have a really great water source in the gutters--which I'm pretty sure they consider to be safer, being high above cats and other critters! I've hardly seen any of them at my bath yesterday and today!

When you know, come post if any of your branches or rocks are helping!

Skybird

I agree with you Skybird, a stone or rock that provides a spot for smaller birds to stand for bathing and drinking works better than a stick.

Good point about the stick in the water, Skybird - hadn't really thought about that. I revised the rock arrangement a couple of times since the pic above, but still wasn't satisfied with it. Here's the latest arrangement. I think this may work, since I have the rocks really close to the edge but not over it to give them some bending room. You can't quite tell in the pic, but there are several somewhat flat rocks that meet up by the bowl. It was a little tricky getting the right size of rock that would balance because of the gap between the bowl and the bottom of the birdbath and the curved edge of the outside rim. The rocks in the middle of the bowl should give the little guys something to stand on there for splashing or drinking. I don't think I need the branches since the rim of the actual bird bath gives them a perch. I'll will watch this weekend, though, and see if I see the birds actually using it. I hope that don't poop-poop-de-doo in it either! ;)

Plantladyco - that's a really nice heated birdbath! I see it's made for a railing, but could probably be set inside a birdbath like I have. That ground one is pretty cool, too: https://www.duncraft.com/Heated-Ground-Bird-Bath

Hmmm, getting some ideas for my Christmas wish list! ;)

I like your simple and easy approach, popmama!

I don't have my bath on a railing. It sits on a pole to keep predators out!

The bowl might not be the best idea for the birds, but it'll do for now (a few have been using it) and maybe this season. We'll see about next year!

Birds were out and about today grabbing food while baring the winter blast! I was happy to see one on the suet feeder (the one on the left). For some reason, the birds don't seem to eat it. This one may not have either, maybe just waiting his turn to get to the middle feeders! The feeder on the right is the thistle seed feeder. That one gets used a lot, but the two feeders in the middle that have black oil sunflower, safflower, and some mixed seed are the birds favorites. I went out later and scraped the snow off the platform so the birds and squirrels could get to spillage from the feeders.

Wow, nice idea !! that’s such a kind of you to take care of birds in winter, you did a great job i really support you. I really like animals especially birds, maybe because my mom didn’t let me have one when i was a kid. I used to take care of a bird used to build her nest on a tree in my backyard, i noticed that she comes like every spring so i bought her a wild bird food and in the next day she comes with some other birds to eat, it was a really cute view. Now i take care of around 20 birds. They come every morning to my backyard to eat their breakfast lol !!

I am slowly getting things set up at our new home in Kansas, which includes getting the bird feeder arch in place. I guess there is so much food sources around here that the birds weren't too interested at first, or they just didn't know what the heck it was lol. But after a couple weeks a few curious birds ventured onto it, and now we have lots visiting! I pulled up a wild birds of Kansas site to start IDing them - Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmouses, Dark Eyed Juncos, and possibly some Nuthatches. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4HqxSGogg5g

I also see Blue Jays around, but none on the feeders so far. We live very near a lake so the birds have a great water source, but will get a bird bath out again eventually.

OH wow, you have Cardinals! I'm jealous!

Oh they are lovely - I was so excited to see them here!

Some new type of finches have shown up, as well as Red-bellied Woodpeckers (weird name because they don't have red bellies at all!). Wish I could get a good video of our yard today as birds are absolutely everywhere! Besides the bird feeder, the yard is teeming with robins and other birds foraging for food - looks like the ground is alive as they stir up the leaves, lol.

You could not have picked a better year to move! This has been a bear of a winter. We've been snow and ice covered for months and sooo cold! I'm glad you're getting to enjoy your new flock there.

That's what I've heard and seen! Crazy!! We've barely had any snow here (knock on wood). Fortunately for the plants we have had rain. Many cold days here as well with the wind chill, but nothing too long or drastic. We were hoping to leave windy days behind us in Colorado, but seems to have followed us here - lol.