My birds love a “SHOWER” (said with emphasis by our parrots).....we purchased a spring tension shower rod, set it in the center of the shower and turn on the water ----they flap, sing, dance and shake their tail feathers!!!

Don’t they all

I have an OWA that isn’t tame yet, so I cant take him forcefully to shower and I’ll just have to do it on top of the cage.

Showering

But he really enjoys it, as you can see. :D

Very cute!  Takes time ----we have one that loves it, one that tolerates it and one who’s learned to enjoy it

Patience is a virtue!

Hi - This is my first post!  Hope it works!

Anyway, regarding showering.  Whenever I take a shower, I take my M2 with me.  She sits up on a shower rod and if she’s in the mood to get wet too, she lets me know by trying to dip into the water.  That’s my signal to pick her up and put ner under the spray.  She loves to get drenched—but only when she’s in the mood.  That’s followed with a blow dry and she turns into crazy bird, flapping, screeching and having a great time.  We have to fight over the blow dryer.  Of course, she always wins!

Hi Kim and Mimi,

Great to see you both at WPT! Yipee. Showering—one of our favorite topics.

Kim, Mimi’s Mom (Mrs. Moluccan) really loves her showers, too. When the roof-top sprinklers are going full blast, she hangs upside down on aviary ceiling wire, turns figure-eights with her head, flaps her wings and yip yip yips—that’s her idea of a good shower!

I agree about the noise—birds seem to get in to showering most when a droning noise like the sound of a loud brook streaming by, or a downpour through trees, or the roar of a waterfall is heard. Being very careful that the hairdryer is not anywhere close to water, I sometimes leave mine running while my eclectus, Cella, showers with me because that’s how she likes it best.

The Amazons make their own noise when showering—a constant joyful song, complete with riffs and trills. The wettest birds in our aviaries are always the Alexandrines and the Derbyans. Without hesitation, they find the spray and sway, flutter, dance and weave in it every minute they can. Otherwise, they get in water bowls and splash them dry.

The greys like to bathe in greens. They’ll also hang upside down on the ceiling wire and flap.

Kim, when you say that Mimi decides whether or not to shower, you could not be more right! All of the above may or may not happen—it all depends on the birds themselves, the tiem of day, the relative humidity, and other factors. I wonder how many birds get offered fewer and fewer showers because their caregivers “give up.”?

All best,
Phoebe

Hi Phoebe,

How nice to hear from you.  Mimi says hi to her gramma—both the feathered one and you!

-Kim

Showering or bathing are very important issues to almost all species of Parrots.

It helps them to keep their feathers clean and healthy and in good condition.

Even moult progresses more smoothly when the old feathers are still in relative good condition. Too dry feathers can oppose this process.

Also the time spend by the Parrots while showering or bathing can be considered a quality time enrichment.

Therefore Showering or Bathing facilities should be added to the basics for keeping Parrots in captivity too.

As you might have noticed I use showering ‘or’ bathing.
This has anything to do with the fact that some species of Parrots like to be showered on but will never take a bath by themselves.
and of course there are species that like to take a bath by themselves but won’t let them showered on.

Either way they should be able to do as they like.

In my collection the amazones and Pionus like to be showered on and the several species of Pyrrhura take their daily bath in a bathing bowl. 

regards

My ringneck parakeet loves taking a bath too.
She dives herself from the top of the cage into the washbowl making a jump of more than a meter of height.
She makes dives and fly around in the room drying up herself and jumping again the more than she can.. so she takes a bath and in the meantime I take a shower..