question about water used to bath birds

[lrhodes91]

Hi!

I'm Lyn.

I introduced myself to all of you earlier in the week. I have had a big problems logging into my account here so I created a new account. I have 2 birds - Whistle (Cockatiel) and Happy (African Grey). I have a question about Happy and would like your opinions. Happy has gone thru a little plucking this Spring and Summer. She has seen a vet, and the vet thinks that there is nothing physically wrong just a little behavior issue. My concern is the water that I bathe Happy with. I didn't think to tell my vet about this when we saw him back in June. My water is extremely hard with a lot of lime deposits. Where ever water is in my house, lime deposits develop terribly. I scrub the stuff all of the time. I started thinking about that and thinking about how I feel if I don't immediately dry off after a bath. My skin gets itchy. Since I can't really dry Happy immediatedly, do you think the water could be making her become itchy too and want to pluck? If so, what kind of water do you use to bathe your birds? Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

Thank you!
lrhodes

[Wolf]

I have spring water to my house and so I also have lime deposits. I also have a CAG who plucks due to abusive humans before she came here. She is not the best at bathing so I spray her down with about a 30% mix of spring water and aloe. It is a slow, process but she is growing feathers back faster than she pulls them out.

[Pajarita]

If I were you, I would use spring (or filtered/purified) water for both their drink and bath. Better safe than sorry, right?

[lrhodes91]

I have spring water to my house and so I also have lime deposits. I also have a CAG who plucks due to abusive humans before she came here. She is not the best at bathing so I spray her down with about a 30% mix of spring water and aloe. It is a slow, process but she is growing feathers back faster than she pulls them out.

Thanks so much for taking time to give your opinion. I do give my birds (bought spring water to drink). Now maybe I should think about bathing them with it also. Good thoughts! Where do you get the aloe?
Thanks again!

[lrhodes91]

If I were you, I would use spring (or filtered/purified) water for both their drink and bath. Better safe than sorry, right?

I agree, "better safe than sorry." Thanks for taking your time to give me your opinion. Will start this routine tomorrow. Guess I will need to heat the water a little so my babies won't get so cold. They are under a bird light when I spray them, but I always make sure the water is very warm also. Thanks again!

[cml]

If I were you, I would use spring (or filtered/purified) water for both their drink and bath. Better safe than sorry, right?

I agree, "better safe than sorry." Thanks for taking your time to give me your opinion. Will start this routine tomorrow. Guess I will need to heat the water a little so my babies won't get so cold. They are under a bird light when I spray them, but I always make sure the water is very warm also. Thanks again!

Actually, keep it cold! Warm water is not good for them, it disolves the oils in their feathers and may lead to plucking in the long term.

[Wolf]

I get it from health food store, but if you are using warm water to bathe your bird, you may be stripping the natural oils from his skin and causing the problem by doing so. Try cold or water that is no more than room temperature.

[Pajarita]

Indeed, cold water is best for them and, in reality, they actually it prefer it this way. The only thing you need to take into consideration is that the baths need to be in the morning or very early afternoon (when they 'get up' from their noon rest but only when the days are long) because you don't want them to go to bed damp. And, please, be VERY careful about 'bird' lamps placed too close to them. Although the manufacturers tell you they are avian lights, in reality, they are not. The light industry is not regulated and the manufacturer can claim anything that is not true without this been illegal and this 'avian' lights on lamps that clamp on top of the cages have blinded birds (burns their corneas). I always recommend a good full spectrum light (CRI 94+, Ktemp 5000-5500, UVA and B output) in the ceiling fixture. Perfectly adequate as a source of light and safe for their eyes.

[cml]

Indeed, cold water is best for them and, in reality, they actually it prefer it this way. The only thing you need to take into consideration is that the baths need to be in the morning or very early afternoon (when they 'get up' from their noon rest but only when the days are long) because you don't want them to go to bed damp. And, please, be VERY careful about 'bird' lamps placed too close to them. Although the manufacturers tell you they are avian lights, in reality, they are not. The light industry is not regulated and the manufacturer can claim anything that is not true without this been illegal and this 'avian' lights on lamps that clamp on top of the cages have blinded birds (burns their corneas). I always recommend a good full spectrum light (CRI 94+, Ktemp 5000-5500, UVA and B output) in the ceiling fixture. Perfectly adequate as a source of light and safe for their eyes.

I am thinking about getting a new bird lamp (our last one disappeared in our last move and we havnt used one since), possibly this:
http://www.northernparrots.com/arcadia- ... -prod8298/

Like you, I worry about the distance from the cage and my plan would be to use this in the ceiling fitting (its the correct type for our fixture, we dont have light tube fixtures here, they are about to be banned due to environmental concerns).

What do you reckon, is it better to put it in the ceiling fitting or should I position it above their cage, as high above it as possible?
Also, if in the ceiling fitting, should it be "exposed" or should you use a lamp to cover some of the light (I reckon this would block out the beneficial light to quite some extent, but I worry about their eyes...).

[Tman007]

I use bottle water too. My water here sucks so I give them bottle water, as for bath I put some bottle water in a spray bottle and they both hated it. They would rather use their water bowls to take a bath. So after their baths I just change their water and give them fresh. I may use 2 to 3 bottles a day. And at only a few dollars for 24 bottles I feel it's worth it for them.