Water mess?

[mistywaterwoman]

I read that you are supposed to clean out the water dish with soap every day and put in fresh water. Easy enough. Except my little guys are so piggish, I end up cleaning out the water dish 3-4 times a day!! And each time I do, they get all excited and rush back to the food bowls to dirty it up again.

Is this "normal"? Should I be giving them fresh water so many times, or am I ruining their meals by taking away the "soaked" food in there?

 

[aliray]

A lot of birds like to dunk food and make a mess. For my quaker I bought a covered water container I has a plastic bowl with an attached hood like cover. That one he uses to drink and he has a larger bowl on the bottom of his cage that he can play in or take a bath. At least his drinking water stays clean for a day.

 

[MarciaLove]

my birds love to soak their food I clean it up daily sometimes twice a day with soap and I have one smaller dish for drinking and one large one for bathing they don't seem to duck food in their small one just their large one.

 

[OOwl]

My Grey is a paper lover. He chews paper and puts it in his water dish. You haven't seen gross until you've seen his balls of paper soaking in water. It's totally disgusting. I find myself cleaning his water dish at least three times a day, often times more. I've thought of switching him to a water bottle but then I think he'd probably do something crazy like put the balls of paper into the tube. So, I can certainly commiserate with your situation.

 

[MarciaLove]

my Lorikeet loves paper too! he shreds it like crazy!! luckily for me he doesnt put it in his water though.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

Glad to hear it's at least semi-normal, lol. I don't mind cleaning it more often, it actually buys me a half an hour of "quiet time" every time, lol. They rush over to eat more and stop the incessant chirping while they are eating.
We are about to remodel a little and then the cage won't be right next to me all day, so that will give my ears a break. For such little birdies, they are LOUD!!!