Humphrey's bathing progress

[smallonion]

I've written before about Humphrey's ridiculous bathing attempts. He has a shallow bowl that is on the table with his play stand. He *tries* to take a bath, but doesn't actually *get in*. He stands on the edge and flaps his wings and opens his long tail. He has the instinct and desire to bathe, but not the skill! Sometimes he lets me help him by pouring the water over his back with my hand, but not always

Well, today he tried it again and wouldn't let me help. I let him get on with it and....he got a lot more wet! His whole chest is wet, his feet are wet, and his head is wet. This is progress, right? I think what he does is fill his beak with water and throws it over himself, as well as dipping in his wings and chest

My dear silly baby. He needs to take baths because he does scratch quite a bit. When he occasionally lets me pet him, I feel pins allover, especially under the wings.

Sigh...

Michele and Humph

[TooLover]

Way to go Humphrey! Yes Michele, that is progress. My male U2 bathes exactly as you just described. The others enjoy misting, but not him. To "encourage" him to bathe I run the vacuum and leave it running for a little bit. I have also found the fan on the oven vent will "encourage" him!
Congrats on your progress.
:eusa_clap

[smallonion]

Laurie, do you have any idea why the vacuum noise encourages parrots to bathe? I've heard other people say this and I am perplexed!

[TooLover]

Michele - I have no idea, and didn't really believe it until it happened. Unfortunately Buck Buck isn't giving up the secret so it is a mystery to me as well!

[The Outlaw]

I don't why it works, but it sure does with my greys. As soon as I turn on the vacs, they dive into their water dishes. Also, anytime I shower them and return them to cages, they immediately pile in their water dishes. Its some strange bizarre bird thing.

[LMPego]

It works for putting babies to sleep, too!

[willowbirdy218]

Congrats on the progress!! :eusa_clap I know how you feel...Willow has been making great progress too...He has started to enjoy taking baths but i have started putting him in the bath tub so he's still kinda scared but he gets more wet everytime! Mango takes a bath the way you have described too!!

[Monica]

Casey enjoys bathing in her water dish, being misted, and even summer rains! (she use to hate misting... now I've got another one to teach to like it too! ugh... she use to hate it, she just changed her own mind and was a complete surprise when I stopped misting her for months and used shower or rains instead and one day she loved it) If I mist her though she'll even get down n wet in her water dish, and its just big enough for her to stretch out her legs completely and have her body slightly submerged! LOL, she's a silly bird!

Sounds like Humph is coming along quite well as well! I've been making slow progress with Clyde in being able to pick him up without him biting, without doing training sessions... I only pick him up when I need to, and sometimes with a bit of sweet talking, he'll easily step up. Otherwise, I either have to go through a few bites (no more bleeding lately) or take his Casey away for him to obey!

Michele, you have been doing a fantastic job and I congratulate you on a wonderful job with Humphrey! Please keep up the great work and share all your progress with us, even if it's not so great!

[Stacey32]

Yeah Humph!
My theory on the vacuum is that it sounds like a nice hard mist or rainforest?! I have a mister function on my shower that makes a lot of noise, and when bindy hears that, she's much more inclined to jump in the shower than if she hears the normal spray.

[smallonion]

>Michele, you have been doing a fantastic job and I congratulate you on a wonderful job with >Humphrey! Please keep up the great work and share all your progress with us, even if it's not so >great!

Thanks so much Monica. Coming from such a good bird mom as yourself, it means a lot. Just a year and a half ago, Humphrey was a terrified, skinny sad little creature. Now he is happy, plays with toys (he didn't really know how when we firts brought him home), and loves to sit on the sofa on either my or my husband's lap with us. Best of all, we can actually pet him sometimes! It's soooo good to finally get to feel those lovely feathers! He now loves to have his beak stroked and will close his little eyes in pleasure. Sometimes from there he'll let us scratch his neck and head. Other times, no way. He still won't step up, but my husband is convinced he will some day.

Michele and Humphrey