There are, of course, pros and cons about feeding birds in the garden. Hygiene is clearly very important as a dirty feeder could be more dangerous than beneficial. Feeders do need regular cleaning and some are a bloody nuisance to assemble after cleaning. But by controlling the quantity given to ensure the feeder is emptied daily is important, any discardeand fallen debris needs to be cleared away. Cleaning feeders is important, but I don't believe it need be more often than every 2-3 weeks.

And they come to rely on us, so I like to put something in the feeders all year round, even if they don't need much when there's plenty natural foraging.