Birdie Soup

[SweetPea]

Hi! As many of you know, I am a relatively new birdie owner!

One of my birdie has started making birdie soup! His food dish is at one end of the cage, and his water dish is at the other end! He literally carries his food more than a foot across his perch to dunk his food! Sometimes he eats it, other time he just drops it in there. I change his water dish constantly, and have plenty of dishes that I rotate to make sure his bowls are clean.

However, I know I can prevent it from happening by merely changing the location of his water dish. That way he can't just walk across his perch to dunk the food, but rather must climb. On other words, he won't be able to.

So my questions are:


1. Why do they do this?
2. Should I discourage him making soup?
3. Or should I just let him do as he pleases just to get him to eat his pellets?

Changing water dishes isn't too big of a deal as I'm home most of the time anyways!

He uses his water dish for everything!

He's a lovebird, so he drinks a lot. But he also loves to bathe in his water dish as well.

Thanks guys!

[Tiki]

My tiels would do that too if I let them. I use those water bottles that can only accommodate their beaks so they can't get food in there and the water is on the opposite side of the aviary as the food. That was enough to deter them.

[peeker]

[QUOTE=SweetPea]Hi! As many of you know, I am a relatively new birdie owner!

One of my birdie has started making birdie soup! His food dish is at one end of the cage, and his water dish is at the other end!


1. Why do they do this?
QUOTE]

Why do people dunk cookies in milk? Because it's better that way! Pellets are dry and birds on a pellet diet drink more water. If birdie likes to dunk them make sure you change the water more often--two or three times a day. I like to add a drop of GSE to the water bowl in the summer when the weather is warmer to slow bacteria growth. If you try this make sure your bird is still drinking the water. :) If you don't wish to/or aren't able to change the water this often you may want to try converting your bird to a water bottle.

[Lynjupiter]

My conures and pionus make birdie soup. I just change it twice a day and add a few drops of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar to the water. Works the same as GSE stopping the growth of bacteria and is good for your bird.

Why they do it I don't know. Probably like a human dunking a cookie. Makes the pellets softer, more patable.

Lynda