Bathing + Dandruff?

[SquackingBirb]

Hello Hello!
Hope everyone is having a fantastic day

My birds preen themselves like cats multiple times a day ad use their beaks to lick/bite their feathers across their entire body. Sheo will even preen Lasagna's head/wings. 

However, they will not bathe. I have tried the hand cupping method, container in the cage, sink, misting bottle - but they just run away from the water. They don't go in their drinking water and they don't willingly go towards running water to bathe. The shop we bought them from says its not in a Budgie's nature to bathe - but I have seen so many of the budgies on here LOVING a bath. 

Further - Sheo loves preening Lasagna's head. But these little flakes of white stuff comes out when he does, it looks like dandruff but feels like crumbs of feather? Like the white middle hard bit of their feathers but in tiny bits? Not sure what that is - suggestions?

Thank you everyone

Let me know if you need videos/pictures

[Hezz]

For once a pet store was right - budgies haven't evolved to bath in a puddle of water. Instead they prefer to rub themselves over wet foliage, such as they might get in the desert and areas of very little rainfall. They bathe in the droplets of condensation on the tips of eucalyptus leaves. Hanging up something similar - a sprig of gum leaves - dripping wet or wet down with a misting spray and see if they are otherwise enticed to rub themselves all over the leaves.

Preening is how birds keep their feathers in tip-top condition, and yes they have to be constantly doing so. A bird who doesn't preen is a sick bird. The one place a bird can't reach is their own head, so having a preening buddy is very handy. If the birds have moulted, the new feathers come through coated in a keratin sheath. With this coating in place the feathers are called pin feathers. As the feather matures this coating will fall off with help from the birds, self or buddy. That is all the "dandruff" is, the keratin coating over new feathers. Pin feathers are generally quite itchy and once a bit of bonding has happened you may find yourself in a position to be able to give your budgies cheek and head feathers a rub to help relieve the itch and remove some of the sheaths.

[SquackingBirb]

Hi Hezz,

That make sense about the Keratin, as Lasagna seems to enjoy Sheo helping him. He doesn't reciprocate though, which is sad because Sheo would probably like it.

Although I live in Australia, my area has a lack of Gumtree - I shall see if Bunnings or a plant shop sells some or maybe a park nearby.

Thank you!

[Hezz]

Anything that is bird safe is fine to use. Things like bottlebrush, grevillia, lily pily etc. Almost all our native plants are bird safe, but check a few on line sites and cross reference a couple as they don't always agree.