Why does a parrot eat its own droppings? Why does a parrot eat its own droppings? A budgie eats its own excrement.

If the owner is completely unfamiliar with the habits of birds and has never kept them in the house, then he will be horrified by the fact that a parrot in a cage eats its own feces. At the same time, he is provided with good nutrition, feeding is present, and the bird is not deprived of attention. What's the matter then? Why does this happen? Let's find out in detail.

About the causes of the problem

This phenomenon in the language of veterinarians is called coprophagia. There may be several reasons that force a feathered pet to eat its droppings:

1. Entertainment, tomfoolery. Young individuals eat their droppings simply because they thus show curiosity, play, and attract attention to themselves. The older the feathered pet is, the less often this factor is triggered.
2. Absence of chalk stone or calcium deficiency in the body as a sign of dysbiosis- this phenomenon is also typical for birds. In this case, nature will help correct the situation. It is necessary to break branches of apple, cherry, sweet cherry, plum ( fruit trees) and attach the parrot to the cage, having previously scalded it with boiling water, so that it always has the opportunity to peck at them. But in this case, you need to be careful and not use sprayed branches to feed the bird. Also, if there is a deficiency of calcium in the body of birds, it is recommended to include cottage cheese, oats, and nuts in their diet.
3. Lack of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). This substance is not found in plant foods; it is formed in the pet’s intestines as a result of the work of microorganisms. Coprophagy in birds is a common way of replenishing cyanocobalamin deficiency in the body. Indeed, without this substance, the bird may develop problems with the skin and stomach. And to help the bird compensate for the lack of vitamin B12, you need to feed it yeast or special food.
4. Lack of solid food. Sometimes coprophagia in parrots is explained by the fact that they do not have enough solid food to grind grain cereals in their stomach. She in gastrointestinal tract plays the role of a kind of grater. If there are no small stones in its entrance, then the pet is forced to eat solid particles of its feces. To eliminate this cause of coprophagia, the owner must place a pot of sand in the parrot's enclosure. The grains of sand should be medium: not small, but not very large.

About other oddities in bird behavior

In addition to eating their own feces, inexperienced owners of birds may encounter other features of their behavior.

Often the bird can be found standing on one leg. A parrot is not a heron, and such a pose, it would seem, should not be characteristic of it. However, it happens. This may mean injury to a limb, freezing of the bird, or the presence of diseases of the digestive system. In such cases, it is necessary, first of all, to carefully examine the limb. If you do not find any injuries or damage, then you should seek help from a specialist ornithologist.

Another oddity that inexperienced bird owners may encounter is a bird plucking its own feathers. There are several explanations for this. The first is mites, which cause severe itching, skin irritation and a desire to alleviate your condition. The best option To correct the situation and help the pet, use aversectin ointment. It is safe, effective and inexpensive. Acts on adult ticks and their eggs.

In addition to mites, severe stress can also cause feather plucking in a bird. A parrot may be frightened by the vigorous activity of guests in the house, the loud noise of household appliances, or the cat’s attempts to get it.

Another strange pose is the puffing and fluffing of the feathered bird. It's not always dangerous. This way he can spread out his feathers to cool down a little if the room is hot. Having cooled down, the bird again acquires normal look. The situation is worse if the flying pet is constantly sulky, refuses to eat and sleeps all the time - most likely the parrot is sick. The cause of the disease may be a common cold or coccidosis. A good ornithologist will be able to differentiate diseases and accurately diagnose a feathered pet. You should contact him for medical help and advice regarding oddities in the behavior of parrots.

The parrot is an exotic pet, but quite common. These birds are very playful, inquisitive and trusting. Such qualities appeal to many people and contribute to the decision to have a parrot at home. But many owners who recently became the owners of this cute pet are faced with situations that are difficult for them to understand. This happens when parrots start eating their droppings and eggs. This behavior cannot but alert an attentive and caring owner. Thoughts about a possible illness immediately come to mind.

Reasons for eating droppings

Most bird behaviorists say this behavior is not a sign of disease. Most often, they attribute this to pampering and, as a rule, with age, young individuals stop fooling around in this way. But it is worth paying attention to the fact that the reasons may lie in the lack of certain micronutrients.

Reasons for eating droppings:

• dysbacteriosis;
• lack of vitamin B;
• lack of solid food.

Vitamin B12, which birds need, is not present in plant foods, but it is produced directly in the intestines during digestion. IN wild environment habitat, parrots and other birds peck the droppings of their fellow birds, but if he is alone in a cage, then he has to eat his own droppings. In addition, like all birds, the parrot eats small pebbles along with grain. It needs them for digestion, and if there are no such pebbles in the cage, then the parrot looks for undigested food in the droppings.

Some females also tend to eat their own eggs, in addition to refusing to hatch them. Parrot owners who are concerned about breeding these birds are especially concerned about why they do this.

The reasons for this vary. First of all, the female may simply get tired of frequent nesting. If you do not give it the opportunity to rest, the bird will simply destroy its offspring. There are times when a female parrot is simply a bad hen, or she lacks maternal instinct. A hen can also peck her eggs if there is a lack of calcium in the body, which is contained in excess in the eggshell. The reason for eating eggs can also be severe fear or a simple lack of experience.

The reasons why a parrot eats its droppings or pecks its eggs can vary. The main thing is to understand and eliminate them in time.

Methods of control and prevention

Everyone knows that it is much easier to prevent a problem from occurring than to solve it later. And if you can turn a blind eye to eating litter for a while, then eating offspring cannot but upset you. However, if the parrot continues to eat droppings for a long time, measures need to be taken, because we already know that this can cause some deviations from the norm.

So, in cases where parrots eat their own waste products, you should immediately make sure that the bird has enough calcium. There should always be chalk and sepia in the cage; in addition, it would not be amiss to wrap the rods with cherry or apple tree branches, after dousing them with boiling water. Alternatively, branches can be laid on the bottom of the cage. It is also worth regularly offering your parrot to eat grain, it helps improve digestion. Thus, it is possible to prevent the development of dysbiosis in poultry.

To prevent a lack of vitamin B12, the lack of which causes birds to peck droppings, you can add yeast to the diet special drugs, or products of animal origin. To help with your pet's digestion process, you can place a small, medium-sized container of sand in the cage. If such measures do not help, and the parrot continues to eat its droppings, you should contact an ornithologist who will help you deal with the problem.

In cases where the female eats eggs, things are a little more complicated, because most often the reason lies in emotional state. First of all, it is worth reducing the frequency of mating to two times in a row, and then taking a six-month break. Thus, a rested female is more likely to hatch offspring.

A female parrot who is busy hatching eggs should be protected from any stress. After all, a parrot is a timid bird, and nervous shock can lead to it eating its offspring. If a female pecks at the offspring several times in a row for no apparent reason, it is worth excluding her from breeding.

There can be many reasons for what a person thinks is inappropriate behavior in a parrot. Some of them are simply indiscriminate in their food; these include budgerigars, which are considered the most common. In any case, if the bird’s behavior seems unnatural, and there are no visible reasons for this, you should not risk the life and health of your pet. You need to show it to an ornithologist who can accurately determine the cause and eliminate it.

Our pets are not able to complain to us about their well-being. It may happen that we discover a disease in our beloved parrot or hamster too late. But there are sure signs, the presence of which can tell us that something is wrong with a pet. Some conclusions about the health of a parrot can be drawn from the state of its droppings.

What kind of litter should a budgie have normally?

A healthy parrot's droppings are twisted into a spiral, shaped like a snail. Color - from brown-green to light brown, interspersed with white. The bird defecates up to 50 times a day.

Why does a parrot have a certain color of droppings?

Changes in the color of stool can be caused by feeding different colored foods, such as beets. If you are sure that this is the reason for the unnatural color of the stool, there is nothing to worry about. However, abnormal color of droppings may also indicate some diseases or pathologies.

Did you know?On the territory of modern Australia budgies lived 5 million years ago. Currently, more than 200 subspecies are known budgerigar.

Green

Liquid discharge Green colour, in the absence of feces, are a sign that the food has not been digested in the stomach. After entering the gastrointestinal tract, food must be completely digested, and its waste must come out with feces. If nothing came of it, then the stomach was empty.
This is very bad, since it is enough for a parrot to starve for 24 hours for irreversible damage to occur in its body. You need to take your pet to a veterinarian for examination, and before that, feed it generously with porridge; in such a situation, oatmeal is well suited.

Yellow

Yellow or yellow-green color of stool indicates problems with the liver or the presence of helminths. Sprinkle the food with 1/2 of the crushed Karsil tablet, you can add 1/2 of the Linex capsule to the wet food. If using pre-mixed grains, switch to Fiory or Prestige.

Important!If a parrot drinks a lot of water (by the way, a bird always drinks more boiled water than bottled water), this may be a sign of a deficiency of vitamin A in the body. Try increasing the proportion of pumpkin and carrots in the diet, and feed the bird with vitamin complexes.

Black

Dark brown

The dark brown color of stool is often a characteristic sign of worms. In this case, a test for helminths is necessary. The parrot should be given saline solution with glucose (5%) in a ratio of 2:3, in an amount of 3 ml. Once a day, give 1 drop of the drug “Dicyon” in ampoules.

White

Absolutely white droppings are a sign of problems with nervous system feathered, or arthritis. If White color has shades of gray or beige, inflammatory diseases of the pancreas are possible.

In any case, nutrition requires adjustment, so the consumption of sunflower seeds and nuts should be kept to a minimum. Give the bird 25 drops of Radostin with food.

Bloody droppings

If you see blood in the droppings, you cannot put off going to the veterinarian. In such a situation, any heating of the parrot is strictly contraindicated. Before taking the bird to the veterinarian, give the bird "Diction" - this remedy is quite effective in stopping internal bleeding. However, you should not get carried away, since increased blood clotting is also an extremely undesirable phenomenon.

Did you know?The budgerigar Puck is the holder of a Guinness record: the bird was able to pronounce more than 1,700 words, this is the approximate vocabulary of a five-year-old child.

If there is little bleeding, the bird is prescribed the following treatment:

• “Vikasol” - 1 drop twice a day;
• low concentration infusion of plantain leaves;
• infusion of nettle leaves.

Choose one remedy, and be sure to show your parrot to a specialist.

Litter with water (liquid)

Stools are normal in color, but big amount fluids are often a symptom of polyuria - frequent urination. To confirm the diagnosis or refute it, you should take tests for protozoa and bacterial culture. If the bird suffers from a microflora disorder, the veterinarian will prescribe the necessary probiotics. In addition, lactobacilli will need to be added to the feed for 15 days.

Then after 30 days repeat the course. If a lot of liquid comes out with the droppings, and there are no white spots, there is a high probability of problems with the nervous system. In such cases, the bird absorbs a large amount of liquid, which is not absorbed by the body and is excreted during bowel movements.
Clean and disinfect the cage, change the water. If you use store-bought grain mixtures, try changing the manufacturer (the mixture should be without additives). You can add 1/2 tablet of Karsil to the food. Let's drink chamomile decoction, and also visit the veterinarian for tests.

Why does a parrot eat its own droppings?

Veterinarians say that eating their own feces is typical of young birds, but as they age, they stop doing this. Perhaps the reason is a lack of solid matter in the stomach. Birds need it for normal digestion. Try to introduce more solid food into your diet, as well as small pebbles and shell rock.

Another one possible reason- deficiency of vitamin B 12. This vitamin is produced in the stomach of the bird. IN natural environment habitat, the parrot eats the droppings of other birds, this allows bacteria to enter the stomach and start the vitamin production mechanism. A bird living in a house is forced to eat its own excrement to normalize the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

More often than not, this does not help the bird, since the bird’s body does not have enough vitamins, and the droppings will be corresponding. Dysbacteriosis can also cause this phenomenon. The bird acts exactly as it would do in natural conditions. If eating your own droppings occurs occasionally, there is nothing to worry about. If the bird does this constantly, it should be shown to a specialist.

Important! A large number of grass, vegetables and fruits in the diet can lead to the fact that the parrot will constantly have diarrhea.

It should be understood that it is wrong to draw independent conclusions about the state of health of a bird solely based on the appearance of its droppings. If your parrot's stool looks unnatural, this should alert you and prompt you to visit an ornithologist. Only a professional, perhaps with the help of tests, can determine the cause of the deviations and make an accurate diagnosis. And only on the basis of such a diagnosis is treatment prescribed.

Video: what to do if a parrot eats its own droppings