#bathing ask

Not at all! It’s a pretty common problem, some birds are just super picky about where they bathe!

For some birds they won’t bathe unless:

The tub is in the exact right location

The water is just the right temperature

The tub is high enough from the ground

The tub is in direct sunlight/ UV

The tub has the right water depth

They’re comfortable enough in the space

There’s toy parts/ lettuce leaves in the water or hanging up moistened

Someone else is flicking the water around (either bird or human)

The sound of water running is present

Because natural for many birds to bathe in grasses and leaves!

It’s a really fun response for them to have, it’s just a thing that carries over from their natural wild behaviour. If there’s predators over by the river or your flock doesn’t want to head down then rubbing leaves all over yourself is the next best way to get clean!  When I had the Japanese Maple tree in the bird room bathing on the leaves was Mia’s favourite thing! it’s also what killed the plant, it got sunburnt

It’s not the best for them to be drinking, no.  For the most part it’s about putting the dish somewhere they won’t want to bathe, in a darker corner, somewhere lower, experiment with a few new locations and see if it deters them from bathing there.  Another option would be to get those tube weekend water feeders or a cover for the dish so they can’t fit in to it to bathe.

The last solution would be to be very aware of their body language, my guys tend to preen in a specific way when they want a bath (usually it’s quick swipes of the feathers, a lot of shaking off) so that helps me offer them a tub before they go for the dish.  It will still happen from time to time, as seen in Zeeby’s recent video, and in those cases we just clean out the dishes and try to take note of what we may have missed for next time.

No way for us to know!

He could feel more comfortable/ familiar with that dish, he may like the size, temperature of the water, the way the light hits it, the depth, colour of the dish, dish position, there’s a number of variables that he may find more enjoyable than the other dishes.  You could try moving the water dish somewhere else, experimenting with temperatures, placing interesting toys in the water, changing the tubs, putting am avian uv light on them and see if he happens to take to any of those things. Another option may be removing the water dish when you present him with a bathtub and see if he’ll give it a shot while the dish is gone, giving the water dish back afterwards. Misting isn’t essential, it can be gradually warmed up to but it isn’t 100% necessary so long as the bird is adequately bathing themselves regularly.  Make sure to keep that water dish extra clean after every bath until he figures out how to use one of the others!

I really recommend using a different water dish for birds, water should be changed out daily (you wouldn’t like a glass of water that’s been sitting out for a week either!), plastic can degrade and release particles in to the water, plastics harbour bacteria which can contaminate the water, and those styles of water bottles are much harder to clean which increases the risks of those bacteria being present, please change out to a regular stainless steel bowl if you can!  

There’s a ton of things you can try.

put beads/ plastic toys in a shallow dish and leave it around for them to explore on their own terms, they’ll start playing with the toys and may end up getting themselves wet and that should stimulate them to bathe

hang wet leaves (lettuce) sometimes birds like to nibble at it and get sort of wet, this simulates a response they would give in the wild where wet tropical leaves drop water on to them and many enjoy bathing that way

Teach them to enjoy showering with you.  Have a small travel cage and accommodate them to the bathroom until they’re really calm going in there, once they’re calm leave them in a small cage in the main area of the bathroom and go have your shower with lots of steam.  The steam will help to dampen their feathers and moisten their skin.  While it doesn’t replace bathing it will relieve any itchiness and help prevent them from plucking out their feathers.

Bowl placement, my Mia refused to bathe unless the bath was directly in the sunlight from the window, experiment with new locations and see if anything particularly interests them in to bathing more

“bathe” yourself, with Mia, she wouldn’t bathe unless I participated.  I had to put the bowl in the sun and start tapping my fingers on the surface, she would then fly on over and start bathing for as long as I flicked the water.  Be careful with this one with parrotlets, some of them start getting aggressive with that sound the same way they do with plastics.

Different temperatures, some birds really hate cold water, one of my canaries used to be super picky about the temp of the water, if it was slightly off he wouldn’t bathe!

Hope this helps!

ways to get birds interested in bathing