Keep Your Birdbath From Freezing With The Help Of A Unexpected Bathroom Staple

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Birdbaths are critical to helping birds stay hydrated during cold weather. However, when the weather turns bitterly cold, the shallow water in birdbaths can become frozen solid. If the water freezes into a solid block of ice, it not only prevents birds from drinking, it can also crack and damage your birdbath. Trying to break the ice can damage it was well. So the best bet is to prevent the water in your birdbath from freezing in the first place, which you can do with the help of an unexpected bathroom staple — the modest rubber duck.

Rubber ducks help keep birdbaths from freezing by continually moving around and breaking up ice as it forms. This is pretty much the same premise as using a tennis ball to prevent a birdbath from freezing — or any other floating object, for that matter. To that end, some suggest using objects ranging from wine corks to ping-pong balls. However, the bulk and wide body of the rubber duck makes it efficient at creating movement and breaking ice. It also moves easily through the water, as it's designed to do, pushed by a light wind. Additionally, it allows you to add a little flair and personality to this otherwise mundane task, especially if you buy an assortment of themed rubber ducks. 

All you really need to do in order put your rubber duck to work as an ice breaker is to set it in your bird bath before the temperatures drop below freezing. With so much of their body sticking above the water, these charming bath toys are easily pushed around the miniature pond by even a minimal amount of wind. This is a huge advantage, because in order to effectively prevent ice from forming, a floating object must move through the bird bath. As long as the water's surface is moving and broken, ice will be less likely to form. Additionally, as the duck moves through the birdbath, it's body will break up any thin skins of ice as they begin to form.

For standard size birdbaths, a single rubber duck should provide ample disturbance, preventing water from freezing in most conditions. However, larger birdbaths may require multiple rubber ducks. The same is true for standard birdbaths as the weather turns extremely cold. Don't crowd the birdbath with too many plastic quackers: there needs to be room to move in order to be effective. By the same token, if you've also added dark rocks to your birdbath to prevent freezing, make sure there is enough water over them so as not to hinder a rubber duck's movement.

In addition to keeping your birdbath ice-free, some suggest the rubber ducks may actually help attract birds. To that end, they even recommend using different rubber ducks to draw in certain species of birds, since different species are drawn to different colors. At the very least, they will add a dash of color to an otherwise drab winter landscape.