February 5, 2018

Backyard Birdbath Deicer

Do you enjoy watching birds in your yard? One of the very best things you can have is a birdbath. Water is vital for birds all year round. What do you do when it’s freezing outside? You could bundle up every hour or two and run outside with some hot water in a kettle and pour it into your birdbath…or you could get a deicer for your birdbath and stay cozy indoors.

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Here’s my birthday present this year! We have a birdbath in our backyard and with our temperatures going and staying below freezing so much, we really need a heater to keep the water liquid for them. Birds don’t get in the water and splash around when it’s super cold, but they always need water to drink. It’s especially important around here this year, where we are in a full-on drought.

The K & H Pet Products Ice Eliminator Original Birdbath Deicer

My husband found this on Amazon and I think it’s pretty well designed. A few years ago we had a different heater and it had lots of ridges that made it very difficult to clean. This is smooth, and you can even sand it and spray paint it to match your bird bath. I elected to leave mine natural, as our bird bath is light colored. And I’m lazy.

It has a thermostat so it doesn’t run when the temperature is above freezing and has a 3 year from purchase warranty. That’s really good since birdbath heaters in my experience only last a season or two. It uses just 50 watts of power so it’s energy efficient. It has a short 18-inch cord so you will need to get a good outdoor extension cord and plug into an outdoor outlet, ideally one that is GFI just to be extra safe. You should probably also wrap your connection with some electrical tape or use a weatherproofing connection.

So far our temps have gone down to the low 20s and there was a ring of ice around the edge of the bath but liquid water in the center. The result, happy birds this morning. Happy me, because I don’t have to run out and refill with warm water. This is a win-win!