Clever Hacks For Banishing Pesky Mosquitoes From Your Bird Bath

Sometimes mosquitoes are the only thing standing in between you and a nice evening sitting outside in your backyard. While spray-on insect repellent is probably the most immediate way to keep these bloodsuckers from ruining your evening, you may not always want to douse yourself in harsh-smelling chemical sprays right before bed. So instead, you can try some of the other scents that can repel mosquitoes or even put out a mosquito trap using sugar and yeast; however, if you really have a mosquito problem in your yard then the best thing to do is to get them at the source — your bird bath.

Bird baths, while a beautiful garden feature, are also often a breeding ground for mosquitoes and will keep them coming to and hatching in your yard. This is because bird baths are often full of stagnant water which makes for the perfect place for female mosquitoes to lay their eggs. Of course, if you love having birds in your yard, you probably don't want to just get rid of your bird bath. Luckily, there are a few easy ways you can keep your bird bath while preventing mosquitoes from reproducing inside — including by keeping the water clean and moving and (if necessary) applying bacterial insecticides.

Because it takes mosquitoes around one week to go from an egg to an adult, one way to prevent a successful hatching of mosquitoes is to keep your bird bath clean and change out its water once every five to seven days. When it comes to bird bath water, the fresher the better and some birders recommend cleaning your bird bath once every two to four days when possible. This is because replacing stagnant bird bath water with clean water will not only interrupt the lifecycle of any mosquito larvae that may be present in your bird bath and prevent them from becoming adults, but it is also good for the birds and will keep them happy and coming back.

But what if you tend to forget to clean your bird bath or simply don't have the time to do it so often? Then, another way to keep the mosquitoes away also while making your birds happy is to add a water pump or fountain feature to your bird bath to keep the water moving. This will make it impossible for mosquitoes to lay their eggs while also attracting more birds. Luckily, there are plenty of affordable options available online or at garden centers for water features and agitators that can be easily added to a bird bath.

Now, you may be thinking: can't I just add something to the bird bath water that will kill the mosquito larvae instantly instead of having to worry about installing a fountain or cleaning the bird bath all the time? The answer is yes, but it is important to be careful with this method because many of the recommended bird bath additions that will kill mosquitoes can also harm birds. For example, some websites recommend adding essential oil to a bird bath to help kill mosquito larvae; however, all oil (including non-toxic cooking oils) is harmful to birds.

Instead, the best option is to choose a bacterial insecticide that is formulated to kill mosquito larvae. These insecticides are often called mosquito dunks and contain bacteria that only kills mosquito larvae and is not harmful to fish, birds, or other wildlife. It's important to note that most dunks are formulated to work in large areas of water like pools and ponds, so you will need to break down any mosquito dunks into smaller pieces to get an appropriate amount to add to your bird bath. Mosquito dunks take around 48 hours to start killing larvae and work for up to 30 days.