Droppings

Even though it may seem like a dirty job, checking your bird’s droppings can tell a lot about their health and diet. A bird dropping consists of 3 things – feces (from the gastrointestinal tract), urine (clear liquid from the kidneys), and white urates (concentrated uric acid from the kidneys). 

Droppings should be analyzed for moisture, content, and number. Normally your bird will probably produce 35-50 odorless droppings consisting of all three components. The feces should be firm and dark brown or green in color depending on the species and diet of the bird. Seed diets usually make feces green while pelleted food makes feces the color of the pellet. Keep track of what your bird is ingesting because certain fruits can change the color of the feces drastically and may cause unneeded alarm. Urine should be clear, and the urates should be creamy-white, opaque, and almost chalky in appearance. A change in diet, a bout of diarrhea, or another health concern can all make a change in droppings.

Even though birds pass feces, urine, and urates in one dropping through the same vent, they can also urinate without defecating and defecate without urinating. If your bird is urinating a lot, you may want to call your vet as this could be a sign of kidney problems or diabetes. High urine output could also be because the bird has been eating food containing a lot of water, such as fruit. 

Diarrhea can be mistakenly identified when there is a high volume of urine in the dropping. If you are wondering if your bird has diarrhea, look specifically at the feces part of the dropping. If your bird’s feces are completely formed – even with a lot of urine – your bird does not have diarrhea. Make sure to check fresh droppings because as they sit there, the feces can soak up the urine, become runny, and look like diarrhea. If your bird does have diarrhea, their feces will not be formed.

If you see these signs in your bird’s droppings, look for other signs of sickness and bring your bird to your avian vet.

Signs of sickness from droppings:

-         Feces

o       are mustard yellow, tarry black, or rust colored

o       contain blood or undigested food

o       have a foul odor

o       are unusually large

-         Urine

o       have any color at all (it is supposed to be clear)

-         Urates

o       are yellow or green

Poop-off – PF00079, PF00043, PF00010, or PF02003

Quick clean – KT05860