Care and Safety
Avian Influenza and Bird Feeders
For most people with songbird feeders, the standing guidance has been that feeders can stay up. If you also keep chickens, the answer is different, and guidance changes with the outbreak.
The short answer
- Songbirds at seed feeders have generally been considered low risk for highly pathogenic avian influenza, and agencies have not usually asked the general public to take feeders down.
- If you keep chickens, ducks or turkeys, remove feeders and bird baths so wild birds are not drawn near your flock. This is the clearest and most consistent piece of guidance.
- Waterfowl, gulls, shorebirds and raptors carry far more risk than chickadees and finches. Avoid feeding areas that attract geese and ducks.
- Guidance shifts as outbreaks flare and fade, so check USGS, USDA APHIS and your own state wildlife agency rather than relying on any article, including this one.
- Report groups of dead wild birds to your state wildlife agency rather than handling them yourself.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza, usually written HPAI, is a viral disease of birds that has caused large die-offs in wild waterfowl and enormous losses in commercial and backyard poultry. The question that brings most people to this page is narrower: does it mean the seed feeder in the backyard has to come down?
The general answer from wildlife health agencies has been no for most people in most places. Seed-eating songbirds are not the group driving transmission, and public guidance has not usually asked ordinary feeder watchers to stop. There is one clear exception, and it is a firm one: if you also keep poultry, take the feeders and bird baths down.
Avian influenza situations change. Outbreaks flare, subside and shift geographically, and agency advice moves with them, sometimes state by state. This page explains the reasoning, which is stable, rather than a current status, which is not. Check the sources listed below before you act.
Where the risk actually sits#
Influenza A viruses circulate naturally in wild birds, and the reservoir is not the birds at your feeder.
| Group | Role in avian influenza |
|---|---|
| Ducks, geese, swans | Primary natural reservoir; often infected without obvious illness |
| Gulls, terns, shorebirds | Frequently involved, and they mix with waterfowl |
| Raptors, vultures, crows, ravens | Often affected, largely through scavenging or preying on infected birds |
| Domestic poultry | Extremely vulnerable; outbreaks are catastrophic in a flock |
| Songbirds at seed feeders | Much less commonly involved; the basis for the standard feeder advice |
That last row is the one people want certainty about, and honesty requires a hedge: less commonly involved is not the same as never. Songbirds have been found infected. The point is that the volume of transmission runs through waterfowl and poultry, and a chickadee at a sunflower tube is a very small part of the picture.
If you keep chickens, ducks or turkeys
Take down seed feeders, suet feeders, nectar feeders and bird baths anywhere near your flock, its feed, its water or its housing. The whole purpose of a feeder is to concentrate wild birds in one spot, and that is the last thing you want next to poultry. This has been consistent guidance from USDA APHIS throughout recent outbreaks, and it is the single most important line on this page.
What to do if you also keep poultry#
Backyard flock biosecurity is a subject of its own, and your state agriculture department and USDA APHIS publish detailed guidance. The parts that touch on bird feeding are straightforward.
- Remove feeders and baths from the area around the coop and run. Do not simply move them 20 feet (6 m); move them well away or take them down entirely.
- Cover feed and water so wild birds cannot reach or contaminate them.
- Keep poultry out of areas used by wild waterfowl, especially ponds, wet fields and anywhere geese loaf.
- Do not share tools, boots or buckets between the wild bird feeding station and the poultry area, and change footwear before entering the run.
- Report sudden deaths or a sharp drop in laying in your flock to your state veterinarian promptly.
If you want to keep feeding songbirds and keep chickens, distance is the whole strategy. Put the feeding station on the opposite side of the property, downwind if you can, and never let seed spill accumulate where poultry range.
If you only feed songbirds#
For a yard with seed, suet and nectar feeders and no poultry, the practical position has been to keep feeding while staying alert and keeping things clean.
Watch for the things that would change the picture: several dead birds in your yard, dead or dying raptors, or a local advisory from your state wildlife agency. Some states have asked residents in specific areas to pause feeding during severe local events, and those requests are worth following.
Avoid anything that concentrates waterfowl. Do not scatter cracked corn or bread where geese and ducks gather, and site feeders away from ponds and wet ground that waterfowl use. A backyard bird bath used by songbirds is a different thing from a pond full of mallards, but a large open water feature that draws ducks is worth reconsidering during an outbreak.
Hygiene helps regardless of flu
The routine that protects birds from salmonella and conjunctivitis is the same routine you want during a flu outbreak: dismantle, scrub with hot soapy water, soak about 10 minutes in 1 part household bleach to 9 parts water, rinse thoroughly, dry completely. It is set out step by step in how to clean a bird feeder. Even where flu risk to songbirds is low, salmonella outbreaks at feeders are a documented and recurring cause of death, and that alone justifies the work.
Handling dead or sick birds#
Do not pick up dead wild birds with bare hands, and do not attempt to rescue a bird showing neurological signs such as head tilting, stumbling, tremors or an inability to hold its head up. Those signs in waterfowl or raptors are exactly what agencies want reported.
Call your state wildlife agency or state veterinarian. Most maintain a reporting line for wild bird mortality, particularly for groups of dead birds or any dead raptor or waterfowl. They will tell you whether to leave the carcass, submit it, or dispose of it.
If you are told to dispose of a bird yourself, wear disposable gloves or invert a plastic bag over your hand, double-bag the carcass, place it in the household trash, and wash your hands. The same handling rules that apply to a sick bird at your feeder apply here, with the added instruction to report rather than intervene.
Where to check current guidance#
This page will not tell you the current outbreak status, because any specific status written here would be out of date by the time you read it. Check these instead:
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| USGS National Wildlife Health Center | Wild bird disease status, mortality events, feeder guidance |
| USDA APHIS | Poultry outbreaks, backyard flock biosecurity, reporting |
| Your state wildlife or natural resources agency | Local advisories, including any request to pause feeding |
| Your state veterinarian or agriculture department | Poultry reporting and flock guidance |
| Cornell Lab of Ornithology and local Audubon chapters | Plain-language summaries for feeder watchers |
If two of those disagree, follow the state agency, because local conditions are what the advice is responding to.
Common misunderstandings#
- "Bird flu means all feeders must come down." That has not generally been the public guidance for songbird feeders, though specific states have asked for local pauses during severe events.
- "Songbirds cannot get it." They can. They are simply a much smaller part of how it spreads than waterfowl and poultry.
- "Bleaching the feeder makes it safe." Cleaning is worthwhile and reduces several real diseases, but it does not address a virus arriving on the feet of a bird that landed five minutes ago. Removal, not disinfection, is the tool for keeping wild birds away from poultry.
- "Stopping feeding will starve the birds." It will not. Feeders are a supplement, not a lifeline, as explained in do birds become dependent on feeders. If you are told to pause, pause without guilt.
- "It is only a winter problem." Outbreaks have occurred across seasons, often tracking waterfowl migration, so spring and fall movements matter as much as winter.
What to do this week#
If you keep poultry: take the feeders and baths down today, move them well away from the flock, and read the current USDA APHIS backyard biosecurity guidance in full.
If you only feed songbirds: keep feeding, clean on schedule using the intervals in how often to clean bird feeders, keep the ground under the feeders raked, and check your state wildlife agency page once during an active outbreak rather than reacting to headlines. If several birds die in your yard, stop feeding, report it, and read when to take your feeders down for the wider set of reasons to pause.
Frequently asked questions#
Do I need to take my bird feeders down because of avian flu?
In most areas and for most of the time, agency guidance has been that people feeding songbirds do not need to remove feeders, because seed-eating backyard birds are not a major part of how highly pathogenic avian influenza moves. That guidance can change during a severe outbreak or in a specific state, so check current advice from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, USDA APHIS and your state wildlife agency before deciding.
Should I take feeders down if I keep chickens?
Yes. This is the one clear exception. Remove seed feeders and bird baths from the area around your flock so wild birds are not attracted close to your birds, their feed, their water or their housing. Highly pathogenic avian influenza is devastating in poultry, and keeping wild and domestic birds apart is the core of biosecurity advice from USDA APHIS.
Which birds actually carry avian influenza?
Wild waterfowl such as ducks and geese are the main reservoir, often carrying the virus without appearing sick. Gulls, shorebirds, and scavenging or predatory birds including raptors, vultures, crows and ravens are also frequently affected. Songbirds at seed feeders are far less commonly involved, which is the basis for the different advice given to feeder watchers and poultry keepers.
Can I catch bird flu from my bird feeder?
Human infections have occurred but remain rare, and they have generally involved close, prolonged contact with infected poultry or dairy cattle rather than backyard feeders. Sensible precautions still apply: do not handle dead or sick wild birds with bare hands, wear gloves when cleaning feeders, and wash your hands afterward.
What should I do if I find several dead birds in my yard?
Do not handle them with bare hands. Contact your state wildlife agency or state veterinarian, both of which usually have a reporting line for wild bird mortality events, and follow their instructions on whether to submit or dispose of carcasses. Multiple dead birds, particularly waterfowl or raptors, is exactly the kind of event agencies want reported.
Is it safe to feed hummingbirds during an avian flu outbreak?
Nectar feeders have not been identified as a meaningful route for avian influenza, and hummingbirds do not mix with waterfowl. Normal hygiene still matters far more for hummingbirds than flu does, because nectar ferments quickly and dirty nectar feeders cause real harm. If you keep poultry, the same removal advice applies to nectar feeders near the flock.