Cracked Bird Bath

[nightshade]

I have a concrete bird bath given to me years ago by my brother. It has started to leak away its contents recently and I can see a large crack on the underside but only a small crack quite high up on the inside.
I don't want to spend a fortune but I would like to render it useable again, any ideas? I was going to grind out the crack and fill it with "jetsem" quick drying cement but wonder now about expansion/contraction problems.
There are some good sealants about but at over £15 for a tube which seems uneconomic for a 4" crack, paint may be a solution but what is toxic and what is not for small birds (and my one-eyed cat)

[faz]

buy a small bag of ready mixed concrete abot a fiver from a good diy shop

fill the crack in and and use rest to render all over it to stop any more cracks appering

[Harold Smith]

I had a similar problem some years ago. I cleaned out the crack and filled it with transluscent silicone frame sealant. It worked a treat. You can get a tube of frame sealant from Homebase or B&Q for about 6 or 7 quid.

Harold.

[Littlesparrow]

I found a local craft person who made their own bird bath stands and bases and just bought the top part. It was very cheap certainly not more than buying some of the fix its.

[Hobjob]

Google "Rhino Top" or "Rhino Skin"

My s-in-l was waxing lyrical about it as a surface for under his whale watching boat, inside the back of trucks etc..

I know no more about it than that.

Its always nice to keep family things. I have a wooden bench that was my Granny's, and pre-dates the war. My sister has my Granny's bird bath.