# Any Tricks to get Ferals to drink water?



## columbaNY (Nov 16, 2014)

I have four flocks of feral pigeons I feed on a daily basis. Out of the four, only one flock will drink water from a bowl that I leave behind. I never trained this flock to drink from a bowl, rather, someone had left a nasty container of water but never came back to check on it. Through this system they've grown accustomed to drinking from my bowl.

I want to do the same for the last flock I feed because they have a way of coming down with lead poisoning from drinking dirty puddles of water. I don't know how to attract them to the water in a bowl.

Any advice appreciated


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Pigeons are creatures of habit and will keep going back to where they are used to. No way you can actually get them to drink from your bowl. Maybe when it is pretty dry out and there is not many other sources of water they will then try it. Really all you can do is to leave the water where you feed them and maybe one day one or 2 of them will try it, then the rest may follow suit.

I have always had bird baths in my backyard, and the pigeons that would come here used to use one large one in particular, and they would bathe in it. I knew when they had been there because they would always leave a lot of powder in the water so I would have to change it. Now those birds are not here as time has a way of marching on. I still feed the ferals, but the ones that come now don't use the baths. I never see them drinking from them, and they never bathe either. They must find water somewhere else.


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## columbaNY (Nov 16, 2014)

I'm thinking of buying one of those portable AC battery packs and attaching it to a light fountain I can carry around. I just took another feral from the flock that drinks from street puddles and she has lead poisoning. This is the second one!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

How are you sure it is lead poisoning?
They are going to drink from puddles and such. No way you can stop that. Unfortunately that is what they do.


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## columbaNY (Nov 16, 2014)

Jay3 said:


> How are you sure it is lead poisoning?
> They are going to drink from puddles and such. No way you can stop that. Unfortunately that is what they do.


I've taken another member of this flock in for having a loose neck with an inability to fly. They drink from puddles around the local post office. I'll know for sure in a week's time


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It could be anything that is making them sick. Not necessarily the water they are drinking.


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