Bathing.

[JSimko]

I have two birds that will give themselves a bath. My greencheek will even jump into into his water dish if one of us makes a comment about his feathers looking dull or ratty. All we have to do is say it to him and he baths. Our parakeet also baths herself regularly. The other two hate water kind of like a cat hates to get wet. I believe that the blue and gold may have been sprayed with water if he screemed when he was still in the pet store, however since I did not witness this I can not be sure. The cockatoo also hates to bath, I am not sure why. We have to bath the cockatoo and the blue and gold in the bathtub. My question is, do your birds take baths on their own and how often?

[jackie]

Sam, my older amazo will run over to the shower when i go to it in the morning hoping that i'll let him in....when i know i'll have enough time to dry him before school, i do....this probally about once or twice a week. Jake, my younger amazon, will sometimes bathe himself in his water bowl if he's really dry....i usually let him take a shower with me every weekend. berrie, the budgie bathes herself in the water dish daily.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Good topic!

Snickers (Tiel) loves to splash daily in our bathroom sink and I spray her with Bath Time by Canopy Scientific.

The budgies hate a bath, but I dip them individually in the sink and spray them also.

Marcel is too big for the bathroom sink so he tolerates a bath in the kitchen sink followed by a Bath Time Spray.

Lots of times, the Budgies will play in their water dish and make a big wet mess of their cage and I end up replacing food, paper and water.

Marcel likes to dip his wings, one at a time, in his water dish on occasion and use his wings to splash water over his body (what a funny sight).

I recently bought a medium sized plastic dog food dish and fill it with water and put it at the bottom of Marcel's cage and he likes splashing in it, but I only put the dish in occasionally because it makes a big wet mess.

Thankfully, Snickers does not bath herself in her cage.

:)

[Jenny]

My green-cheek usually lets me know he wants a bath by flying onto the kitchen sink faucet. Or, if I'm washing my hands or face, and if he's in the mood for a bath, he'll lean towards the water and give me a certain look, which tells me to put him in the sink and fill it up partly. Occasionally when I take a shower, I let him perch on the curtain rod and he'll fly through the water! Mortie my blue-crowned doesn't like baths, but when I take a shower I first get him all wet and then he sits on the curtain rod for the rest of the time, which he likes. He also will dip his face and wings in his water bowl if he feels like it. My budgies only will take baths in Mortie's water bowl, and when they do it's so funny because they just hop right into it! They take turns too, and once one hops out, another will jump in! A few times Blue has taken a bath in the sink with Kirby, but that hasn't worked too well since Kirby gets mad when he hogs the sink and then they usually get into a small fight! Scherzo our lovebird doesn't like to bathe so far but occasionally will splash around in the sink.

[Stef]

After reading the posts on this site... I gave my Hahn's Macaw his first shower tonight. He absolutely loved it. I put him in a small cage to get him used to the bathroom as he was rescued and was extremely nervous and jumpy so we introduce new things really slowly. He sat in the kitchen with his head back while i blow dried him, he enjoyed that too!! The place I get my parrot toys from has just started to stock shower perches so I think I'll invest in one soon

http://www.24parrot.com/

Stef

[Mrs.Birdy]

How cute. I forgot to mention, I blow dry Snickers (Tiel) and Marcel (Maxi Pionus). They both like it very much. They just sit there and enjoy it. First I wrap them in a warm towel after their baths, then comes the blow dryer.
soooo cute.

Also, I was told that using a tooth brush to gently stroke their feathers is a good idea. I haven't tried it yet, but I will eventually.

:)

[Jenny]

OH, today my lovebird figured out a fun way to take a bath- in my hands!!! I was washing my hands in the sink when he crawled down obviously wanting to get near the water. So I cupped my hands to let water fill them up, and Scherzo perched right on my thumb and, after taking a few drinks of water, went crazy dipping himself in the water and splashing! It was so cute and fun to see him all wet! :) To Stef: that's great about the baths! Sometimes dry skin is a cause of feather picking, and baths REALLY can help sometimes! I've read about some birds who plucked and after daily baths they stopped!

[Redstorm1721]

Sunni will take a bath in her water dish,and also she gets her spray bath too. My pretty Girl will also get sprayed with the mist bottle,and she loves it so much. Pearl,well she doesn't really like it but will tolerate it. These story's were all so cute and fun to read!

[Blueiis]

My lovebird used to bathe himself in a secondary water dish I put in his cage. Then he helped me do the dishes one day.... Now, when he wants a bath, he'll sit on the kitchen faucet. I hold a dinner plate under a slow-running tap, and he has fun standing on the plate in half an inch of water, running under the faucet when he feels like it. But even when I know he really wants a bath, it usually take 5-10 minutes before he'll actually start getting himself wet.

I don't blowdry him, but he does love sitting on my shoulders when I'm blowdrying my hair.

[pionuspasion]

Whenever I run the vacuum, my Amazon, Loki, goes crazy for a bath. He flares his tail, fluffs his feathers and spreads his wings. Then he trills and runs twoard me with his head down. If I don't spray him, he climbs down off his cage and nibbles on my toes until I do. When my Pionus hears the vacuum, she hangs upside down from the top of her cage and flaps her wings violently. If I don't bathe her she begins to shout. Needless to say, when I bring out the vacuum, I also bring out my spray bottle! :)

[Jenny]

I've read so many places that birds will do that, and so I've been suprised that every time I vacuum, all six of my birds completely ignore it and just keep doing what they had been before! Not a single one has ever started bathing while I've vacuumed.

[Mrs.Birdy]

Funny thing is when I vacuum, all my birds stand still like statues. No sound no movement until I turn the vac off. :confused: