If you enjoy feeding wild birds but miss them in the winter, you can bring them back by providing a reliable source of water. For most wild bird hobbyists, that means a birdbath! – Yes – nothing complicated here – feed and provide water and they will come.

When natural sources of water freeze up, open water in a birdbath becomes the a great source for drinking water and a place for birds to bathe. Open water will bring your backyard to life with winter wild bird activity – and stop the scarcity in it’s tracks. Adding warm water to a birdbath is only a temporary solution and adding chemicals to stop it from freezing is dangerous to wild birds.

The most reliable solution to keep a birdbath free of ice is to use a birdbath deicer.

The best deicer on the market comes from K&H Manufacturing, called the Ice Eliminator™. It’s the first birdbath deicer that looks good in a birdbath. Until now most birdbath deicers looked like stock tank heaters or charcoal starters. The Ice Eliminator™ uses only 50 watts, will keep water open to well below 0ºF and won’t harm plastic birdbaths.

Made of cast aluminum, it won’t leave rust deposits and its powder coated finish can even be painted. “That’s one of the nicest features,” according to Ray Joyce, GregRobert president. “You can spray paint it any color to match any color birdbath.”

With any birdbath deicer, it is important to maintain the level of water in the birdbath. Warm water evaporates quicker and so it may need to be filled more often. Also, the birds will make a habit of coming back daily if they see that water is always available.

The K&H Ice Eliminator™ can be found at both Backyard Style and Rachel’s Robin wild bird stores.