This is a short practical article about keeping your birds (and their poop) outside of the food and water containers.
Water
water and containers come in different shapes, open ones, like dog bowls, close ones, like bells, automatic waterer, nipple waterer and more. You can build them on your own, or you can buy one in the shop. They like to promise you stuff like: this will make your birds unable to spill water all around; this will keep the water clean from feces, and other claims. Truth is, they are all lies! Because the way a waterer is built has NOTHING to do with keeping your dirty birds' feet out of them. Your birds are smarter then you think! And they like to spill water. If you live in a place like mine, then spilling water=wasting water.
Feed
If your birds are like mine, then simply spilling the water will not suffice, they must also scratch around the food, spilling everything onto the floor, stepping and sitting all around it. You may be tempted to get one of these high tech feeders, instead of your simple old feed tray. Because then, how would they spill? Hahaha, by scratching around the nice expensive walls of the feeder, of course! No special bowl can stop your lovely birdies from making a mess, it's just way too fun. And they aren't the ones paying for the food, so they don't care!
The Solution
so you read it, knowing there's no containers which can contain your birds from spilling and making a mess, you might be thinking: what can I do, then?
Here is the answer - keep the dishes on the other side of the fence. By not putting the dishes inside, your birds cannot reach them with their dirty feet.
Keep the dishes out, and cut a window in the fence, the window should be big enough so that your birds are able to get their heads and necks outside and reach the food and water.
BUT what if there are wild birds lurking to take a bite? Well, here the solution for THAT - place the dishes in a cage. When the dishes are surrounded by barriers, no bird can reach them without a human's permission.
Sketches:
Water
water and containers come in different shapes, open ones, like dog bowls, close ones, like bells, automatic waterer, nipple waterer and more. You can build them on your own, or you can buy one in the shop. They like to promise you stuff like: this will make your birds unable to spill water all around; this will keep the water clean from feces, and other claims. Truth is, they are all lies! Because the way a waterer is built has NOTHING to do with keeping your dirty birds' feet out of them. Your birds are smarter then you think! And they like to spill water. If you live in a place like mine, then spilling water=wasting water.
Feed
If your birds are like mine, then simply spilling the water will not suffice, they must also scratch around the food, spilling everything onto the floor, stepping and sitting all around it. You may be tempted to get one of these high tech feeders, instead of your simple old feed tray. Because then, how would they spill? Hahaha, by scratching around the nice expensive walls of the feeder, of course! No special bowl can stop your lovely birdies from making a mess, it's just way too fun. And they aren't the ones paying for the food, so they don't care!
The Solution
so you read it, knowing there's no containers which can contain your birds from spilling and making a mess, you might be thinking: what can I do, then?
Here is the answer - keep the dishes on the other side of the fence. By not putting the dishes inside, your birds cannot reach them with their dirty feet.
Keep the dishes out, and cut a window in the fence, the window should be big enough so that your birds are able to get their heads and necks outside and reach the food and water.
BUT what if there are wild birds lurking to take a bite? Well, here the solution for THAT - place the dishes in a cage. When the dishes are surrounded by barriers, no bird can reach them without a human's permission.
Sketches:
