Shower vs Bath?

[Boki]

It is my understanding that water helps my juvenile conure through the molting process, especially with the 1st molt as that is the biggest one. So I have been putting her in the sink and giving her a shower. She seems to like it as she never moves when the water is on her. I assumed that if she didn't like it, she would try to escape.

Then I noticed most conure videos have the bird jumping around and splashing in a bowl of water. I now wonder if my bird is frightened and just freezes until the water stops.

Maybe I should switch to just letting her bathe herself in her water bowl although that seems to be too small of an area for a proper bath.

Is there such a thing as too many baths?

I am probably overthinking this as usual.

 

[Owlet]

tracking because ive always wondered this too.. I see mixed things online and would like to know the truth behind it.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Conures are 'water babies' in that they LOVE water. They are also VERY expressive, so if they don't like something, they'll have ZERO problem letting you know it! LOL.

That being said, there are times where bathing is NOT such a good idea: when they are sick, at night or when the temps are too cold.

I actually found out about the water thing when I caught Skittles bathing in his water dish. That should never be encouraged. Their water dish should only be for drinking and should be kept clean and fresh. Another time I caught him bathing in a glass of orange juice, which at the time was hilarious- I guess he figured he didn't have enough orange? lol.

What I have is a 9x9 glass casserole dish that I fill with water to just a bit below the top (about 1 3/4") and Skittles will 'splash around' in it, like you've mentioned. When he wants a bath, he will fly onto the sink faucet, ruffle his feathers and sneeze. Its adorable. He also 'tests' the water to make sure its the 'right temp' and won't go in until it is. No spoiling him, no not at all. lol.

I happened to notice that he will often try to get the sides of his head and the back wet while bathing and often ends up sneezing after (likely to expel water). So what I did was I got a small spray bottle and filled it with water and tried spraying him. He didn't resist.

So the next time he bathed, when he was done wetting the areas he could access, I signaled him to come out and fly over to his playstand. Then I 'covered' his eyes and nose etc with the cup of my hand and I sprayed him. He just leaned forward and closed his eyes while I did it. When he was satisfied, he'd just perk right up and fly off. So thats now our bathing technique.

 

[itzjbean]

I tried bringing my tiel to the sink but he was terrified of the running water!

Now he gets spray bottle mist baths and loves them...same with my other male.

My female tolerates spray bottles but likes to dunk herself in her water dish daily, but it only seems to get her lower half wet so I help her with the spray bottle to get the top.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Cockatiels actually benefit more from spray showers than from baths. Cockatiels have down coat which makes their feathers so soft (like petting 'air') and its actually very good for them to have those 'mists'. ESPECIALLY steam mists since tiels are dusty birds and also are known to get respiratory infections.

 

[RemiBird]

Like Skitty's Daddy already mentioned, my cockatiels used to love misting.
Remi, my GCC, on the other hand loves bathing in his water dish, silly guy. I also take him in the shower in the morning and he seems to enjoy that too.

 

[noodles123]

You don't want to do a full bath too often (once a day or so is fine if it isn't cold or at night), but you don't want to over-do it, as it can dry them out. A full bath everyday is A LOT by most people's standards (but some birds do shower very often). That having been said, some birds bathe very infrequently in the wild.

If your bird is totally wet down to the skin, it's very important to keep the house very warm (like 80+ degrees F) until they dry off some...Think about how cold it feels getting out of a cool shower and stepping into a 72 degree home (even though that temp wouldn't normally feel cold). They can't regulate body temperature like we do, so being cold can cause a lot of stress on their systems.

Side note- in adult birds, too much misting can trigger hormones, but misting and full baths aren't the same thing (even though you shouldn't do either at night or if there are drafts etc).

 

[Boki]

OK, this is what I wanted to hear. Noodles wrote "it can dry them out." What is happening here and is there a way for me to notice it?

 

[Ellie777Australia]

QUOTE=noodles "in adult birds, too much misting can trigger hormones"


Hi Noodles,


Following this thread as Ellie has only ever been 'mist' sprayed with fresh water in the summer and fresh aloe gel/water in the fall and winter when we start using the wood stoves...we aim for mist baths every other day...



Referencing my original thread obtaining advice re Ellie laying her first egg (now has had three, one every third day despite the changes we've implemented), one thing unchanged is that we have still given her mist baths as usual.



Should we stop the mist baths completely until she stops laying? Could the mist baths be a potential trigger for the continued egg laying? Hoping she will not have a fourth egg due tomorrow if 3rd day pattern being followed. Will hold off on her mist bath today until advised otherwise...


Kind Regards,
Debbie

 

[noodles123]

All I know is that frequent misting in some hormonal birds can simulate spring rains (and therefore, hormones). It is hard to say, but assuming you have tried everything else, you might cut back for a few weeks and see.
In the meantime, no shadowy places, pillows, blankets, boxes, tents, under clothes/furniture/bedding etc... (huge triggers)
No warm/mushy foods.
No grass-type shred toys.
No petting anywhere other than the head.
If an egg is laid, leave it there until the bird loses interest.
Make sure your bird is getting plenty of exercise and interaction.
Ignore and redirect anything sexual (no cuddles).
Make sure your bird is getting 10-14 hours of dark, quiet sleep.
Make sure they get a balance of sunlight and darkness (too much sun can cause hormones to rage and too little can cause other problems).

I hope that helps!

 

[Ellie777Australia]

All I know is that frequent misting in some hormonal birds can simulate spring rains (and therefore, hormones). It is hard to say, but assuming you have tried everything else, you might cut back for a few weeks and see.
In the meantime, no shadowy places, pillows, blankets, boxes, tents, under clothes/furniture/bedding etc... (huge triggers)
No warm/mushy foods.
No grass-type shred toys.
No petting anywhere other than the head.
If an egg is laid, leave it there until the bird loses interest.
Make sure your bird is getting plenty of exercise and interaction.
Ignore and redirect anything sexual (no cuddles).
Make sure your bird is getting 10-14 hours of dark, quiet sleep.
Make sure they get a balance of sunlight and darkness (too much sun can cause hormones to rage and too little can cause other problems).

I hope that helps!

Many thanks, will ensure we do all of the above,
Debbie

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

I don't think there is a surefire method that is relevant to all birds. It really has to be on a case by case basis.

For example, when I had my tiel, I could NOT even touch her without her getting hormonal during mating season. But with Skittles, he doesn't get hormonal with me and I cuddle him every day. I'm just saying that what causes hormonal behavior in one bird may not do the same for another. I can't imagine NOT being able to cuddle with Skittles considering its probably his favorite thing to do. He spends MOST of the day doing just that for the most part in one way or the other and he's fine.

As far as bathing goes, I don't even bathe Skittles daily. I do it when he wants it which is, on average, once or twice a week. He tends to want to bathe more in the summer and less in the winter.

For Skittles, its 'textured fabrics' that tend to kick his hormones into overdrive- perfect example: 'towels'. Any sort of fabric with a texture like that he will get hormonal with during those seasons so I have to limit that.


I just think we should keep that in mind- that different reactions happen. What may be a hormone inducing action for one bird may be a non-issue with the other.

 

[noodles123]

I don't think there is a surefire method that is relevant to all birds. It really has to be on a case by case basis.

For example, when I had my tiel, I could NOT even touch her without her getting hormonal during mating season. But with Skittles, he doesn't get hormonal with me and I cuddle him every day. I'm just saying that what causes hormonal behavior in one bird may not do the same for another. I can't imagine NOT being able to cuddle with Skittles considering its probably his favorite thing to do. He spends MOST of the day doing just that for the most part in one way or the other and he's fine.

As far as bathing goes, I don't even bathe Skittles daily. I do it when he wants it which is, on average, once or twice a week. He tends to want to bathe more in the summer and less in the winter.

For Skittles, its 'textured fabrics' that tend to kick his hormones into overdrive- perfect example: 'towels'. Any sort of fabric with a texture like that he will get hormonal with during those seasons so I have to limit that.


I just think we should keep that in mind- that different reactions happen. What may be a hormone inducing action for one bird may be a non-issue with the other.

I agree- I was just referring to common triggers across the board. Certainly there are exceptions and I am sure there are additional triggers out there that apply to individuals. If a bird is laying eggs, there is obviously a hormonal situation at hand and so common triggers should be avoided, but there will always be individual quirks.

 

[dhraiden]

We started letting our fids bath under the faucet in a small bowl (with the tap running) the first time we noticed they were giving themselves baths in their drinking dishes. They hop around and splash pretty happily...my phone is filled with so many videos of the same thing LOL.




Occasionally they'll come into the shower with my SO and enjoy themselves there, too.

 

[ChristaNL]

I let them choose... I offer "shower?" and they decide if they want to come or not.
They will usually be eager to step up if they want to get wet and sometimes actually fluf their feathers a bit in a threat-dispaly when they really do not.
So that is a no-brainer.

Japie loves bathing in a dish all by himself (but only inside the cage!) but he abolutely loves sitting om my shoulder and soak (he can fly of or walk away, but he just sits there).
Apie will sometimes come to the bathroom and decide not te step-up for a shower, thats fine as well: she is in the steamy and moist air, so there is some benefit anyway.
Sunny will just sit and stare at the bath if she wants to go for a swim, or try to climb on my hand/ arm when it is a shower she wants (she will not wait till invited to do so).



Making sure a bird is really dry is easy if you can give them a bath in the morning.
The feathers will show when they are dry again, or you can touch the bird if you are not sure (no way you can miss the damp feeling).

 

[EllenD]

I have always made this decision completely based on what each individual bird likes, because they all are very different in what they like as far as a bath, a shower, misting from a bottle, etc. Some birds HATE water and want nothing to do with it no matter where it comes from, and others absolutely love it and would do it multiple times a day if you let them (not advised)...

I have a PVC folding shower-perch attached to my shower wall, and whenever I take a shower they all have the option to come in with me; I fold out the shower-perch, get in the shower but leave the bathroom door open, and the 4 of them always come in to the bathroom and sit on the shower-rod, but each day is different as to who gets in the shower with me...Bowie, my GCC, usually takes a shower every day, and Lita, my Quaker Parrot also typically gets in with Bowie. Kane usually waits until Bowie and Lita are done and go back up onto the shower-rod, and then he jumps onto the shower-perch, and sometimes he just sits there and doesn't really get wet, and sometimes he does (I have the shower-perch attached to the shower wall with the suction-cups that are on the back of the perch, and it's located so that the end of the perch is in the shower stream but so the other end of the perch is out of the shower stream, so they can go in and out of the water)...And Duff, my Cockatiel, just recently started taking showers/baths about a month or so ago, she used to HATE getting wet and would get really, really angry and become enraged if she got wet, lol...But since Duff regained her ability to fly again, after not be able to fly since the age of about 10 months-old due to a wing injury (she's now 3 years-old), she has gone from being a complete introvert who was always quiet and rarely made a peep, never played with toys, basically just sat on my shoulder or on top of her cage and was a sweet little girl...NOW DUFF IS SASSY!!!! No joke, she has become a completely different bird since she started flying again, little by little she started becoming more and more vocal, started flying all over the house, started shredding the hell out of her toys, she now demands preening from Bowie and if he doesn't do it immediately as soon as she lowers her head for him, she starts beating him up and kicking his butt, she does the same to me, lands on my shoulder and lowers her head, and if I don't immediately start giving her scritches she full-on attacks my ear and the side of my head, and while she used to be scared to death of Lita and would run away from her as soon as she saw her enter the room, she now starts violently screaming at her as soon as she sees her, and then she goes after her and chases her away!!! She's also gained a noticeable amount of weight (she looks so much better, she was a frail, fragile looking thing), and her feathers are just absolutely GORGEOUS now, when prior they were always ratty and just a mess, and had no sheen to them at all...She's a totally different Cockatiel now, except that she's still the sweetest bird in the entire world to all people...But otherwise SHE'S SASSY!!!

Anyway, I wouldn't even force your bird to take a bath in the sink, although it is hard to tell whether or not they are enjoying it or they hate it sometimes, especially if they don't fight to get away and out of the water right away. You don't want to push them, but bathing is good for their feathers, their skin, and just for their hygiene in-general as long as it's not more than once a day at the most so you don't dry their skin out...Sometimes if I shower at the gym or at my mom's house, or wherever else but not at home, I'll put a little shallow container of warm water out and Bowie, Lita, and Duff will all hit it up, Kane HATES baths, he only showers...

So it's just about trying different ways of bathing them and just seeing what they like...Some prefer a shower, some a bath, and others that don't like bathing at all will usually appreciate a good misting with a squirt-bottle if you spray it up in the air above them and let the water fall over them...Then they'll preen themselves and fix their feathers...And especially if you have a "dusty" or "powdery" bird, like a Cockatiel, a Cockatoo, or as I'm finding out a Pigeon/Dove (dust EVERYWHERE)...

The PVC shower-perches are pretty cool, they stick to the shower-wall with 3 suction-cups that are attached and they fold flat against the wall when not being used. You can easily make one or buy one online for like $15-$20.

 

[bill_e]

Nike prefers her water bowl and bathes about once every two weeks unless I intervene. What I will often do is take her up to the shower which she really doesnt like and get her wet, then bring her to her big bowl and let her finish up She will continue to bathe maybe 80% of the time when I use this method.

Also, when she spontaenouely bathes in her water bowl I'll wait until she's done and then take her up to the shower and really finish getting her wet, then return her to her bowl where she continues again.