Keeping water bowl clean

[strudel]

My galah is a pig!

In her indoor cage she has 2 bowls in the sides of the cage. She was messing up her water so I thought I'd swap them about. Turns out that she didn't want to sit on that side of the cage after all, she wanted to sit above the water bowl, whichever side it is on.

Today she got some seed as a treat and she made an even bigger mess of her water than she usually does. She messes it up almost straight away.

Is there a better option for her water than just the open bowl? I could add another bowl somewhere else. Is there something with a lid on it that she can't sit in, or mess up with food?

My inner OCD doesn't like her having mucky water. I change it, but she messes it straight back up.

Outside, I put a poultry waterer in there as well as her bowl, but that was more from paranoia that she might spill her water or run out of water or swim in it or something and she wouldn't have enough.

Any ideas, or are all galahs like this?

 

[MomtoPercy]

I'm lucky in that my fid doesn't poop in the water amd my mom is at home to refresh his water throught the day, if needed. He does however like to make soup, the stinker!! What a yukky mess that is!

Anyway, I've seen people recommend water bottles - perhaps try that?

 

[strudel]

Like bunny water bottles, do you mean?

I don't think she cares too much about it being grotty, it's me.

 

[Betrisher]

The main thing is to put the water in a place where there are no perches above it from which bombs can be dropped. I always keep one corner of my cages perch-free for this purpose. Also, it's good not to put the water right in the doorway because that's where your bird will hang waiting till you let him out. Dominic is pretty awful with his water and I often come out in the mornings to find his water bowl looking like it's been tinted with nuclear waste. Eeuwww! Luckily, my son's OCD causes him to change the birds' water at least eight times a day whether they need it or not, bless him.

You could try putting a food cup up at perch level with some clean water in it for drinking, but when I tried that with the Lovies (who are grotty little creatures with their water), they sat in it and pooped!

So, we just change the water every couple of hours.

PS. It's important, especially in the heat of summer, to scour out your water dishes with a scouring pad when you change the water. It doesn't take long for algae to grow, making the dish slimy and the water not very wholesome.

 

[strudel]

Thanks. Her indoor cage is just a small corner cage. There's a perch that goes right the way across, so I can't make the spot where the inbuilt food/water containers go perch-free. She doesn't poo in it, it's in front of her, she seems to drop food in there..... I'm not sure how, when her pellets are over the other side. I gave her some nuts, so maybe she dropped those in there. Then she made a HUGE mess when I gave her some seed.

She also seems to like sitting on the edge, with her feet in it.

I've got lots of bowls, so keeping it clean of algae isn't really an issue, I just swap them about and wash them. It's just her being messy.....

I'm going to put another perch in there. Maybe she'll like to sit further back and then she won't be in "her spot" right in front of her water. I'd better send her back outside to her "manor house".

 

[MomtoPercy]

PS. It's important, especially in the heat of summer, to scour out your water dishes with a scouring pad when you change the water. It doesn't take long for algae to grow, making the dish slimy and the water not very wholesome.

Hell yeah, that's SO true! I give my fids bottled water and it still gets slimey in the heat even though we clean change their water at least twice during the day. For that reason - have two water bowls for each cage. While one is in the cage, the other is scrubbed, soaked in boiling water and dried in the sun on the kitchen window sill.

 

[palmetto941]

I feel your pain! That's why I had to take the foraging toys out of Cosmo's cage.....apparently tissue paper likes/needs water bowls to soak in .....ugh!

 

[Mike17]

Many of our birds foul their water in the same way- even the eccies in the aviary manage to get seed and other stuff in their water even though they're not close by. The plumhead specialises in putting everything in its water, to the extent we stopped giving it seed in the cage as it'd all end up in the water. It was comical to watch it try to fish it out later though The corella is the same, worse, if anything. I tried a "hamster" waterer some time ago when we had kakarikis but the damn thing leaked all the time. I can see they have promise though, however algal growth in summer would be a problem, I'm trying a big chook waterer in the largest aviary (which is a real pain for a 1.9m tall arthritic old guy to get into, it only has a half door) but it's green in a couple of days.

 

[Betrisher]

Mike, I've found the bigger the water container, the easier it is to keep clean. More water dilutes the crap, y'know? The Beaks have a corningware dish for drinking (from the Op Shop) and a hunormous oval baking dish for bathing (I live in hope they'll use it one day). Dommie has a large glass casserole dish and the Lovies have a glass pie dish as well as coop cups up on their perches. When the Lovies first arrived, they were very, very young and seemed unable to find their way down to the bottom of the cage. We put the coop cups up for them and that's what they drink from. I caught Angel bathing in the casserole the other day, so I'll remove the coop cups soon, I think.

When my Dad was still alive, he built a sort of dumb-waiter hatch into his birds' aviary (Galahs, including Dominic). That way, he could change the water without having to go into the aviary: he just opened the hatch, removed the dishes, gave 'em a good scrub and put them back clean and full. When Dominic first came to live with us, he was so disabled by his tumours, he couldn't possibly have climbed even the short distance down to the bottom of his cage. I had to put a wooden shelf across his cage with his water dish on it so he could drink. Dommie has lost so much weight now (nearly 150gm), he can not only climb down to drink, he can fly back up again!

 

[Kiwibird]

I think filthy water dishes is a pretty universal trait of ALL parrots. I find trying to keep Kiwis water pristinely clean is a futile effort. Theres no branches above the dish where he can poop in it (which is really what I'd be concerned over), and I guess if he wants to dunk all manners of things in there, that's his problem. I wash his dish and change his water once a day. There's usually small feathers, seeds and occasionally small toys in there. He's also discovered that dried fruit in his seed mix, can be dropped in the water and will become somewhat soft again, so it's always lovely to find a banana chip or mango bit stuck to his head because he also likes to take a bath every afternoon in his dish, and the fruit sticks to him:11:

 

[strudel]

Well, it's reassuring in a way to know that I'm not alone.....

Maybe I'll put a bunny waterer in with her, see how that goes. And try another bowl, not near her "spot".....

 

[MomtoPercy]

He's also discovered that dried fruit in his seed mix, can be dropped in the water and will become somewhat soft again, so it's always lovely to find a banana chip or mango bit stuck to his head because he also likes to take a bath every afternoon in his dish, and the fruit sticks to him:11:

LOL!! So funny!

 

[BirdyMomma]

I would give the water bottle a try. He will figure it out. Forage for food, forage for water....for a while, till he figuresnit out anyway

 

[Anansi]

I know your pain, Apple. Bixby LOVES making "soup", too! On average, water will stay clean for maybe a half-hour, tops! And he'll go to the most ridiculous lengths to bring the exact desired ingredients over to his water, even bringing nuts or seeds from the other side of the cage for his soup mix!

On a related note, my dearly departed cockatiel actually used it as a method of communication. If he was happy, the water would stay pristine. But if he was somewhat annoyed with me, which only ever happened if I was so busy that I didn't get to spend much time with him that day, he would pick out those colorful shapes from his cockatiel food mix and drop them in his bowl. Never seeds. Just the brightest colors he could find for the maximum water color effect!

And then, if he was well and truly vexed, (the rare 2 overly busy days in a row!) he'd just crouch over his water dish and leave me the greatest possible sign of his displeasure! (Thank God I never learned what would have happened on day three! Smh!)

Uncivilized, but I must admit it got his point across quite effectively! Ha! I loved that nut!

 

[goalerjones]

I have a dish, actually a clamp on birdbath on the outside of the cage for water. If Hahnzel goes into the living room cage with the door closed, I put a water bowl in its holder. On the other side of the cage he has another clamped on bowl above his regular food bowl which serves to ward off any bombing runs.

 

[Birdman666]

This might be a "perch placement" issue.

I had that with Sweepea for awhile. One of her favorite perches was just above her water bowl. Where she sits she Sh--s...

Move the perch over some, no more poop in the water.

 

[lquan]

For cage, I use a water silo. Place the silo on the opposide end of the food bowl. Never get poop or food in it. Water get changed every 1 or 2 days at most.

Lily's bathing dish is outside of the cage on top of the refrigerator. She doesn't poop anywhere on top of the refrigerator. That's her hiding place. She likes to keep her favorite areas poop free. It is too messy to let bird bath inside the cage IMHO.

 

[strudel]

he'd just crouch over his water dish and leave me the greatest possible sign of his displeasure!

A cat I used to have had an "issue" and I had to keep him indoors. He wee-ed on my bed, in front of me....

Move the perch over some, no more poop in the water.

It's not poo, it's food, and feathers, and bits of paper and all sorts of stuff I don't know how it gets in there.

For cage, I use a water silo.

Yes, my budgies have one of those (in addition to their other bowl). I was considering that, but I don't think the budgie one would work on her cage with bigger bars and horizontal bars. I wonder whether the chook drinker could work? Hmmmm, there's an idea.

 

[MonicaMc]

A covered dish may help, although I doubt it. There are some special water containers for birds, although you might end up having the issue of her stuffing the stuff inside the spout anyway!

Bird Feeders: Bird Bowls and Cups for Food and Water
Lixit | Lixit Water Bottle | Lixit Bird Water Bottle |
Birds, Etc. - parrot nest box and breeding boxes and Bird Butler water bottles for parrots

 

[strudel]

Thanks, that last one is sort of similar to the chook waterer I have, except for the valve/drinking part.

She made a HUGE mess of her bowl today. Seriously, I don't know how she can get it that way... She has one of those plastic covered bowls for her kibble, but I prefer metal or china for water.