[Sumit.Ghosh]

Hi,

I have some pigeons at my hometown, around 15~20. They have a strange tendency of pooping in the water immediately after drinking it!! Also the conditions are pretty hot & humid or dry. So they need to have the privilege of taking a bath whenever they want. Now since I stay out or even if I am at my native I have to go out to work. So personally attending to change the water during daytime is ruled out. Is there any other alternatives which can be used? It should be capable of flushing out the water every hour and fill in fresh water. I was trying to get a solenoid valve for the same but I could not get that. Anyone aware of any other methods? Buying a auto flush is way too costly around Rs.12000 (INR) being the cheapest. I still have more plans but do let me know how you do it.

 

[Ed]

You might want to try a different style of drinker for the pigeons.
If they can get into it and poop in the water thats not good.
Try one like this

 

[spirit wings]

or go the cheap way and use a gallon milk jug with a hole cut out of the side, been using them a long time and they are my faves, I replace them every three weeks, here is a pic of one, I only cut one hole, that is all you need. link

http://kidoozy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/jugbirdfeeder2.jpg

 

[mookeeman]

good idea spirit wings i'm going to do that lol

 

[Mindy]

If you go to Big T's profile page and look at his pictures in his album he has a picture of what he uses. He cuts out the pvc and covers it by installing it up in the air in his loft, but they can still drink out of it, its pretty cool and would always be clean. He doesn't even have to go inside his loft because he has the pvc attachments curved out so he can just fill it outside. min

 

[Ed]

Dont make the hole too big on the empty gallon
Young birds can and WILL go in and try to take a bath.
Ive had one get stuck inside one before.

 

[Charis]

You also need to make sure that if you switch drinking containers on them, they know how to use the new drinking container.

 

[A_Smith]

http://www.globalpigeon.com/gps.php?action=showprod&id=26 (first one) Here is a fountain I like to use. The holes have dust covers. The dust is kept out and water is clean. Windows should also keep the poop out. Global is the only place I found that carries this fountain. If you do order, order spare dust covers. When you are cleaning, or removing ice a tab may break and you will be glad you ordered them. When teaching a pigeon to use this fountain (old or young) just push there head into the window, they catch on quickly. Watching the YB's learn to use on there own is funny. But NEVER had any problems. They just need to find where to push.

 

[Sumit.Ghosh]

Piped Water.

This is beautiful... from Big T's profile: page http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/album.php?albumid=917&pictureid=11180

The can idea is pretty good too!

I went through all the solutions however I do not want to stop them from taking a bath. Any different ideas?

 

[TerriB]

...They just need to find where to push.

You must have smarter birds than I do! I got one of those and showed my birds how to work the flaps. Unfortunately, one bird never quite got the hang of it. He would walk around the drinker, tentatively pecking here and there, waiting for the "magic" panel to open up. So I went back to the standard drinkers I've been using these for seven years - http://www.globalpigeon.com/productimages/fullimg/IMG1124273965.jpg (Global Pigeon Supply item 510-001 (1 liter) or 510-002 (2 liter)).

 

[Sumit.Ghosh]

one bird never quite got the hang of it. He would walk around the drinker, tentatively pecking here and there, waiting for the "magic" panel to open up.

Are the panels of different color? easily spotable?

 

[spirit wings]

Dont make the hole too big on the empty gallon
Young birds can and WILL go in and try to take a bath.
Ive had one get stuck inside one before.

...lol.. had a figurita try it, but did not succeed, I put their bath pan in after I saw that....lol.. I make my holes only about 3 inches or so...

 

[sreeshs]

Well didnt get any good idea for the solution

May be you can try on of the above drinkers for keeping the drinking water and a rectangular plastic try like 12" x 14" with water poured to a thickness of 1 mm ?? May be then they might not me much interested in drinking from the tray but its enough for a cooling bath What do u think ?

 

[TerriB]

Are the panels of different color? easily spotable?

The panels are transparent plastic (clear) while the body of the drinker is translucent (frosted). I thought about using a permanent marker to draw an X on the windows, but there was another problem. The drinker openings were on the low side for Walter (King pigeon) to comfortably access. Something to consider in mixed flocks of very different sized birds.

 

[Sumit.Ghosh]

Flowing water!

Well didnt get any good idea for the solution

May be you can try on of the above drinkers for keeping the drinking water and a rectangular plastic try like 12" x 14" with water poured to a thickness of 1 mm ?? May be then they might not me much interested in drinking from the tray but its enough for a cooling bath What do u think ?

Good point! flowing water will disturb when drinking but good for bathing. That is a good idea also we need to drain the water periodically. So I am looking for a electric valve which I can put up a circuit which will activate the valve to drain the water once in every hour.

 

[sreeshs]

This can be an embedded systems project too if you assign to local colleges