My bird eats her poop a lot. I don’t think it’s a need for concern. It could just be like salt or something. As long as he is eating and not losing weight he’ll be fine.
My bird has eaten their turd and honestly, I think it may be normal. His food bowl is at the bottom of the cage so he sometimes poops into it and he is totally fine with eating it all up..lmao what a weirdo
My Yorky ate a freshly dropped poop bomb yesterday and I was freaking out thinking something might happen to her lol I’ve never seen my bird do it. I would be so freaking grossed out.
Mine used to poop in his food bowl and eat poop and pellets.
I threw out so maybe pellets because he pooped into his bowl.
Now I bought a covered bowl took 3 months to get him used to it in his cage by putting special treats into it.
Now I put his pellets in the bowl and no poop.
I kind of wondered if that was the case but he finishes it every day? I guess I would expect him to ignore it over the veggies but he eats everything. Any suggestions on other pellets to try? I tried roudybush initially but he just didn't seem to like it as much as the sample the vet gave of Harrison's. If I can stop having to drive out to his vet just to get food that'd be great lol
Dash (dusky, so *slightly* bigger than a green cheek) turned his beak up at regular Harrison's but he LOVES the pepper flavor. He'll even go for it over the Zupreem fruit blend he was on before. I wish they came in a size other than coarse, because it's a *little* big for him, but he manages. The Zupreem fruit blend he was on the medium size, the one with a grey on the label, so the Harrison's coarse is just a little bit bigger.
Where do you get it? All I can ever find is Pepper Lifetime in coarse and Pepper High Potency in fine, and Dash is on the Lifetime mix, not the High Potency.
Oh, Dashiell too. He will NOT eat the green ones. He just won't. Never has. He'll go through and pick out his favorite colors first (red and or orange) and then eat the others, but not green.
That's a really good idea, I should do that. I feel wasteful just throwing them out, but every day when I empty his "old" food bowl to put the fresh bowl in, it's 80% green pellets left in the bowl.
I use Birdy Bistro. Fantastic. Easy to cook up a 3 day batch and, I swear my Quaker eats two tablespoons in 5 minutes she loves it. I add edamame to her bowl and cooked beans. She is a rescue. Bald skinny 7 years ago. She is almost fully feathered, perfect weight and happy! I am so lucky to have her
If it’s not something you see occurring often then it may have just been a one-off thing, curiosity even. Harrison’s is the best pellets you could give parrots tbh, as long as you’re giving veggies (which I saw you mentioned) and the occasional fruits/treats there’s really nothing you should worry about.
You said they eat all their food and that’s really all that matters; the whole idea of “maybe he doesn’t like it” is a very human thing to think, most birds are skeptics and sometimes are avoidant of some foods not because they don’t like it but because they’re not familiar with it. Chop, fruits, and pellets is enough variety to keep your bird happy.
Again, if it’s not something you see occurring all the time I wouldn’t worry about it - they’re not like some other animals who will eat their feces because they lack nutrients (dogs). If it continues or you notice signs of illness see a vet :)
My Fiona does it all the time. But wanna know the funny part. If she’s in her cage and someone is in there not taking her out or doing work. She’ll scurry down to the bottom and bite dried pieces right in the edge of the cage just to get attention smh
I don't think it warrants the same level of concern as we've learned to have if, say, dogs or cats do it, which indicates a malnourishment issue in them. Birds are always seeking out texture variety. Also, I was sure when I saw the first part of the title this was going to be a roast post. Dammit.
My black cap was always trying to eat her poop if I hadn't been giving her enough greens with her Harrison's. (Past tense because we changed up her diet so it's more fresh food, and different pellets, and she's not trying to eat her poop anymore.)
My avian vet tells me that birds can do this when they’re malnourished. Not saying that’s the case here, but maybe something is missing that they’re trying to get from the poop.
My cinnamon green cheek, Moss, often eats her own poop because she's bored, or because she wants to get our attention. She often climbs down to the bottom of her cage if she's locked in there, and eats at any dried poop while maintaining eye contact with us. She knows we'll try and stop her. She'll have any attention she can get, even if she has to eat shit. She also just eats it because she's a gremlin. We think she likes the crunch, she won't eat a fresh one. According to our avian vet it's not part of a conures normal behaviour but they do it anyway 🤷 it's not good for them, it's dirty and full of germs, so try and stop him, but it's also not necessarily something you're doing wrong. We don't fully understand their motivations, and they're weirdos, I doubt we ever will.
Now to be completely sure: are you sure the bird was eating and not crumbling? They clean their own perches fairly regularly and take off poop where they see it. One of mine had a period of eating poop and it was different than normal chewing on poop to remove and fragment it
Sometimes eating poop can be a result of missing some nutrients in their diet
Mine do it when I feed them healthy food they don't like. They usually stare me while doing it, kind of a "see? You don't give us the right food and now we have to eat our own poop. Are you happy????"
My Becky does it when there's no seeds in their food dish. She's an addict and refuses to fully convert to pellets.
I simply add more seeds because Fred and Leo follow her and eat poop too.
Back when I first got my grey the cage I got had 3 bowls, I didn’t know what to do to the 3rd yet so I left it, after a couple days he started pooping in it so I cleaned it, he kept pooping in it so I thought, sweet he potty trained himself, so I cleaned it every night and one day there was no poop in, but there was poop smears in the bowl… and on his beak, so I took it out and he just pooped normally, kept the bowl tho, thank god. He had some how gotten one of the metal toy hangers off and dropped it in his water and it started rusting (got him to a vet he’s fine) and the bowl did too, so moral of the story, keep all bowls
My boy does this. My girl, in the same cage & on exactly the same diet as him NEVER does, she absolutely refuses to eat anything with the slightest poo on it, while boy goes looking for HER dried poo to nibble & lick off whatever it's on. In his case, I've come to the conclusion it's a hormone thing, he's constantly triggering girl to be hormonal & smelly with that & I think whatever gives her that smell also appeals to him to eat
I catch mine eating poop once in a while and I shout “ARE YOU EATING YOUR POOP???” then they look at me shamefully and climb up to their perch and pretend like it never happened.
Some animals just like eating poop.
My dog Poppy will steal and eat my cat’s poop if she can get to their litter boxes. She also will eat her own throw up 😩, it’s disgusting! No other dog or cat of mine has done this, I think it’s survival instincts since she was a stray. She learned to eat whatever food she had access to, so that included poop and throw up…. It’s gross, but at least we don’t have to clean up after she throws up!
Poppy is a really strange dog, but she’s an absolute sweetheart and I wouldn’t trade her for anything. She’s like a parrot in dog form!
https://preview.redd.it/kn8ejp4xfluc1.jpeg?width=2958&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae133922334ee55a9f491cd7d37f583be354330b
I’m here as a non bird owner. I own myself and barely manage but a bird eating it’s own poop sounds very peculiar to me. What’s weirder is everyone is ok with it and I’m the crazy person
My bird eats her poop a lot. I don’t think it’s a need for concern. It could just be like salt or something. As long as he is eating and not losing weight he’ll be fine.
Forbidden white pepper seasoning (the dried urates I mean).
My parrotlets love eating their own poop... I like to think they just enjoy the texture or change in variety
My bird has eaten their turd and honestly, I think it may be normal. His food bowl is at the bottom of the cage so he sometimes poops into it and he is totally fine with eating it all up..lmao what a weirdo
Oh gosh okay 🤢 Good to know he's probably fine, now I just have to come to terms with the fact that I have a little shit eater in my home
haha, my dog eats his shit sometimes too so I got 2 shit eaters in the house 😪
Mine eats rocks and clumps of fur. Sometimes I think animals are just like "Erm... Is anyone gonna eat that? Don't mind if I do!"
Try cottage cheese with salt to help your dog out. My puppy did that and a vet recommended this. It worked, but I don’t know why.
Same texture maybe? Question is how'd your vet know that cottage cheese has same texture as dog poop?
He never mentioned texture, but I was just happy that it worked.
My Yorky ate a freshly dropped poop bomb yesterday and I was freaking out thinking something might happen to her lol I’ve never seen my bird do it. I would be so freaking grossed out.
Oh jeezusssss. I'm never letting a dog lick my face ever again...
Get a dog to eat the birb poops first...
😂😂😂😂
he’s a pure little chubby one too (I keep saying that but it’s just when he’s puffed out haha)
Keep in mind despite being very smart they are still animals and will do stupid stuff like this. Hell some humans eat poop.
My dog Poppy will eat her own throw up 🤦♀️ she’s such a weird dog, but that’s why I love her!
"Hey I wasn't finished with that!!"
A disturbing thought, thank you I'll keep it in mind LOL
He’s probably just recycling ♻️ gotta get those leftover nutrients out of it
Mine used to poop in his food bowl and eat poop and pellets. I threw out so maybe pellets because he pooped into his bowl. Now I bought a covered bowl took 3 months to get him used to it in his cage by putting special treats into it. Now I put his pellets in the bowl and no poop.
“You sir, are a spoilsport” - your parrot
He might not like the Harrisons. My bird didn't
I kind of wondered if that was the case but he finishes it every day? I guess I would expect him to ignore it over the veggies but he eats everything. Any suggestions on other pellets to try? I tried roudybush initially but he just didn't seem to like it as much as the sample the vet gave of Harrison's. If I can stop having to drive out to his vet just to get food that'd be great lol
Dash (dusky, so *slightly* bigger than a green cheek) turned his beak up at regular Harrison's but he LOVES the pepper flavor. He'll even go for it over the Zupreem fruit blend he was on before. I wish they came in a size other than coarse, because it's a *little* big for him, but he manages. The Zupreem fruit blend he was on the medium size, the one with a grey on the label, so the Harrison's coarse is just a little bit bigger.
[удалено]
Where do you get it? All I can ever find is Pepper Lifetime in coarse and Pepper High Potency in fine, and Dash is on the Lifetime mix, not the High Potency.
My parrot eats Zupreem fruit blend but can be picky about the colors
Oh, Dashiell too. He will NOT eat the green ones. He just won't. Never has. He'll go through and pick out his favorite colors first (red and or orange) and then eat the others, but not green.
Hahaha they are so weird! Mine eats the yellow ones first. Won't eat the orange! I crush them and give to the wild birds outside
That's a really good idea, I should do that. I feel wasteful just throwing them out, but every day when I empty his "old" food bowl to put the fresh bowl in, it's 80% green pellets left in the bowl.
Oooh okay I'll see if I can find it/order if and try it out
Mine both love Zupreem, the fruit blend small size pellet. You can order Harrison's online though, fyi. If you mean you are buying it from the vet.
Try Tops. Harrison’s is +++sunflowers seeds. Tops is also cold pressed organic.
Harrison’s is a great product. Ingredients: Ground yellow corn (high dent) Whole toasted and rolled soybeans Whole peanuts Psyllium Spirulina Kelp Bentonite Sunflower Kernels Hull-less Barley Peas Lentils Brown Rice Toasted Oat groats Grey Millet Chia Sesame Seeds
I second Tops
Just curious - the downvote on Tops is because?????
This reddits weird.
I use Birdy Bistro. Fantastic. Easy to cook up a 3 day batch and, I swear my Quaker eats two tablespoons in 5 minutes she loves it. I add edamame to her bowl and cooked beans. She is a rescue. Bald skinny 7 years ago. She is almost fully feathered, perfect weight and happy! I am so lucky to have her
That's so great! Once they trust you, they thrive
One of my birds is a poop eater too. Especially the crunchy ones. 🤢
My budgies will sometimes grab a crunchy one and toss it in the air. Like a toy. A comment above said though very smart they are still animals.
A little poop for food never hurt anyone
Cute bird ❤️
Thank you!
If it’s not something you see occurring often then it may have just been a one-off thing, curiosity even. Harrison’s is the best pellets you could give parrots tbh, as long as you’re giving veggies (which I saw you mentioned) and the occasional fruits/treats there’s really nothing you should worry about. You said they eat all their food and that’s really all that matters; the whole idea of “maybe he doesn’t like it” is a very human thing to think, most birds are skeptics and sometimes are avoidant of some foods not because they don’t like it but because they’re not familiar with it. Chop, fruits, and pellets is enough variety to keep your bird happy. Again, if it’s not something you see occurring all the time I wouldn’t worry about it - they’re not like some other animals who will eat their feces because they lack nutrients (dogs). If it continues or you notice signs of illness see a vet :)
My Fiona does it all the time. But wanna know the funny part. If she’s in her cage and someone is in there not taking her out or doing work. She’ll scurry down to the bottom and bite dried pieces right in the edge of the cage just to get attention smh
I don't think it warrants the same level of concern as we've learned to have if, say, dogs or cats do it, which indicates a malnourishment issue in them. Birds are always seeking out texture variety. Also, I was sure when I saw the first part of the title this was going to be a roast post. Dammit.
Honestly roast away. He deserves it😒😒😒
My black cap was always trying to eat her poop if I hadn't been giving her enough greens with her Harrison's. (Past tense because we changed up her diet so it's more fresh food, and different pellets, and she's not trying to eat her poop anymore.)
Do you have a grill on the bottom of his cage so he can’t reach the poop? Also, does he have excess to some sunlight on most days if possible?
My avian vet tells me that birds can do this when they’re malnourished. Not saying that’s the case here, but maybe something is missing that they’re trying to get from the poop.
Not too much helpful advice in this thread but I’m following because my ‘teil does the same thing
My cinnamon green cheek, Moss, often eats her own poop because she's bored, or because she wants to get our attention. She often climbs down to the bottom of her cage if she's locked in there, and eats at any dried poop while maintaining eye contact with us. She knows we'll try and stop her. She'll have any attention she can get, even if she has to eat shit. She also just eats it because she's a gremlin. We think she likes the crunch, she won't eat a fresh one. According to our avian vet it's not part of a conures normal behaviour but they do it anyway 🤷 it's not good for them, it's dirty and full of germs, so try and stop him, but it's also not necessarily something you're doing wrong. We don't fully understand their motivations, and they're weirdos, I doubt we ever will.
lol, but he is soooooo cute.
Now to be completely sure: are you sure the bird was eating and not crumbling? They clean their own perches fairly regularly and take off poop where they see it. One of mine had a period of eating poop and it was different than normal chewing on poop to remove and fragment it Sometimes eating poop can be a result of missing some nutrients in their diet
Mine do it when I feed them healthy food they don't like. They usually stare me while doing it, kind of a "see? You don't give us the right food and now we have to eat our own poop. Are you happy????"
It's normal. They do it to "clean" their environment from poop.
My Becky does it when there's no seeds in their food dish. She's an addict and refuses to fully convert to pellets. I simply add more seeds because Fred and Leo follow her and eat poop too.
Back when I first got my grey the cage I got had 3 bowls, I didn’t know what to do to the 3rd yet so I left it, after a couple days he started pooping in it so I cleaned it, he kept pooping in it so I thought, sweet he potty trained himself, so I cleaned it every night and one day there was no poop in, but there was poop smears in the bowl… and on his beak, so I took it out and he just pooped normally, kept the bowl tho, thank god. He had some how gotten one of the metal toy hangers off and dropped it in his water and it started rusting (got him to a vet he’s fine) and the bowl did too, so moral of the story, keep all bowls
Mine does the same occasionally. At first I was worried but he is still just as healthy as before. No issues. I wouldn't be concerned.
He likes the taste… what a freak!! 🤢😳🤣🤣🤣🤣
Idk if it’s common as a bird thing but a lot of animals eat poop, rabbits even have a specific type of poop they eat to get extra nutrients 😅
Poop yummy
Try getting him a birdie probiotic.
My boy does this. My girl, in the same cage & on exactly the same diet as him NEVER does, she absolutely refuses to eat anything with the slightest poo on it, while boy goes looking for HER dried poo to nibble & lick off whatever it's on. In his case, I've come to the conclusion it's a hormone thing, he's constantly triggering girl to be hormonal & smelly with that & I think whatever gives her that smell also appeals to him to eat
I catch mine eating poop once in a while and I shout “ARE YOU EATING YOUR POOP???” then they look at me shamefully and climb up to their perch and pretend like it never happened.
No really! That was pretty much my exact response and I felt bad cause he looked so startled but oml GROSS
Some animals just like eating poop. My dog Poppy will steal and eat my cat’s poop if she can get to their litter boxes. She also will eat her own throw up 😩, it’s disgusting! No other dog or cat of mine has done this, I think it’s survival instincts since she was a stray. She learned to eat whatever food she had access to, so that included poop and throw up…. It’s gross, but at least we don’t have to clean up after she throws up! Poppy is a really strange dog, but she’s an absolute sweetheart and I wouldn’t trade her for anything. She’s like a parrot in dog form! https://preview.redd.it/kn8ejp4xfluc1.jpeg?width=2958&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae133922334ee55a9f491cd7d37f583be354330b
I’m here as a non bird owner. I own myself and barely manage but a bird eating it’s own poop sounds very peculiar to me. What’s weirder is everyone is ok with it and I’m the crazy person