Need advice, birds won’t bathe

[Kerry.S]

Hi! I have two cockatiels and need some advice on feather health. They’re molting and preening each other just fine, but since i’ve have them i’ve struggled to get them to bathe! I’ve tried putting out bowls of water of different depths (shallow, deeper, etc), as well as misting them (they HATED it!) and even tried lettuce misted in water because I heard some birds prefer it but nothing works I was looking at getting a play sink that has running water (it’s like a plastic sink for kids), but I don’t know anymore! Any tips?

 

[SunnySandi]

Valkyrie only bathes in the people shower. She prefers to stand on the shelf and get misted with the warm spray. Even then, she chooses to bathe maybe once or twice a month.

There are suction perches you can get specifically for the shower if you find your birds like that!

I’ve also heard that running the vacuum or playing rain sounds can help sorta get them in the mood for bathing. Unfortunately I only have experience with my one oddball! But it did take a few different tries before letting her hang out on the shower rod and figuring out that was how she wanted to do it.

 

[Toy]

Birds need too be shown a shower is fun. So get a suction shower perch or a perch stand & set it in the tub. Then use a handheld shower & sign, act silly, laugh, etc. Slap the water, etc. Once they know it's fun they often will enjoy getting a shower.

 

[Kerry.S]

Valkyrie only bathes in the people shower. She prefers to stand on the shelf and get misted with the warm spray. Even then, she chooses to bathe maybe once or twice a month.

There are suction perches you can get specifically for the shower if you find your birds like that!

I’ve also heard that running the vacuum or playing rain sounds can help sorta get them in the mood for bathing. Unfortunately I only have experience with my one oddball! But it did take a few different tries before letting her hang out on the shower rod and figuring out that was how she wanted to do it.

I’ll definitely try the perch! The rain sounds is interesting too, so i’ll look into that. Thank you!!

 

[Kerry.S]

Birds need too be shown a shower is fun. So get a suction shower perch or a perch stand & set it in the tub. Then use a handheld shower & sign, act silly, laugh, etc. Slap the water, etc. Once they know it's fun they often will enjoy getting a shower.

I’ll order a perch for them today. Will treats help get them used to it? Ill try acting silly and having fun but the shower is pretty loud and they’re definitely more on the fearful side too

 

[SunnySandi]

Sometimes there’s a monkey see, monkey do aspect as well. I usually let Valkyrie hang out on the rail while I have my shower, and then it’s like “Well if flock is fine being wet…”

 

[Kerry.S]

Sometimes there’s a monkey see, monkey do aspect as well. I usually let Valkyrie hang out on the rail while I have my shower, and then it’s like “Well if flock is fine being wet…”

Ooohh that makes sense, once the perch comes in i’ll see how they like the shower and try to get them used to it. Thank you sooo much for your help!! I really appreciate it

 

[Aestatis]

In addition to the other suggestions, you could try having them with you when you use the sink. Two of my tiels became very interested after seeing me wash my hands a few times. They were too scared to go into the sink basin, but they enjoyed sitting on my hand next to the stream or liked it when I put cupped hands under the stream of water to act as a small basin. Downside of this is that you will either get wet or have scratched up arms.

 

[atomicfriday]

I bathe my birds outside with the hose. At the same time their cages get cleaned too. I wouldn't say my tiel likes being hosed but she tolerates it, my grey enjoys it more than she does. Both like the shower.