Dirty Bird

[Wheeliegirl]

Peachie hates to bathe. She doesn't enjoy being in the shower anymore, and absolutely hates being misted with a spray bottle (she will run away). Once in a while, while we are in the kitchen, she'll hear the water and decide to take a bath - no matter what I'm doing I have to stop and put the water on a trickle and move the spigot so she can run under it. This is only about once a week, or whenever the urge comes to her.

After she bathes, she doesn't preen. Aren't they supposed to preen their feathers? I've never seen her preen since I've had her. I've seen her scratch and pick at her feathers, but never take those long grooming strokes with her tail feathers or wing feathers like my 'teil did. Maybe lovebirds don't do this?

I've tried putting water in a shallow dish, putting water in the other food dish in her cage. She shows some interest in water if I'm drinking it out of a cup, but the cup is not large enough for her to dunk herself, and also, it's not always water in the cup! She's very excited when I drink something, and tries to crawl into the cup when I take sip. She ends up getting her beak and forehead wet, then shakes it off and nocks her beak and head on the insides of the cup. I feel so bad for her when she does that because it must hurt (so why does she continue to go back for more???) ha ha.

Maybe I just have a dirty bird. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to encourage her to bathe more, or if it is detrimental to her health if she doesn't bathe more often.

[bellarains]

Hey Holly,

Some birds just enjoy a bath more so than others,also some bathe more often than others. You might just try giving her a dish large enough to waller around in inside her cage everyday. When you put it inside wiggle and splash your fingers around in it so that she can hear the water and then just leave it up to her to get in. It may take awhile, but just keep giving it to her, and by all means, still let her enjoy her occassional trickle bath too :)

I have not seen a bird yet that does not preen. How does Peachie dry herself off? If she is not preening, you can help her of course by rubbing her neck and nares, and her chest and wings if she will let you. The only thought that comes to mind is if she had been with another lovie before that preened her and she's just used to being preened by someone else, but I don't recall if you got Peachie as a baby or not, so that may not apply. Either way, she really should preen herself, that's the way she gets her new feathers to come in. Watch her closely after her bathes and before she goes to sleep, that is when mine preen the most.

[Elle]

Blu joined our family in February. it took until mid may until he decided to take his first bath.
I guess the old house (we moved may 1st) was too cold for him to want to bathe.
I didn't force him with his first bath. It just happened. It was very warm and Blu likes to hang out on top of the cage. He has treats and toys and his Tinker Toy play pen on top of the cage. That afternoon I placed a small container full of water on top of the cage and that was all he needed. He took his fist bath that day.
i leave the water on top of the cage all day long. He plays with it like a 3 year old would play with its pool in the backyard. He throws his toys in the water, then goes fishing for them etc. Whenever he feels like it, which is maybe every second day now, he takes a bath. This is working for us.
As far as preening goes, I noticed that he doesn't preen right a way after his bath. He'll wait mayber 15- 20 minutes before starting to preen. he seems to be enjoying the coolness and the benefits of a nice bath before getting busy making himself all pretty again.

I guess it's a matter of fiding out what Miss Peachie likes. maybe the weather is not quite right yet for her to dare dip her little toe into water.

Elle

[Buy A Paper Doll]

It may be that you have a fussy bird who hasn't found the right bath dish. My two will only bathe in one of my clear glass salad bowls. (Don't eat salad at my house!) My sister's parakeets are the same way; they only bathe in one particular bowl, no substitutions, thank-you-very-much.

Another thought, maybe your lovie is bathing when you're not home? I've never seen Melody bathe in her water dish, but sometimes I come home and find water from her dish all over the place, so I know she took a bath in there. Still, she is much like your bird, only wants to dip her little head in the water. She's very dainty about it, unlike Milo who dives in belly first and splashes water everywhere.

Not bathing may be a problem when your lovie is molting, because those pinfeathers are oh-so-itchy. If you feel like your lovie needs a bath, you can put some lukewarm water (no soap) in the sink and dip her (gently) up to her neck. Let her get good and wet for a couple of seconds, and then let her out to preen herself dry. I do this with mine. I can't say they like it but it's only a few seconds and they always feel so much better after a bath.

[shylevon]

Some birdies don't like to bathe, some need to be dunk bathed (like my brood), and some prefer to be squirted or dribbled on by a slow, free running faucet. Finding the right dish is three quarters the battle.

Some birdies also don't preen because they don't know how. You may need to teach your litlte guy the fine art of preening. Good luck with that, and try to get some pictures. We would all really like to see that. Seriously though, a lot of birdies get preened by their parents, then by their flockmates, and never really catch on to how to do it themselves.

[Wheeliegirl]

Thanks so much! After Peachie gets a bath she just air drys. If she feels like sitting on my shoulder she will rub her body on my shirt, but other than that she just air dries. The only time she will let me touch her is if she is wet, and I do rub her neck and chest. If I tried to touch her any other time she'd take off one of my fingers!

Hmmm, I'll try putting a dish at the bottom of her cage and see if that works....but I wonder which one she will like? :-)

[shylevon]

Try a shallow dish with steep sides, like a mini-quiche dish. Lots of lovies don't like to get their feetsies wet, so they stand on the dish rim and dip their chests into the water and shake the water all over down their backs. For that reason, the water level needs to be fairly close to the rim of the dish, fairly deep that is.

After you fill up the dish and place it where birdie can see, wiggle your fingers in it to make light splashng noises. Birdies get excited about the sound of splashing water, and it makes them want to take a bath. They puff up their feathers real good and kind of quiver with excitement. Today may not be the day of birdie's big bath, but if the bowl is there every day, he should soon take the plunge.

[LauraO]

I've always found that lovies like to bath together. It's kind of contagious and once one lovie bathes a lot of other ones like to bath as well. So I say it's time to get peachie a friend to show her the appropriate way to bath and preen :D :D :D.

[sdgilley]

Hi Holly,
I found that Peter will bathe in a dish (clear and with a flat bottom to stand in) when I put a ladder down into it. He could climb in and out easily and didn't feel like he was going to be trapped. On occassions when I have dunk bathed him for his skin, he dries himself on me.

Can you touch your birdie with a towel around your hand to help dry her? It's a little like preening, since you're without a proper beak. :) Maybe she'll catch on that way...

[bellarains]

Hmmm,

That reminds me. When I wash my hair all my birds like to preen me. That is to say, they preen my wet hair. This usually leads to them preening themselves, so maybe you could try that also. If Peachie will preen your hair that might give her an inclination to preen herself.

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto loves to take a bath in his water dish. Yesterday he was sitting on my shoulder while I got his veggies ready and got him fresh water (like he does every day when I get home from work). He usually runs down my arm to watch the water fill the bowl. Well yesterday he must have really wanted a bath because as soon as I turned the water off he was splashing away in the bowl. We both got a bath. :D

[LauraO]

Babygirl has taken to taking Kale baths lately. I always wet the Kale down really good before clipping it to the top of their cages and she likes to run her body through it and flap her wings like she were standing in a bowel of water. I sooooooooo wish my camera hadn't broken because it was toooo cute :rofl :rofl.

[yellowbird]

I have laid a towel on the floor and then took a pie dish and filled it will enough water and splashed my fingers around in it and Yellow came running. At first she started drinking it and then just dove in. Then the other week my husband called me to come "look at your bird" and she was soaked after taking a bath in her water dish. Funny thing was I was just telling her that she needed a bath today when I was petting her that morning. I tried giving her a bath in the sink today and she didn't like it and she really didn't care for the spray hose in the kitchen sink. I think I'll stick with the pie dish. I think it is finding what your lovebird likes best.