#bathing ask

[flock-talk]

Is it weird that my bird will ONLY bathe in her water dish lol. I've tried fountains, sinks, my shower, I've tried offering larger dishes but nope. Only the water dish.

Not at all! It’s a pretty common problem, some birds are just super picky about where they bathe!

For some birds they won’t bathe unless:

The tub is in the exact right location

The water is just the right temperature

The tub is high enough from the ground

The tub is in direct sunlight/ UV

The tub has the right water depth

They’re comfortable enough in the space

There’s toy parts/ lettuce leaves in the water or hanging up moistened

Someone else is flicking the water around (either bird or human)

The sound of water running is present

They can just be pretty picky bathers!

[flock-talk]

Why do budgies love bathing in spinach

Because natural for many birds to bathe in grasses and leaves!

It’s a really fun response for them to have, it’s just a thing that carries over from their natural wild behaviour. If there’s predators over by the river or your flock doesn’t want to head down then rubbing leaves all over yourself is the next best way to get clean!  When I had the Japanese Maple tree in the bird room bathing on the leaves was Mia’s favourite thing! it’s also what killed the plant, it got sunburnt

[flock-talk]

Is there any way to stop my bird from bathing in her water dish? It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's more just something I'm curious about, because I'm not entirely sure if it's good for her to drink the water she just used to clean herself.

It’s not the best for them to be drinking, no.  For the most part it’s about putting the dish somewhere they won’t want to bathe, in a darker corner, somewhere lower, experiment with a few new locations and see if it deters them from bathing there.  Another option would be to get those tube weekend water feeders or a cover for the dish so they can’t fit in to it to bathe.

The last solution would be to be very aware of their body language, my guys tend to preen in a specific way when they want a bath (usually it’s quick swipes of the feathers, a lot of shaking off) so that helps me offer them a tub before they go for the dish.  It will still happen from time to time, as seen in Zeeby’s recent video, and in those cases we just clean out the dishes and try to take note of what we may have missed for next time.

edit: if this is a super strict problem where they refuse tubs completely then you’d need to do some work on teaching them to bathe in a certain bowl which is explained in this tag

[askbirdbloggers]

Why does my cockatiel only want to bathe in his water dish? I have two bird baths, one inside the cage and one out, and he never uses them. He doesn't like being misted with water either.

No way for us to know!

He could feel more comfortable/ familiar with that dish, he may like the size, temperature of the water, the way the light hits it, the depth, colour of the dish, dish position, there’s a number of variables that he may find more enjoyable than the other dishes.  You could try moving the water dish somewhere else, experimenting with temperatures, placing interesting toys in the water, changing the tubs, putting am avian uv light on them and see if he happens to take to any of those things. Another option may be removing the water dish when you present him with a bathtub and see if he’ll give it a shot while the dish is gone, giving the water dish back afterwards. Misting isn’t essential, it can be gradually warmed up to but it isn’t 100% necessary so long as the bird is adequately bathing themselves regularly.  Make sure to keep that water dish extra clean after every bath until he figures out how to use one of the others!

- Courtney (flock-talk)

[askbirdbloggers]

so i have two parakeets in a large cage and i use those silo water bottles that make the water last longer and i also fill up the small dishes that came with the cage with food and water. i recently bought them a bird bath but they refuse to use it and rather bathe in the water dishes. I'm worried that the dishes are too small for them to actually bathe in or they'll get hurt or something. any advice to get them to use the bird bath or should i just leave them be?

I really recommend using a different water dish for birds, water should be changed out daily (you wouldn’t like a glass of water that’s been sitting out for a week either!), plastic can degrade and release particles in to the water, plastics harbour bacteria which can contaminate the water, and those styles of water bottles are much harder to clean which increases the risks of those bacteria being present, please change out to a regular stainless steel bowl if you can!  

There’s a ton of things you can try.

put beads/ plastic toys in a shallow dish and leave it around for them to explore on their own terms, they’ll start playing with the toys and may end up getting themselves wet and that should stimulate them to bathe

hang wet leaves (lettuce) sometimes birds like to nibble at it and get sort of wet, this simulates a response they would give in the wild where wet tropical leaves drop water on to them and many enjoy bathing that way

Teach them to enjoy showering with you.  Have a small travel cage and accommodate them to the bathroom until they’re really calm going in there, once they’re calm leave them in a small cage in the main area of the bathroom and go have your shower with lots of steam.  The steam will help to dampen their feathers and moisten their skin.  While it doesn’t replace bathing it will relieve any itchiness and help prevent them from plucking out their feathers.

Bowl placement, my Mia refused to bathe unless the bath was directly in the sunlight from the window, experiment with new locations and see if anything particularly interests them in to bathing more

“bathe” yourself, with Mia, she wouldn’t bathe unless I participated.  I had to put the bowl in the sun and start tapping my fingers on the surface, she would then fly on over and start bathing for as long as I flicked the water.  Be careful with this one with parrotlets, some of them start getting aggressive with that sound the same way they do with plastics.

Different temperatures, some birds really hate cold water, one of my canaries used to be super picky about the temp of the water, if it was slightly off he wouldn’t bathe!

Hope this helps!

- Courtney (flock-talk)

[flock-talk]

is there an age where its too young to bathe a cockatiel?

During the stages of weaning, otherwise not really.  Once the birds can perch securely they can bathe themselves, prior to that they don’t have the motor skills required to do so. Since you don’t actually play a role in bathing the bird, it’s just a matter of when they decide to bathe themselves as long as you provide the dish.

[flock-talk]

okay, thank you for clarifying! i haven't had my cockatiel for that long and he doesn't really like baths yet so i was going to try with a mister, then i read about people spraying their birds as a punishment and worried that that's what i'd be doing unknowingly! do you have any tips on introducing him to the mist for the first time? he hasn't really had a proper bath since i brought him home he's just jumped in to wet his feet (eventually) and then straight back out again

ways to get birds interested in bathing

For misting the best way to accustom them to it is to first leave the mister around the room so they’re comfortable seeing it and being near it before they know it sprays water then just very lightly spraying away from them. Mist your plant or thing if you have them with the bird near you so they can get used to the idea of water being sprayed and a few small particles may land on them. Once they’re comfortable seeing water being sprayed, you can try to spray way above their heads (off to the side a bit so it isn’t a full blast at first) on a very low setting so a gentle mist will come down and they can get used to water touching them, over time you’d move it more directly over their heads and more rapidly spraying.  Always, always, always keep an eye on their body language, if they’re walking or flying away, presenting discomforted behaviours or otherwise not enjoying it then just stop or perhaps try to ease it back a bit more. 

[flock-talk]

In what way do you most often bathe your beebs? Do you use a spray bottle, or let them have a little fun in a small dish of water?

Usually just a bowl/dish of cool water although Mia has been demanding that she bathe in the tree leaves recently.  During the colder seasons or times when they need to bathe but haven’t I’ll pop them in the shower so they at least get some steam to prevent their skin from getting dry/ itchy.