Drinking water

Julie3965

Regular Member
Hi All , My friend brought me a book on African greys for Xmas and have just got around to reading it today . Whilst reading the feeding section it said not to give your bird tap water for drinking . I have Gertie an 8 month old African Grey and have always given her fresh tap water daily ( refreshed several times a day ) and had previously done the same with my late grey Jack . Is this correct ? The book is mainly American based if that makes any difference . Your advice is needed please .
 
I think the tap water in the UK is ok for birds, just be aware of strong chlorine smells then maybe use bottled or filtered. Being totally honest, we always used filtered water until the jug broke years ago and we just never got round to replacing it :oops: During that time both our birds had multiple health checks/ blood tests and always had good results. We use a brita filter water jug now, because the supplements we add to the water are affected by the additives in the tap water.
 
Yup what MJGB said lol.I
I do use shop bought spring water (no additives and defo not the sparkling variety) my tap water stinks of chlorine even makes coffee taste yack!!
 
I use a water filter machine attached to my water supply for drinking waters for myself and the flock, dead against buying water in plastic bottles, we have enough problems with plastic around the world so why add to it. the cost of water in a bottle is in my mind a rip off and is it that good? there has been research that has found plastics dissolved in bottled water although it may still be in all waters as so much plastic has been produced and wrongly disposed of. I will say that in most of the UK the water should not do harm for the flock. but all it takes is an accidental contamination to a supply that although uncommon it has happened. I am lucky as Nigel the owner of Buster GSC2 that I look after will come and change filters and service the machine. its also nice to have instant chilled water (my flock love it chilled on hot days) (my last water filter had instant boiled water as well). this subject always reminds me of Dell boy and the Peckham water or what happened to Coca Cola when they launched the bottled water in Sidcup both got contaminated. So much may depend on if you live in a soft or hard water area, Cost of the machine and running costs works out so much cheaper than buying bottled water and far less impact to the environment. to me having a filter machine is an extra safety net I hope they will ban using plastic for drinking products.
 
I only use bottled water or filtered water, usually bottled, because I wouldn’t drink the tap water myself. Makes for an expensive bath if one of the birds decides to get in their water bowl! 😊
 
Filtered drinking water for us and our birds. We have 5 litre water bottles that had spring water in them. We fill them from a filter jug and collectively we get through about 5 litres a day. I occasionally get new 5 litre bottles and recycle/repurpose the old ones e.g. they can be used to store wild bird seed. A bit of a faff to fill them with seed (using a wide necked funnel) but far easier to handle than a 25Kg sack.
 
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