Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Musha Cay, Bahamas During a shower: Blue and gold macaw "Jersey"
Lately I've received a lot of emails and questions on the topic of bathing your bird and how to go about it without forcing, yet safely.
I've found a lot of popular articles (like on ehow) that advice people to use a towel to dry their bird, and a blow drier! The purpose of this post is to say...
NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER... use a BLOW DRYER on your bird in an attempt to completely dry him after a bath. You can easily make your bird over-heat and where in the wild do they have those to do that for them?
The "drying off" part of bathing for a bird is the best part for a bird owner! Most birds are super calm after a bath and want to focus on preening, shaking all the dander off and making themselves look darn good as their feathers dry. They do lots of shaking of tail feathers and head bobbing making sure every feather is fitting in just right. I always bring my bird to my office with me after a bath because I know he won't be destructive and just want to eat stuff, instead he is occupied until dry.
You also don't need a towel to dry your bird off. Let him do it himself! He's a bird, not a human! He does not need our man-made accessories.
Just make sure that directly after bathing your bird isn't in a super cold temperature. I've found most of my birds only prefer to bathe when it's a hot day out because it's faster to dry and the water helps cool them down a bit. None of my birds have ever wanted to shower when I offer it and it's cooler in temperature. It's no fun to be wet AND cold.
Bottom line: Keep the dryers and towels to yourself. And don't always listen to ehow because it's popular for its articles. And always remember "mimic nature" try to mimic nature as much as possible when it comes to your pet bird.
Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.
8 comments
I live in a cold country too but i never dry my conure with a blow dry as it might be too hot for him and he could be irritated with the noise and a strong blow speed. I have covered his stand with vet wrap and he likes to dry himself with it.
I live in a very cold country and the heating isn’t the best so. Is it still safe to leave her wet.
I would never try to dry a bird with anything. Birds dry on their own and then they preen and oil up their feathers to finish up (grooming for them). My bird loves his bath. I have a 3D bird shower ledge and he sits on it and I mist him with warm water. He has his own bird towel to stand on the shower door handle and he works on his feathers.
I use a small facial towel to help my bird dry when the weather is cold and she likes it. I dont rub her or anything. I just put her on it and lightly cover her with one side of it. And i NEVER EVER used a blow dryer!! The sound and the heat irritates the bird and could cause the feathers to be less shiny (speaking of my conure). Just use a fresh and clean towel thatbis not bigger than the bird when needed. But otherwise they preen and dry on their own.
So what’s the best way to dry a parrot in cold weather? Some people say the blow dryer is fine others are adimint it’s a bad thing, HELPPPP what’s the right answer
Well that’s all good and dandy in warmer weather, warm climate …if you’re in a colder climate it’s not a good idea to delay their drying process. Would need to get em already half way dry
Thanks for this tip. My African grey Smokie, never prefers us to spray or bathe him. Instead, I keep a basin full of water, for it to play, and it wets its under and plays in it for a while. Aftr it is done, I used to always towel it and blow warm air using a haidryer, which I found it to enjoy. Now that I have known from your posts that it is not the best for Smokie, I have stopped the practice from its last bath. Thanks once again.
Thank so much I bath my budgie everyday and she will self dry and I never use a towel
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