cockatiel eats it's poop!!!

[Fishyfan]

what the heck is wrong with my bird? she eats her own poop . Is there a reason that my bird is eating her poop? Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Casey Norris]

Some animals will do that if they are not getting the proper nutrition. They eat it again to get all of the nutrition out of it as possible. Just make sure it is getting a wide variety of food to cover all of its needs. Or make sure its getting enoutgh food. Just an idea, im not really a bird person, but i know that rabbits and other small fuzzies do the same thing.

 

[fisher12889]

Ive heard of dogs doing this, but never birds lol

 

[loach43]

My sun conure used to do that too until I starting varying her diet more. Her staple dry food had lots of sunflower seeds in it and she would just pick all of those out and leave the rest. Sunflower seeds contain lots of fat and aren't that high in nutrients.

 

[pete620]

Do you feed you bird seeds or pellets. Seeds to birds are like junk food to people. In the wild most birds are not granivoures. A high quality pellet diet, plus fruits and veggies should help you bird.

 

[loach43]

My bird no longer gets seeds unless as a treat. As a staple diet she gets Zupreem pellets with some dried fruit on top. My vet said that it's a good thing to give her beef, chicken and even fish from time to time (as treats). Raw fruit & veggies, pasta from time to time too. Generally speaking my conure gets a small dose of something that I eat for dinner! This has made a dramatic visual improvement of my birds health. Her feathers and beak are noticeably shiny compared to her days of being on a substandard diet.

 

[demandor]

I agree.
If your bird hasn't been seen by a qualified vet this year, go and get an annual exam and ask you vet why this might be happening.

 

[loach43]

Indeed. My bird would be dead from malnutrition by now if i hadn't taken her in for her first routine checkup/blood test some 5 years ago. Here's a pic of my bird now

 

[Fishyfan]

Do you feed you bird seeds or pellets. Seeds to birds are like junk food to people. In the wild most birds are not granivoures. A high quality pellet diet, plus fruits and veggies should help you bird.

I recently bought some zupreem pellets to replace her seeds but she doesn't seem to like them very much. oh and i feed her fruits and vegetables everyday. should i feed grit too?

 

[loach43]

My bird hated the switch. She wouldn't touch pellets at first. Eventually hunger took care of that. I mix the pellets in with sparse amounts of stuff she likes but not enough to fill her up.
I've never fed grit but I guess it can't hurt