Water bottle vs. Water dish?

[sarahsaurus]

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]

I used a water bottle once. My guy would just shove his pellets up it, so we went back to the water bowl.

 

[sarahsaurus]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Flboy]

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]

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]

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]

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