Bathing issue?

[Alliusis]

Hello everyone,

My linnies love to bathe, as linnies do. I generally keep on spraying warm water for a bit after they start to hang upside down and put their wings out, and it's normally fine. Some days I can empty most of my spray bottle on them and they're happy as can be.

It's been a while since they've gotten a bath, and I sprayed them today. They were behaving like they wanted to continue bathing, but I noticed they were getting absolutely soaked, to the point they looked like drowned rats. After I stopped they had a lot of trouble shaking the water off and after they looked like they were in a bit of shock, heads up with eyes half-closed and their wings trembling away from their bodies. The room was warm (26*C) but I ran to get the hair drier and blew hot air on them to help them dry. Then their feather colour started to come back and they started to preen and act like normal birds again.

Is water intolerance something that happens when they haven't had a bath in a while? I always tried to let them tell me when they were done, but that failed today. This hasn't happened before and it was scary - I'll definitely pay more attention to their feathers and body, instead of just their behaviour in the future.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Dona]

I wish I had some ideas for you. When I spray Gigi she beads off like a duck for the longest time, then starts to get a bit darker and wetter. But she doesn't stay soaked, she shakes it off like mad and then is able to fly down the hall to her cage, arriving pretty dry, starts to preen and has never acted funny afterwards. I wonder if it has something to do with low humidity right now, in the dead of winter? I'm so glad they are OK and I hope someone chimes in with advice.

 

[Alliusis]

I wish I had some ideas for you. When I spray Gigi she beads off like a duck for the longest time, then starts to get a bit darker and wetter. But she doesn't stay soaked, she shakes it off like mad and then is able to fly down the hall to her cage, arriving pretty dry, starts to preen and has never acted funny afterwards. I wonder if it has something to do with low humidity right now, in the dead of winter? I'm so glad they are OK and I hope someone chimes in with advice.

That's exactly how they normally bathe. Usually my wrist gives out before they're done! They get wet, their feathers get a bit spikey and a bit darker, but that's it. This time there was no green left on them (they looked black), their feathers were plastered to their skin and they really did look like a drowned rat. I think the water penetrated too far and they caught a chill, I just wish I knew why this time was different.