food in water

[jlandsiedel]

My CAG is putting her food in her water bowl. Well what I think is going on is she is dipping her food in the water and then eating it. She accidentally drops some in the water and I have the change the water like 3 times a day because it changes colors and gets gross looking. She is putting in the food that looks like trix cereal. I'm not sure if she is doing this because she recently chipped off a part of her beak or if this is just a weird new quirk she has . . . does anyone else's bird do this?

[nims]

Most greys do that. Its nothing really to worry about but it does mean that you have to keep changing their water. I think they are trying to make soup!:laugh:

[NASY]

Hi! I think most birds do this.I have five birds and they all do this. Only my Canary doesnt.I think they do this so they can soften their food so its easier for them to swallow.I hope somebody else knows more to tell you

[Poppy]

George does not do this

But his water and food are on opposite sides of cage just so this don't happen !

[kitt79]

Starbuck does that. End up with a water bowl full of zupreem that she's dropped at the end of the day . I figure she's softening it a bit.

[Luvparrots]

My baby Ana Grey always does this. Her water dish is on the opposite side of where her food is. She is either washing her food or washing her face, or perhaps both. I think it is just a normal thing they do.

[BaxtersMom]

Mine does it as well. It's very common. Mine usually dunk the pellets the most. I think they do this to soften the food a little. Although if I give them toast or bread, they dunk that too:blink:

[gourdlady247]

goerge does that. He dips his cracker before eating it. He has also dipped his peanut in the shell in his water.I keep telling him water on the outside isn't getting to the inside. LOL

[casper]

Mine love to put their food in their water dishes!

They also love to put the wooden blocks in there I give them to play with, its just a normal grey thing:)<br><br>Post edited by: casper, at: 2008/12/18 22:35

[she]

Charlie dips his pellets in his water, it is normal.

[jlandsiedel]

yea, my greys water & food are on opposite sides too . . . its funny that this is like ingrained into their genetics somehow =)

[Raiderbabe]

Malibu has his food and water next to each other on his play gym. As I am looking over at him while I am typing he is dipping a lima bean in :ohmy: Silly birds!

[Gryphon]

Soup!

[Luvparrots]

[judygram]

Josey is not much of a dunker but Sunny my conure is:huh:

[Dave007]

When they do that with their pellets, it's not soup they're creating. It's fruit juice and they like the taste.

[Acappella]

Dorian's water gets totally disgusting looking on a regular basis because he loves to float walnut shell boats in it. I had his water dish and food dish on opposite sides of the cage for a while, and he'd dutifully carry his food from one side to the other to dunk it. So add changing his water dish multiple times a day to the list of things you do for your grey:laugh:

[Goralka08]

Our McKenzie does this too! She even dunks her pellets in there to soften them.

 

I gave her some spinach today and all she did was throw them in her water bowl, look at them for a few minutes, and then took them all out and threw them on the bottom of her cage! She must not like baby spinach leaves lol.

 

On her play top, she even dunks her her wooden chew toys to soften them I guess.

 

The funniest thing is when she throws a walnut into the water, and I telling her that it's not going to get any softer! Then the fishing it out part is also amusing.

[mattpatresi]

My Grey did that and so did my parakeets, it's to soften their food or maybe just to make it taste a little morte interesting, kind of like adding a litle olive oil and to a bowl of sauceless pasta!

 

Anyway, as you say , the water soon got very grimy, which created bacteria for the birds and extra work for me. I found a good solution, I addded those drinking bottles that hamsters and rabbits use (different sizes according to the different birds) and let them have both the bottles AND the bowl for a few days...they quickly realized that the bottles were also a source of water, and a freh water too! So when I was sure they knew how the bottle worked, I took the bowls out and they've been on the bottle ever since. It's great! And the water is always clean.

[mattpatresi]

sorry about all the spellings, in a rush!

[Toni]

Like everyone said I agree its normal.Gets me upset w/him but hey I dunk my cookies in my milk.I eat cereal w/milk.I guess their entitled to.hmmmmm...LOL

[Char]

Mine doesn't dunk much.