Baths

Splish Splash Elmo's Taking a Bath...in His Water Bowl
Some kind of regular bathing is critical to our birds' feather condition and overall well being. Being forest, and more often rain forest dwellers, you'd think they'd all love baths. Well, I'm here to tell you they often don't at first, but they can learn to like, if not love, a dip.

Of my nine, two are offended by showers. Three tolerate them, perching stoic on my hand or nestled into my chest. The remaining four seem to truly like getting wet, under the right circumstances.

For the conures and parakeet, a bowl, their own water bowls mostly, is the chosen method (see above). Senegal Beaker takes the plunge into a bowl of some sort too, but she likes showers. My younger Military macaw Theo like showers - now. I had to introduce the concept slowly, showing great enthusiasm for the practice and a demonstrated willingness to get just as wet as he did.

I take all but the truly offended two, Mitred Little Fred and Military Allie, into the shower with me, one at a time once a week in the winter time. In summer, more often. I adjust the water temperature to the cooler side of lukewarm which they seem to prefer, although I can't say I do. I freeze my tush off Dec-March. We bathe early in the day so they have time to dry before going to bed.

Allie is just coming around to baths in the bathtub, water an inch or two deep. We may or may not move onto showers. Again, going slow, steady and short is proving the way to his approval. I use a spray bottle on the gentle setting to keep his feathers neat and tidy in between bath forays. The conures, parakeet and senegal want no part of the spray bottle.

Little Fred takes a bath in his water bowl whenever he feels like it, and we leave it at that. I've had little Fred two years and my vet suspects he was a wild caught bird. His age, mid twenties, the tattoo on the under side of his wing, and his propensity to panic attacks are apparently telltale signs of a wild caught Mitred, which was a very popular conure to trap and sell. Fred is easily frightened to the point of terror, so if his water bowl is what he prefers, so be it. He dives in his bowl often, so I figure he's adequately clean.

Bath Dos

• Luke warm to cool water temp
• If you use a pan or bowl to offer a bath, keep the water level shallow, to an inch or two, depending on bird size.
• Bathe from morning to early afternoon only, so there's time to dry and preen.
• Introduce bathing slowly, keep at it steadily, and keep each encounter short and pleasurable. This could take months or a year or two. But slow is preferable to a permanent phobia of water.
• Show your bird showering is fun. Shower in front of your bird. He / she can watch from another place in the bathroom, or a perch in the shower but out of the water. Make sure your toiler lid is closed in your bathroom and the door is closed. The humidity from your shower will do your bird good.
• Shower together, if your bird likes it.
• Always supervise when your bird is bathing.

Bath Donts

• Don't point a shower or sprayer to their nares (nostrils).
• Don't put a wet/damp bird near a draft.
• Don't use soap, shampoo or anything but JUST WATER. Any stuff you put on your bird's feathers will be ingested during preening.
• Don't put your bird to bed wet.
• Don't force a bird to bathe a certain way. Experiment until you find a way he or she enjoys water. Baths should be fun and refreshing.
• Don't use a blow dryer which dries out feathers and skin, defeating the purpose of the bath in the first place. "Towel dry" your bird if you and your bird are accustomed to towels.

Birdie Byte
Adorable Quaker Parrot Taking a Bath