Any Pigeon Bathing Ideas?

[valeri]

Okay, I just can't get Chauncey to take a bath. I'm finding that I'm quite sensitive (allergy-wise) to his dander and dust, and I absolutely need for this knucklehead to get a move on with his hygiene. It's been more than a week since his last bath.

Here's what we've tried, maybe there are other things we can do:

1) Several different styles of bath, from plastic containers, to large plant pans, to glass pie pans, to bird baths.

2) Setting the bath inside the cage, setting the bath outside the cage. Staying in the room . . . or leaving him in the room alone for long periods to see if he'll bathe.

3) Mirror at the bath.

4) Actually putting him in the bath and getting him wet which just served to traumatize him.

5) Using a large plastic bath and putting a small food dish with his favorite (flax seeds) as incentive. He tried it once, took a bath (the last bath he had) but now he won't fall for it anymore. He just wants to avoid the bath.

6) We're using lukewarm water, not cold, not hot.

7) Tried placing the bath in different areas of the room, at different heights.

His routine is that he just can't wait to get out of his cage each day. If I put a bath in his cage, he won't have anything to do with it, no matter how long I leave it in there. He just wants to get out like crazy. Once he's out, he perches on top of the bookshelf and pretty much stays there until 5pm, like clockwork. He gets hungry at 5p and flies down.

We took him for a full vet checkup today, but no extra suggestions except for the things we've already tried.

If you've ever run into a similar situation, I'd love to know what you did to change it. Thanks!