Cockatiel won't bath

[SlaveToAParrot]

How does one encourage a tiel to use her bath dish more frequently? Birdie used to bath every 2-3 days, but then she just kind of won't bath anymore. It seemed to stop when she started molting. She hasn't bathed for a whole month now. I keep putting her dish out with water in it in hopes she'll use it(in and/or outside her cage when possible) but she won't bathe in it. She has decided it's just one large drinking bowl now.

Being a new owner to her, I didn't want to push her too much with it since she's afraid of a lot of things. I was afraid to try misting her as I'm not sure she likes it from the one time my mom attempted too. She sort of moved away from it a bit, then flew somewhere in the home. I was using her bathing dish that her previous owners had been using; figured it be most familiar to her and there wouldn't be many issues. She just won't bath anymore in it for some reason.

I need her to bath frequently, I recently discovered I am really allergic to her powder down dust she is producing a lot of right now. I have a hard time being around her these days. I read it was important to clean frequently(which I've been doing) and allow the bird to bath frequently... to which she refuses to do. Any suggestions about how I could encourage her get wet again? She is not exactly hand tamed or rather won't step up at all for me yet.

[Michael]

Well a cockatiel is a powder bird... not a good choice for someone prone to alergies. First I would suggest looking into an air purifier system. As for bathing, let the bird bath when it wants. If you really insist on "force bathing" it, you can mist it from a squirt bottle.

[SlaveToAParrot]

My relatives were trying to find her a new home and asked me if I wouldn't mind taking her because they trust me and knew I had birds before. They kind of gave her up to me rather quickly too. I always wanted a Cockatiel, but I didn't realize the extent of the dust a Cockatiel produces. I thought nothing of it because I have no reaction to my Senegal at all. Just this past week it started to really, really bother me... I've had her for about 2 months now.

I'm looking into getting an air purifier, and I'll just continue to offer her to bath in her dish and slowly get her used to misting in the meantime.

[Polarn]

My Galah isnt a big fan of the bottle or the shower for bathing, I use fresh grass and mist that and then hang it so that she can go rub against it, and every now and then I go mist it wet again, she will spend a fair amount of time rubbing up some water, preening and puling some strands of grass out of the bunch. just make sure to not pick grass next to roads etc.

[SlaveToAParrot]

Well, I haven't tried the grass idea, but I did find an air purifier which had helped a tiny bit. I had been trying to lightly mist the Cockatiel whenever possible. She still doesn't want to bath at all for some reason, seems to still be moulting too.

I don't want to force her to bath or get misted at all since there was some progress being made with her getting used to me handling her. Unfortunately, the dust has become too much for me to go slowly with getting her used to being misted or bathed in any form. I don't know if I am going to be able to be around her much at all for that matter, may need to rehome her. I don't say that lightly either.

I am the only one who is looking after her mostly so I am always in contact with her in some way or another. I try to do thorough cleaning of the areas in the home she has been in whenever I have the energy for it since my breathing issues haven't improved much. I haven't had any asthma issues in like over 10 years, it just started after having the Cockatiel in my home for 2 months.

[liz]

Put her on the floor of the shower behind you like I do Rambo. He catches the water coming off the curtain. She may even sit on your shoulder.

[SlaveToAParrot]

I'll have to try that out tomorrow, my shower is sort of a square cubicle shaped one. I'm not exactly sure how this will be done, but I'll figure something out. If I can manage to get her to start bathing again regularly, it would be awesome.

Whenever I do try to mist her or get her wet in some way. I always make a big deal out of it to her so she knows it's a good thing. She won't let me mist her for too long - not enough to keep the dust down. Since she loves to perch on my shoulder a lot and get head scritches, I will pet her head afterwards too. I'm just not sure why she suddenly decided to not bother with bathing anymore.

[GreenWing]

Well a cockatiel is a powder bird... not a good choice for someone prone to alergies. First I would suggest looking into an air purifier system. As for bathing, let the bird bath when it wants. If you really insist on "force bathing" it, you can mist it from a squirt bottle.

+1

Just curious, do you take allergy pills, SlaveToAParrot?

Liz's suggestion is also great; have you allowed your Cockatiel to watch you shower, so perhaps you can shower with her? I started out by having Tiki watch me shower while she was perched on her carrier cage, so she knew it was safe. Then, I brought her in, and she now showers with me all the time.