Green alge in bird dishes

[BlackCobra]

I just wanted to share this with you Guys, about 25-30 years a go a friend of mine that worked for CSIRO, well him & some other bird guys use to travel a lot to the outback to study finches in the wild, he made an observation, that when ever flocks of finches would land at a watering hole that they would always go to were its a bit green, I dont mean green alge on top of water I mean were the ground & soil or under the water was green, so he told me to not overdo the cleaning of the water dishes to remove the green on the sides & bottom, I dont know if there was anything to it, but since then I didnt scold out my dishes with boiling water like I use to, & I have never had any problems since.

[gomer]

I have to witnessed this. They seem to like the smaller water holes. Some are not much bigger then a diner plate. David Pace also wrote a small article on his observations in aviaries of this type of behavior, of finches eating algae. I also witnessed crimson finches running the algae through their beaks.I am unsure if they were eating the algae or eating Somthing in it.

[Trilobite]

Gday Black Cobra, there is green and there is green. The green your talking about is fine, green or other coloured scum on water top or a cloudy green suspension is not so good. Heathly green alge on rocks, weeds, gravel is just that - healthy and means the water is relatively healthy ( ie pH, DO, temp, trubidity etc). I dont scrub or clean dishes to remove green algae, as a matter of observation if the water is not topped up and falls below the green alage line the birds pick at it. As to crimsons I remember seeing them drinking water weeping out of the side of a slope on a farm up North Qld many years ago. The water was very clear but was weeping over a green biomass that had accumulated over the years due to the constant outfall. When I asked the farmer where it was coming from he replied - spetic tank overflow . So I guess clean and green may not be so bad afterall.

[BlackCobra]

Yes the birds seem to know what is best, I just posted this as I know a lot of people are compulsive about cleaning bird dishes, I thought if I tell them what I know, then its up to them to clean them or just let them go with a bit of alge.
Its like some people wont leave greens in there aviaries after 4 hours or what ever it is, to me I don't bother, after a time it dries out & they don't eat, I have never ever heard of a bird getting sick from older greens, boy if it did I would have killed hundreds of birds, like I said before the birds know what is best, you don't see all the local sparrows ect eating deadly plants, they seem to know what to dine on.

[vettepilot_6]

Yes the birds seem to know what is best, I just posted this as I know a lot of people are compulsive about cleaning bird dishes, I thought if I tell them what I know, then its up to them to clean them or just let them go with a bit of alge.
Its like some people wont leave greens in there aviaries after 4 hours or what ever it is, to me I don't bother, after a time it dries out & they don't eat, I have never ever heard of a bird getting sick from older greens, boy if it did I would have killed hundreds of birds, like I said before the birds know what is best, you don't see all the local sparrows ect eating deadly plants, they seem to know what to dine on.

You wont see dead wild birds because they hide illness from predators...and when they do die scavengers will eat a carcass fairly quickly...I think I may see 1 dead wild bird every year out of probably hundreds that die locally.... Even if you have an off colour aviary bird it will tend to hide it's weakness/illness, only way to check is to stand back and watch inhabitants for a while, then you may see them drop wings or fluff up, unless extremely ill it will be fluffed up all the time....I will continue to remove old greens, eggs, uneaten food regurlarly...I don't worry about green algae growth but I do supply water in rabbit type waterers...and give them a bowl for bathing morning and mid afternoon.. everyone does things different as long as birds are fit and flying and husbandry skills are reasonable they will breed (most of the time )

[elferoz777]

thanks for sharing you have cut my aviary cleaning time down by 2/3s!!

[Netsurfer]

I don't know about you guys, but in the aviary environment where you have more then 1 pair of birds, water gets dirty quickly, and i wash and clean the dishes every day and there's no "ifs" or "buts"! Birds in my holding aviary get clean water twice a day. They drink, bathe and do all other things in it and as you probably know:

1 - water is number 1
2 - food is number 2
3 - environment number 3

in spreading disease from bird to bird in captive birds and animals. I hope no one gets the wrong impression that the "green alge" will in any way keep the soup clean from bacterias and parasites.

[arthur]

"Cleanlines is next to Godliness"

[Trilobite]

Net surfer, your 100% on the money, if you have soup your not clean - as I said before "cloudy water" is not clean and says to me "Danger Will Robinson"

Please DONT in any way shape or form confuse being slack on cleaning and hygine as being good avairy practice - our water gets replaced daily but the bowls dont get scrubbed to within an inch of their lives. Greens get put in in the morning as does soft food and egg etc and then out in the afternoon.

Trick is - get to know your avairy, know your birds and as Vettpilot rightly says, sick birds hide themselves - so take the time to watch your avairy in a quite space after feed and water has been replaced etc you will soon see what is not right (as an aside you will also see where the parents are gong to feed the young ie where the nests are). The other trick is that you wil get to know your birds feed rates and only make enough soft foods and egg to be consumed in totality before it has a chance to go off. I work full time so I ensure through this method that when I get home late pm the birds have well and truly devoured the mornings feed in the morning and are ready for the afternoon green seed, some more greens and insects (termite, maggots and some mealies).

[SamDavis]

I accept that wild birds drink some unbelievable stuff and survive. I also accept that green algae can be a sign the water is fresh or at least not full of baddies. Nevertheless I still feel strongly that clean water dishes and fresh rain water are best. The birds prove this daily when I change water, heaps of them fly down for a drink almost immediately even though yesterday's water looked perfectly fine. Somehow they just know what really fresh water is and they crave it.