# Misting



## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi! How often should you mist your cockatiel? And how do you know if they like it or not?


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

As often as you want to. Normally the tiel will throw their wings out and start doing the bathing motions and preening. Some like to be misted and some don't though.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

I have 3 of my 4 older Tiels that love to be misted. 1 of them will even spread his wings when asked if he wants a bath at times. But if you spritz them and they start spreading their wings and putting their head down.. they enjoy it.  My fourth older one.. HATES it. She looks at me like she is plotting my death. lol Every now and then she gets into it.. but rarely. 

I spritz a couple times of week during winter.. and more often during the warm months. None of my birds will use a bowl or bird bath.. and I don't have a shower. We have a claw foot tub. Old house.. yep.  

I do find though, that if I make sure the water is really warm.. not HOT... but good and warm.. and I work out the first few spritzes in my hand to get the chilly water out.. they are more apt to enjoy it. I also make sure the paper is clean if I spritz while in the cage.. I have one who will find whatever she can to mess in when she's wet and thus spoils the whole advantage of taking a bath. So I change paper before and then again after if soiled .. when spritzing.


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

My birds all like misting but they will let me know if they want misted or not. When one starts bathing in their water while out I mist that bird. Others come running to join in and the others who don't want bath time run off! I use room temp water and this works for them.


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## rainfeather (Jan 26, 2012)

When the temperature is kind of low, like in the winter time, I only do it 2-3 times a week (may be a lot for winter, haha). Anyway, yes, Dandelion does the bathing wing thing to tell me she wants one. She loves the spritzing!

If they don't like it, they often run away and this is the point she should stop doing it at that moment. Try it again later. They may hiss, or show signs of being scared, etc.


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## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

Sunny HATES water. She doesn't take baths and hates to be misted so when I used to mist her, she would keep her feathers as tightly against her body as she could so all that water would just roll right off without doing anything.  So now I take her into the shower whenever I can so that it's in a nice, warm, steamy environment with nice, warm water straight from the tap. I let her perch at the bottom of the shower head rod (where it loops) and I splash water on her. Sometimes she will like it and start to spread her wings and preen, and sometimes she will still hate it and keep her feathers tight against her body to avoid being touched by the water.  I think she prefers that to being misted. I just make sure I take her out of the shower when I rinse off so I don't get soapy water on her.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I try to mist 2-3 times a week. Whenever Sunny sees the spray bottle now, he'll climb back in his cage on his own to get misted. I guess that means he likes it.  On the rare occassion when he doesn't want misted, he'll dodge the mist spray. So then I just stop and try again later.


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

Awesome! So usually when I spray Daisy, she just sits there and kinda shakes when the water hits her. I will keep trying to mist her though.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Are you using warm water, Morla?


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

I mist daily and have started the same with the tiels adopted who are in the aviary all mine love it intact Aphrodite my WF lutino does twirls lol


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

The last time I misted Daisy it was cold. 

Sorry, I will use warm now.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Try the warm water.. nice and warm.. and spray the first few sprays into your hand to work out the cold water.  You might see a difference.. you might not.


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## mishkaroni (Jan 6, 2012)

My birds detest me misting them. But if the bath is on top and one is taking a bath, they love sitting under the droplets. Little pains. Haha.


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## MeghanNichol (Mar 2, 2012)

Good to know that a tiel spreading it's wings and putting it's head down is a good thing! I thought that meant Ziggy didn't like it! I learn new things every day! :blush:


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## lollywawa (Mar 1, 2012)

im gonna mist mine when the weather gets warmer! its their first misting^__^ they are only 3~4 months old


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## morla (Aug 15, 2011)

I misted her with watm water and she did the same thing. You know how you have to mist them to get all the dust and fluff off of them? Well do you still have to mist them even when they dont like it?


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