Water bottle vs. Water dish?

sarahsaurus

New member
May 29, 2011
15
0
Oklahoma
Parrots
Emmie - Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, Percy - male Lutino Cockatiel, Jackie - Female Lutino Cockatiel, Humphreys - Whiteface Cockatiel
I want to get the opinion of everyone here on the forum as to which you prefer for your birds, the water bottle or traditional water dish. I tried searching the forum for a thread like this and didn't find one, so thought I'd ask. The reason I ask is because I recently had to take my cockatiel, Percy, in to the vet and his travel cage is equipped with a water bottle. Apparently, my vet frowns on using water bottles for birds, and she told me that it is easier for them to drink from a dish. All of my birds use bottles with no trouble. What do you guys think?
 

Abzeez

New member
Apr 26, 2011
807
1
WI
Parrots
Bean the Blue Front Amazon, Chico the Ringneck, and Ida the African grey
I used a water bottle once. My guy would just shove his pellets up it, so we went back to the water bowl. :)
 
OP
sarahsaurus

sarahsaurus

New member
May 29, 2011
15
0
Oklahoma
Parrots
Emmie - Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure, Percy - male Lutino Cockatiel, Jackie - Female Lutino Cockatiel, Humphreys - Whiteface Cockatiel
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Haha! Well, I have been using a dish with my Green cheek and she is protesting her pellets by putting them in the water. I have to constantly change her water over the course of a day, very frustrating. She's a goofy bird.
 

cnyguy

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
1,021
464
Syracuse, NY
Parrots
Quaker parrot, Ralph
At the suggestion of his vet, I tried a water bottle with Ralph. He absolutely hated it-- squawked at it as if it were the biggest danger in the world to parrots. :11: He refused to drink from it, and wouldn't calm down until I took it away-- so it's the plain old water dish for Ralph. Like many parrots, Ralph is a "dunker," so that does mean changing his water several times a day. It's not a problem for me, just a part of my regular routine of caring for Ralph.


Ralph quit dropping pellets in his water when I started soaking some until they get good and mushy, and I now offer him some a few times a day. He loves 'em, and acts like he's getting a special treat. :)
 

MikeyTN

New member
Feb 1, 2011
13,296
17
Antioch, TN
Parrots
"Willie"&"Lola"B&G Macaw,
"Dixie"LSC2, and "Nico" Scarlet Macaw.
I prefer giving my birds fresh filtered water often and wash out their bowl on a daily basis so I'm not a bottle user. I have before but if you look in the water bottle, it gets pretty nasty, to me it's un-healthy for the birds.
 

LoveMauiGus

New member
Jun 14, 2011
98
0
Milwaukee, WI
Parrots
Maui - Sun Conure,
Gus - Yellow Collared Macaw
I use a water dish for both my birds, who are dunkers. I don't mind washing the dish out a few times a day. I would say dishes are probably more sanitary, because they are easier to clean that yucky film out of than a water bottle
 

suebee

New member
Jan 13, 2011
2,394
3
lol dish for nut, she's not a dunker, but i'd like to think she could bath when she wanted, plus dishes are easier to clean out
 

HRH Di

New member
Jan 9, 2010
1,537
Media
3
9
McKinney, TX
Parrots
Max - Alexandrine, Jade - Red-Front Macaw, Ruby - CAG
We use dishes. Our birdies never really like the bottles and the spigots seemed difficult to keep clean. Our birdies get filtered water and we scrub their bowls minimum 1x day.

Max is a dunker so his water can get kinda gross, but not really dirty, just what we call "cows" (bits of pellet floating around). I don't know if Ruby dunks or accidentally drops a pellet now and then, but it's really not very often. Jade's water is always debris free except for a bit of feather dust now and then.
 

Bright Star

New member
May 28, 2011
197
0
Colorado
Parrots
Keats (budgie) born Feb. 18, 2011, and Raphael (budgie) adopted July 3, 2011. Finn, a Brown-Head Poicephalus, born January 4, 2010, has also joined the family!
I also use a bowl, scrubbed regularly and filled with bottled water. At one time, we had a bowl and a water bottle, but the water level never changed unless I spilled it. Oh, there was the time we had a seed sprouting in it, but I'm not sure it wasn't accidentally dropped there from above rather than while drinking. I honestly never saw Keats drink from the water bottle (it was the Silo, actually). He likes his water bowl, as he can drink from it, perch on it, or bathe in it.
 

tis_herself

New member
Jun 13, 2011
3
0
NW Illinois
Parrots
Goffin Cockatoo
I have to agree with the dish.. to me its easier to clean out a dish then a bottle. In addition, birds naturally dunk for a drink, just look outside after it rains. My Goffin acted like I put a cat in her cage when I introduced a bottle....LOL
 

babyboomer1001

New member
Jul 17, 2017
11
0
Sunny Arizona
Parrots
Numerous.
I use bottles. Dishes are too easily contaminated, even changing them twice daily. It doesn't take long for them to get dirty and the bacteria is unacceptable to me. A bottle keeps the water clean. Use glass, not plastic. They are easily cleaned. Pour in bleach and water until half full. Shake well. Then fill the rest of the way with water. Turn it over to mix and let sit for an hour. It will come out sparkling clean. Rinse well before refilling with filtered water and a mineral drop to replace the minerals that RO water eliminates. Large, medium, small - birds of every kind can drink out of bottles, even ones who have had dishes for several years. Best of all, the bottle is one less daily maintenance task that needs attention. You only need to clean and replace the water every week or two, depending on the size of the bottle and the size of the bird.:rainbow1:
 

Flboy

Well-known member
Dec 28, 2014
12,598
4,101
Greater Orlando area, Florida
Parrots
JoJo, 'Special' GCC, Bongo, Cinnamon GCC(wife's)
Six-year-old thread! But we have had folks who have lost their birds on this forum when the bottle malfunctions and they didn't realize it in time! Also, many birds like to dunk their food!
 

Sandy19

Member
Mar 22, 2017
449
8
I use a water bowl. Peanut would never get a bath otherwise. She flies off her perch if I try to mist her and I've tried to bathe her in the sink but she wants no part of it. She soaks herself in her water bowl though so I just change the water throughout the day. Peanut also poops in her water bowl so I'm constantly washing it out.

I use bottles for my rabbits, however, because they knock the water bowls over. I do worry about them malfunctioning so I check them every day.
 

clark_conure

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2017
3,924
Media
21
2,224
Minnesota
Parrots
A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
I have an upstairs cage feed and water station, and a downstairs feed and water station. I use a mammal bowl downstairs on my desk and the standard cage tub upstairs. I clean both daily and refill.

Regarding baths my bird likes to shower with me, but every once in a while when I first fill his bowl he might go for a bowl bath right there....I'm like oh noes! it's next to my laptop or my bed. But I have emergency action plan for that now, to cover up stuff.
 

LordTriggs

New member
May 11, 2017
3,427
24
Surrey, UK
Parrots
Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
bowls. The cage had swing out bowls so it made sense to have one water and one food, also Rio was a dunker, only ever 1 or 2 pellets a day left in the bowl though so it wasn't bad. A little bit of bacteria never hurt anyone, they would have to deal with it in the wild and it should help the immune system. Much like when parents do "pox parties" for their children to immunize them
 

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