Closed water bottle or open water container?

[CandoAviary]

I have been doing some thinking about my water practices. I am considering ordering a bunch of bottles and converting my birds to water bottles as opposed to the tubes they drink from now.
Dean had mentioned that he uses closed water bottles, Why Dean?
Sally had mentioned that she had tried them but some of her birds would not drink from them. I am seriously contemplating teaching my birds to use the water bottles.
Any opinions on the advantages of the closed bottles verses the open water resepticles?

I'm not too concerned with the baths offered because the baths are removed as soon as the birds have bathed... my birds jump in almost before I can get my hand out so it doesn't take long.
I usually have a fountain in the non breeding aviary in the summer months.
I rarely have a sick bird but I am always looking for any improvements I can make if it means I may have no sickness. Also good information that I may pass on to my customers, most are like sponges and I want to make sure I am giving good information that is truly helpful.

[Martie]

JMHO, I think you will find lots of people whose birds do really well with all kinds of water delivery. A lot of it comes down to how you feel about the upkeep of it. A suggestion I might offer is to purchase a small number of bottles, utilize them in a portion of your cages, and see how it feels to you.

[ac12]

I use tubes.
My gouldians will go between the food tray and water. When they drink from the little trough at the bottom of the tube, some of the food that was stuck to their beak falls off into the water. At the end of the day, there is a fair amount of food in the trough.

I would think that you probably won't have that problem w the water bottle w tube and ball. Then again I don't have any experience w the bottle, so I don't know how it could fail/get stuck leaking, but I've read here that they sometimes do get stuck leaking.

[Sally]

The first time I tried bottles with the ball, I got whatever brand PetsMart was selling. I did find that they often leaked, and I did not like them. The Water Buddy was advertised as not having that problem, and I never had one leak when I was using them.

[annague]

Candace,

You probably already know what I'm going to say? I have a strong preference on my drinkers... I use the ball-valve drinkers (bottles) not the tubes -- overall, I like them much better than the tubes (I've used both) -- I think the water stays purer in the bottles.

Some drawbacks: Balls occasionally get stuck -- haven't lost any birds due to this since I have two drinkers on most every cage but, if not, the birds usually tell me when there is a problem -- I bounce my finger against the ball and all is well. This is an uncommon problem but it does happen and others have lost birds to it.

Another drawback: Some birds like to pop the valve over and over and "shower" under it -- they usually quit after a while but it does happen and empties the water out quicker than normal. I discouraged this by using pretty large drinkers -- the birds will lose interest before the water runs out... However, my birds also did this with my tube/open waterers.

I use two kind of Lixit bird drinkers and even my smallest waxbills use them with success. I LOVE the larger drinkers I've got now and have been using them for months with no problems. The adults train the babies (but I do use a bowl in there until I'm sure they all know how). Here is the link: http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ve+drinker

[Dayna]

I know some people that use them. It can be hard to convert them all over especially if you have some really stubborn birds. The only problems I have heard about them is them leaking or birds getting seed stuck and it holds the ball up too far so all the water leaks out.

[annague]

Little caveat her: I don't have problems with leaking OR the balls not staying where they should with the Lixit drinkers -- they are a bit expensive though.

[DanteD716]

I use open water feederz, but want to huy a few more bottles. I like them better than tubes and open waterers. Easy to change, no dirty water, kast longed, and some birds even learn if they hold there beak in there water comes out like a shower! Also prevents tosslings from drowning, if you have good lighting (which I assume you do) look out for algae

[Sally]

I visited a house one time that had a room planned during the construction stage to house breeding parrotlets. There were built-in shelves for the cages to sit on, and then a tube system like is used for drip irrigation was set up to deliver water to each cage from a central reservoir. The line ran above each cage, with another line splitting off to each individual cage, and then there was a ball valve at the end of each line. Quite fancy.

I converted a friend to using the Mike Fidler method last week, and she just called me asking how much Virkon S to use in her soaking buckets. She loves the system! She was scrubbing drinkers every day, so this saves a lot of time.

[wellingtoncdm]

I have seen a few people with the gravity fed black tube system that waters all of the cages. The ends are spliced and clamped onto each cage front.

[kathmcm]

I bought a Lixit glass bottle with the ball valve tube for my birds, and it works perfectly. It has a metal clamp that attaches to the cage bars and a collar that lifts up and down so that you can just slip the bottle out for refilling.

I didn't know if the birds would know what it was when I gave it to them, but I put the end of the tube next to the cheap little plastic water cup that came with the flight and they were using it almost immediately. I've heard some people talk about red ball valves to attract the birds' attention, but mine is uncoated stainless steel.

There haven't been any problems with leakage or stuck valves. The valve and ball are stainless so that may be why. When the ball is pushed up the water drips out but does not spray, so the birds use it only for drinking.

I agree it was pricey but IMO worth it for the cleanest water supply possible. If you want to get one for finches, look for the one with the smallest tube diameter.

[The canary man]

Bird water drinking bottle
* What is it ?
Its a bottle with vacuum metal valve attached to it, the valve has built in metal ball that is able to move through the pipe with out the ability of coming out from either sides.
The bottle led is attached to the valve and has round rubber that works to avoid the water leaking .

* What is the benefits of using the water bottles for my birds ?

a) Its ideal for my canaries because it does not allow Dust, Feathers, Seed, or Excrement to get in it.
b) It will not allow the bird to use it for bathing then drinking like most open drinking cups are used in most cages .
c) It will provide the bird with fresh, clean water for long time especially when water cleaner is added .
d) It can be attached from out side the cage and away from the parches by wire bail holder to give the bird more space to move around freely .

* Does water bottle allow the water to leak out ?
I have experienced almost most of water bottles that i can find around .... And yes some of them leak because of the way they are made.... but some of them will never leak it depend on what brand we will use.

* Where can i find the best water bottle .
The best water bottle that i could find around sold in K mart its 8.0z and the price around 2.99$ . and you may get wholesale price .

* Does the ball get stuck inside the pipe ?
There is a 15% chance that the ball will get stuck inside the pipe and that can happened only if the water source you have at home contain too much Calcium that can be built in around the inside of pipe over time which will lead the ball not to work as normal.

To avoid this matter i always make sure that there is no calcium built inside the bottle pipe, and if i found any i would use a brush that can fit the pipe opening to clean it , Honestly that can happened rarely with the bottle type that i use and with the source of water that i have in my living area .

* Why sometimes my canary would like to spend more than the normal time beside the bottle, pushing the bottle ball ? Is he thirsty, like to play or what !!!!!!!!!! ?

I found out that there is three reasons will lead my canary to act with this matter ....
a) If the ball got stuck inside the pipe will lead the canary to keep trying to get the ball down so he can drink. The sound he make when picking the metal pipe will get my attention to check the bottle
b) If the canary not provided with enough bath, he will try to keep pushing the ball to get as much water he can to bath .
3) If the canary is not provided with enough calcium supplement, he is smart enough to pick the calcium that is built around the water bottle pipe opening .

I use 8.0z water bottle for each breeding cage .

Dean K.

[CandoAviary]

Thanks all, I think I will replace some of my long lip tubes with some closed bottles and see how it works out for me. Thanks for the thoughts and experiences.