How to Keep Your Pigeon Out of their Water Bowl

by Christina Gravalis, Founder & Exec Director/

Cascadia Pigeon Rescue

There are many reasons we might want to keep our pigeon out of their water bowl. For me, it’s often because I can’t let them get a bandage wet, but a lot of people are simply tired of their birds getting the water poopy and dirty and having to change it four times a day, or they wish their pigeon would take baths in their bath instead of in their drinking water.There are several solutions to this problem, but this is my personal favorite and the one I’m going to write about:

First, get a two-cup Pyrex-type bowl with a lid. Here is a link to some (I get paid nothing to suggest these, they’re just what I use:

https://a.co/d/aMXNetp

Then, cut a hole in the lid near the side, as pictured. Make sure it’s large enough that your bird can comfortably get their head in there.

Lastly, fill the bowl up as far as you can so it’s easy for them to drink.

Remember—even if the water still looks cleanish the next morning, you still need to give them fresh water at least once a day, and more often if it gets dirty.

If your bird is disabled, take that into account when deciding whether this setup is safe for them. Think about how your disabled bird moves and how they drink. Is there any chance their head could get stuck? Will this make it harder for them to reach the water? I haven’t yet met a bird that couldn’t use this setup, but every bird is different. Pay close attention after you switch them over. Are they getting enough water? Are they drinking at all? Do you need to make the hole bigger or fill the bowl a little higher? Water is obviously crucial, so just make sure everything is working well.

A couple of other notes about water while I have you here:

Pigeons have a distinctive way of drinking: they submerge almost their beak, sometimes almost all the way up to their eyes, and use it like a straw to draw water up in a continuous sip. Most birds don’t do this. The majority scoop water into the beak and then tilt their head back to swallow it, but pigeons can keep their head level and pull water in smoothly. Only a small number of bird species drink this way, which is why pigeons tend to prefer deeper water sources that let them get their whole beak comfortably underwater. The two-cup Pyrex-type bowls are perfect for this.

Because of the way they drink, I like to keep their water bowls very full. When the water level drops too low, they may have trouble reaching it easily, since they need enough depth to submerge their beak.

Having these larger two-cup bowls also builds in a safety buffer. If something horrible and unexpected happens and you can’t get home to give your birds food and water for a couple of days, having a larger volume of water available can truly make the difference between survival and dehydration. Birds can go without food longer than they can go without water, and a full bowl is one of the simplest ways to protect them in both daily care and emergencies.

Thank you for reading!