Settling the problem of wind is a key obstacle when attempting to install a bird bath in your yard.
You’ll have to use your imagination and maybe spend a little money to find a way to prevent a bird bath from toppling over. Use stabilizing pegs if you want to keep a lightweight, low-cost plastic bird bath upright in the wind. Even better, why not anchor it to the ground by affixing a post to its base?
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In fact, you’d be hard pushed to find a bird bath on the market that doesn’t topple over if you put it in your backyard.
That’s obviously not the case with hanging or ground-level bird baths, though; pedestal bird baths are the only ones in which such problems are likely to arise.
The first step in preventing a bird bath from toppling over is placing it on a level surface. The next step is to decide whether you want to make life simpler on the grass or a little more complicated by placing the bird bath in the middle of a concrete surface like a patio.
Start by driving stabilizing pegs deeply into the ground through the base at an acute angle to prevent the pegs from working their way out over time.
Setting up on a concrete patio necessitates the same thing, except you’ll need to make a tight slit in the concrete for the pegs to go through.
In order to avoid having all of your hard work undone, you need to make sure that your bird bath is sturdy at all times.
The addition of stones and another rock for perching in the water slows the birds down somewhat, but a real stone or cast iron bird bath on a pedestal is also effective.
Insert pegs into ground
Using stabilizing pegs in the ground is a great way to prevent your bird bath from toppling over.
I’ll admit that this isn’t the best answer, but it should be rather useful for the plastic pedestal bird baths.
It’s possible that only two or three pegs would hold in strong winds, thus having a few extra is a good idea.
If the stabilizing pegs are truly ripped out of the ground, the remaining pegs won’t be strong enough to keep the structure in place.
Then, use four to six stabilizing pegs, but don’t drive them into the ground at right angles to one another or at a vertical angle.
Instead, you’d have to insert the pegs at a 45-degree angle, just like you would when setting up a tent for camping.
Landscape over base
Again, this is more applicable to your pedestal bird bath than your heavy stone bird bath.
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In this case, you would fill the pedestal bird bath with gravel, stones, pebbles, or whatever you choose to name them.
This is not a permanent fix because the amount of stones or gravel used can add up to significant problems, but using too much can spoil the aesthetic of your yard.
A combination of the pegs and the stones or pebbles’ weight can keep the bird bath in place, or you could simply set it into the ground and then pile stones on top.
To prevent the bird bath from toppling over, landscaping around its base is required; this will require more stones than you might expect.
Dig anchor deep into the ground
If you’re looking for a bird bath, this one is guaranteed to be sturdy, quiet, and anti-tipping.
However, the best solutions often come with a price, and in this case, that price is increased difficulty, so you may want to enlist the help of anyone who is competent with tools.
This requires digging a hole deep enough to insert a pole anchor. The only catch is that you’ll need a pole of some kind, two feet in length, to attach to the bottom of the bird bath’s base.
First, you can use a flat metal sheet as a handle, but in practice, you’d have to make a pole out of wood or metal and screw it into the base.
Metal is the only material that will stand up to the damp, abrasive soil, therefore that’s what you should use.
A 2 foot anchor can be manufactured from wood, provided it is not made from soft wood or is not made from sheet material.
I can guarantee that you will never have to worry about the bird bath toppling over again if you sink an anchor up to 2 feet below earth and secure the bath to it.
Drill through if sat on patio
Unless you have a concrete or slab patio, you’ll need to dig holes in the grass or a soft piece of soil to secure the bird bath to the ground.
Nonetheless, I get that you could want the bird bath to serve as the focal point of your outside patio; in that case, let’s figure out a way to make that happen.
Simple, all you need is a masonry drill bit to get through the patio slab or concrete and install some metal pegs to keep everything in place.
Before deciding on a certain masonry drill bit, you should measure the width of the stabilizing pegs you plan to use and make sure the bit’s length is sufficient to drill deeply into the cement or through the slab.
To avoid cracking the slab while you drill, exercise caution.
Before committing to drilling into the concrete to construct the pilot holes, you’ll want to be sure the bird bath is in the desired location.
This fix is as rock-solid as it gets; just be sure to drill at an angle to provide extra protection from strong winds and make the holes a snug fit for the accompanying stabilizing pegs.
Heavy, ground or shorter option
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I know it’s not much help if I suggest you get a bird bath that’s only heavier, shorter, or a ground bird bath, but please give it some thought.
Nonetheless, I will remark that the bird bath’s unexpectedly increased weight can be a huge boon to its utility.
Putting stones into a bird bath will add weight and provide a more stable surface for the birds that visit your area.
And if you put a rock or brick in the middle, you’ll have a perch that’s in the water, where it’s safer to stand.
All the things I could say would add up to a substantial amount of extra weight, which is necessary to keep the bird bath from tipping over.
Adding water to it regularly would also increase its mass.
All this trouble could be avoided by starting with a bird bath that is so short it won’t blow over in a strong wind, but pebbles and a rock for a perch are still a need.
If you want to start out with a substantial, weighty bird bath, a pedestal stone bird bath is a good alternative, but a ground bird bath is the less hassle but more practical option.
Once you’ve set your stone bird bath on the lawn or patio, you can essentially forget about it until the weather improves. This is especially true of heavy, natural stone or cast bird baths.
Conclusion
The best way to prevent a bird bath from toppling over depends on the specific bird bath you plan to use or the one you already have in your backyard.
The lightweight, less expensive plastic pedestal bird bath is the most popular choice, but it also causes the most trouble.
A plastic pedestal bird bath can be made windproof by inserting stabilizing pegs in the base, making use of the holes in the bird bath’s typically attractive, round base.
Not a permanent fix, but you’ll need at least four long pegs driven at a 45-degree angle into the ground to keep your tent from blowing away.
Even if you weigh down the base with pebbles or stones to keep it upright, which I wouldn’t recommend doing, it still won’t look right in your yard.
Instead, I recommend finding a means to secure your bird bath so that it doesn’t blow over in the wind that doesn’t draw attention to itself.
The optimal approach is to use a metal pole or wooden post up to 2 feet in length, attach it to the bottom of the bird bath foundation, and then hammer it into the ground.
Knowing how to deal with a wooden post is far less difficult than working with metal.
A lightweight plastic pedestal bird bath can be installed on a patio in the same way, but you’ll need a masonry drill bit to secure it to the ground if you put it there.
The wind won’t be able to blow the bird bath over if the stabilizing pegs are tightly wedged into a patio slab.
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Category: Birds
