Spray bath

[saxypanda]

Daisy has been itching alot and molting alot the past few weeks. She likes to take baths not not as often as she should be. I went out and bought this bath spray with molt ease and she HATES it.. just the looking at the bottle and she flips out! I have to hold her down and spray her and after (like right now) she is on top of her cage looking like someone just did the worse possible thing to her. Should I continue to use this stuff(does it really work?) to help her or just let her take her own baths?

[butterfly1061]

How old is Daisy? If the mister frightens her, I would not use it. I tried one once and it was a disaster. I have a few different ways my birds bath, but it took a while for them to decide what was comfortable. Molly likes to bath in my hands in the bathroom sink while Daisy, Olivia and the babies bath on a plate on the kitchen island while I swish the water with my finger. When I pour the water onto the dish, I pour it from mid-air to make a splashy sound - they love it! Piper bathes in his water dish.

[Finnysmommie]

This is a good topic. Reilly loves to take baths and will jump into any stream of water. Finny on the other hand hates baths and hates misting and pretty much hates everything water related. I would welcome any suggestions on how to get him to take a bath. I thought maybe him seeing Reilly enjoying his bath so much would help but so far not really. He does try to take a bath sometimes (I mean rarely) and he barely gets wet and acts like he accomplished something big.

I love my dirty birdie but I would love to have him bathe a little more frequently.

Cindy

[saxypanda]

Daisy is about a year old now. She seems to love running water... she throws a fit if shes not with me every morning brushing my teeth while she runs around the sink looking like she will jump in. When I'm done I take her on my finger and put her near the stream of water and she just runs up my arm! Its like she wants to take a bath but when the times come get in she changed her mind. I'll have to try the plate.

[Janie]

My older lovie, Oliver, would not take a bath other than to stick his head in his water dish. It got to the point that I just knew he was desperate for a "real" bath but could not figure out how to take one on his own. He has one area, around his vent, that he's picked since way before I adopted him and I felt like a bath would really help with the itching in that area when he was molting. I tried the spray mist, using just water, but he was scared to death of it so.......I started bathing him in the sink. I filled the sink with cool water and dunked him. NEVER getting water above his neck, just from the neck down. When he was molting, I did that twice a week and it helped so much. Far less picking in the vent area. Oliver did not exactly like the sink baths but because he is very tame and had learned to trust me, I did it anyway. After a few months, he was fine with it. My other two, being young and curious, took good baths from day one. When Oliver saw them diving in the large bath bowl, a light bulb must have gone off in his little lovie head and he started taking a good bath on his own! I still give him a sink bath occasionally if I see him picking (and crying when he's picking) but for the most part, he can do it on his own. I bought the Molt Ease several years ago but since it was a sprayer, he was afraid of it so I only tried it a couple of times.

I think it's OK to bathe your bird if you have a bird that is bonded to you and trust you. If you are still working on taming and trust, my method probably wouldn't be a good idea.

[LauraO]

I agree that I would not force Daisy to get sprayed and holding her down is just worsening her association with water......How are you misting her? A good way to mist is to put the spayer on mist and shoot it above the bird so it's like soft rain........If Daisy is showing interest in the faucet water a good way to get birds to bath is to put the water on low, make a cup out of your hands with the water falling in it. A lot of birds will here the water and jump in the hands and use them like a bowl.....I also wanted to add that just cause you don't see your bird wet it doesn't mean they don't bath. A lot of birds bath when their owners are away or not paying attention.

Good Luck

[butterfly1061]

Here are some pictures of different ways birds can bathe.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2092614072

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115369483

Hope this helps

[saxypanda]

When I mist Daisy I would cover her head with my hand and spray her body... Those are some great pictures Jackie! Your babies are so beautiful! I tried the plate this morning and nothing.. she walked away but next try is the hands!! If that doesn't work I guess I'm dunking her!

[butterfly1061]

I tried the plate this morning and nothing.. she walked away but next try is the hands!! If that doesn't work I guess I'm dunking her!

Give her some time to get use to the plate or your hands. You should try over and over again - like with new foods. Before Molly would bathe in my hands in the bathroom sink, it took me about 2 months to coax him down my arm. It took me about a month to coax Daisy (the creamino in the pictures) to take bath in my hands in the kitchen sink. I would talk real soft and sweet and lightly swish the water with my finger to make a splashy noise. They have to learn to trust that you won't splash or drown them Remember - PATIENCE

[Z28Taxman]

If Daisy is showing interest in the faucet water a good way to get birds to bath is to put the water on low, make a cup out of your hands with the water falling in it. A lot of birds will here the water and jump in the hands and use them like a bowl

That's Ditto's favorite way to take a bath. He'll even lay down in the water and soak while the stream runs onto his head and down his back. I'm waiting for him to demand a bubble bath next.