Our research from reputable sources such as Bird Studies Canada, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency concludes that there is currently still very little to no risk of songbirds catching avian flu.
As the avian flu affects different bird species in different ways, it is not currently considered a disease threat for the songbird populations.
It is safe to continue feeding your backyard birds as long as you do not have poultry, or waterfowl visiting your feeders. Just be sure to keep the area clean and disinfect feeders once a week with a 10% bleach solution, or a 50% cleaning vinegar solution (industrial white vinegar found in hardware stores, different from cooking vinegar) and remove any old bird seed on the ground. If you do have backyard chickens but keep them at a distance from your wild bird feeding area, you can continue feeding but we recommend you be careful to keep your chickens and backyard birds well away from each other.
