Some birds appreciate a daily misting/being lightly sprayed with room-temperature water, while others prefer to bathe in a shallow dish of water. A combination of both is great — provided your parrot is amenable to both. A good number of parrots don’t like mistings/spraying. Providing a shallow bathing dish every day enables birds to bathe as they feel the need and desire to.
Offer cool or room-temperature water for your pets to bathe in, as it improves their feather condition and other multiple benefits (please refer to below). Warm water, on the other hand, will strip essential oils from the feathers and will encourage itching and picking, rather than preening.
Benefits of Bathing:
Bathing is an important part of the general grooming process. It allows birds to keep their plumage in good condition.
- Bathing softens dirt on the feathers and skinand encourages preening. If you bathe your parrot regularly, you will notice that his feathers will begin to become waterproof due to his preening duties.
- Bathing will help keep the dander downin the environment.
- Bathing in room-temperature water provides a natural venue for moisturizing a bird’s skin. Skin can become dry and itchy, leading to plucking.
- It’s also important that any pollutants be removed from the bird’s feathers so that it doesn’t ingest any toxic stuff while preening.
- Bathing is especially important during moltingwhen birds sometimes feel itchy and uncomfortable as the new pin feathers break through the skin.
- Bathing is also important for breeding birds,as it helps them regulate the humidity level in the nesting box, which is important for the development of the chicks inside the eggs.
Bathing Tips:
- Misting: In warm weather, or when you can provide enough warmth after a bath, you can mist your parrot with a handheld spray bottle that you can buy in any drugstore or supermarket. If he’s interested in the bath, he’ll spread his wings, put his head down, shake around, and delight in every drop.
- Taking a Shower: Parrots are naturally social creatures and enjoy taking a shower with their owners. If you choose to introduce your pet to the shower, it’s best to do so with extreme patience at first. He should decide on his own that the shower is a friendly thing, and poses no threat to his safety.
- If your bird likes to shower with you, you may want to get a “shower filter”. Bird’s have very efficient respiratory systems and are sensitive to the chemicals that are commonly found in your water. Most of our tap water is chlorinated and fluoridated, and both chemicals are drying to skin and hair, and contribute to respiratory problems in both humans and pets.
- Planter Saucer: A planter saucer works very well and is readily accepted by birds for taking a bath in. They may not use it EVERY day and may initially mainly use it for drinking from rather than bathing, but chances are good to excellent that eventually they will feel like jumping in and “getting wet.”. It’s fun to watch — so have the video camera ready!
- The Sink: My birds love the sound of running water and whenever I turn the faucet on, my lovebird comes for a shower. I make sure the area is clean and place the faucet to drip – and off my parrot is for his daily shower. Make sure the water temperature is mildly warm. If your bird likes to take his or her daily bath this way, you should invest in a faucet filter. They are inexpensive and well worth it, turning chlorinated into drinkable.
- Spraying: Never spray a bird that’s freaked out by it. This bird will need to come to bathing on her own. Allow her to be near a stream of water (in the shower on a shower perch) and enter the water by herself. Never force the issue.
- Drying your Bird: Don’t blow-dry your parrot. Some blow-dryers contain nonstick coating on the heating coils, which can be deadly to your bird. A bird lamp will help dry your bird. However, my birds dry by themselves and take advantage of a thorough preening session. Make sure that your bird doesn’t get chilled. My birds are out most of the day and regulate their own heat. If they feel cold, they may choose to sit by the window to enjoy the sun or retreat away from the window if they get too hot. If this is not possible in your household, place the cage near the window; allow sun exposure on one side of the cage and cover the other half with a towel.
- Soap-Don’t ever use soap on your bird unless it’s for a very good reason — for example, if he gets oil on his feathers. If soap is necessary, make sure to use very mild glycerin soap, and rinse your bird thoroughly. Wash only his body (not the face), and don’t scrub.
- When and how often to bathe: In the summer, you can completely soak your parrot to the skin a couple of times a week. This is very good for your bird. In very cool weather, keep bathing to a minimum unless you can offer heat after the bath. Bathe only in the daytime hours — a bird that goes to bed wet can catch a chill and will be uncomfortable. If a bird gets wet and is cold, a bird lamp will help dry his or her plumage.
Here are BirdCage4Less.com products that could help with your bird’s bathing needs:
https://birdcages4less.com/page/B/CTGY/Bird_Bathing_Accessories
Bath Bird Sprays are quick and easy!!
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