my love bird trys to eats its pooh !

[elijahfan]

i have noticed that mrs lovett eats his own pooh, i think the cage is set out wrong he will stand on a perch and pooh on his mineral perch he then eats from it or his water bowl i cant seem to put it anywhere where he doesn't pooh,

actlly i think this bird jst pooh's there not runny or watery they look fine he jst seems to eat them, do i need to clen the perches more, is this what he is trying to do, do i need to move the cage round ?

im just worried for him, he is perfectly helthy and happy just mummy worrying

[momo]

yeah.. elmo does it too.. i think its just a bird thing.. sometimes they do it.. if they are lacking in some sort of mineral..etc.

[bookworm0550]

yeah, joey will taste, if not eat his own poo sometimes. i wonder what he thinks it is...

[michael]

i have noticed that mrs lovett eats his own pooh, i think the cage is set out wrong he will stand on a perch and pooh on his mineral perch he then eats from it or his water bowl i cant seem to put it anywhere where he doesn't pooh,

actlly i think this bird jst pooh's there not runny or watery they look fine he jst seems to eat them, do i need to clen the perches more, is this what he is trying to do, do i need to move the cage round ?

im just worried for him, he is perfectly helthy and happy just mummy worrying

I think its very important to assess Mrs Lovett before this behavior becomes a habit. Provided he's still in relatively good health, you should first address his diet then somehow follow through with limiting his access to feces. Whether implementing extra cleaning measures or eventually seeking a vets advice in order to help identify certain dietary deficiencies, his condition (copraphagia) will likely lead towards chronic bacterial illness.

I would also check to make sure there is not an over abundance of any one particular food, or one thats causing an allergic reaction....... My idea in regards to moving his cage is that it could exasperate the issues depending on the reasons for him doing so to begin with. Unless his cage has obviously been placed in an area that may be detrimental towards his health and/or well being, I would first try cleaning along with limiting access to those specific area's where this activity usually takes place, even if it means temporarily limiting access to his cage for various periods throughout the day. Please...keep us posted!

[elijahfan]

he only seems to do it on his mineral block, he has seed and i am trying to introduce fruit and veg, i tried him on brussels he seems to be ok with them, but he eats mainly seed, is there a type of sed i can use which is more of an all rounder, what else could i be giving him,

all he has in the cage is seed and a mineral perch, by doing his cage i ment the perches inside to limits him poohing on the them ? what i will do is clean his cage out again and wash all the perches, looks like with this one i need more variety of food and to clean his perches daily,

so just help with other food, would treat sticks help ? maybe different seed any help would be great as like i say all he has to eat is seed and maybe the odd bit of fruit(which he hardly touches)

[momo]

elijahfan.. a little trick i do with elmo now.. i use a Skewer and mush up some food and put it on the end of it and offer it to elmo.. although he doesn't eat giant lots.. he gets the taste and gets to eat a little bit.. and over time I am increasing the amount of food offered :)

banana seems to be a favourite.. but I found you need to mush it up because if they haven't eaten it before they dont know what it is.. and if its mush.. they will prob go to bite it as elmo does.. but then gets the taste.. but ive done it so much now with elmo.. i just offer him the stick and he just eats it :)

[michael]

Great suggestions by Momo!.......;).......Certainly, a diet consisting of mainly seeds could result in malnutrition. Depending on overall health, this could occur very soon or perhaps much later on down the road. If he's already taken to brussels, i'm sure as long as you continue to offer veggies and a limited amount of fruit, eventually there will be improvements. In the meantime, you may want to try offering some pellets. Ideally, sometimes companies or vets will offer sample packs as opposed to purchasing a whole bag of pellets. Should your bird take to them, be sure to limit their consumption to no more than 30% of his total diet. Lovebirds of course, do still need a fair amount of seeds. So which is the best?....I know many members have their own preference and will often tailor them by adding or subtracting certain portions of seed. Generally though, most lovebird/conure seed mixes are nearly all the same. At the very least, I would pay close attention to freshness and quality. I don't mind spending a little extra as long as its fresh and contains a good variety of seeds (instead of mostly millet).

If your using a mineral perch, maybe try mounting it to the top bars of his cage as opposed to where he's able to stand/poop on it. If there's a mineral block, its possible he just thinks its a great place to poop. Try removing it and see what happens..................:)

[Pips mom]

One of my cockatiels does this.....eats poop, although he doesn't do it all the time, he kinda goes through periods of time when he does it, then he'll stop for a while. Pip has never eaten poop! yuck! With my tiel, I just always try to keep all the perches clean of poop, because he usually eats it off the perches.

[elijahfan]

i have noticed he eats seed f the bottom of the cage rather then his trays, i am wondering if he doesn't like how i feed him, i don't think he eats enough i hardly ever see him eat the seed,

he is healthy and not to thin, could i try him on cockatiel mix the seeds in there seem more edible, he only has tiny seeds in this mix maybe if i try to mix his seed now with a tiny bit of his own seed ? and keep trying with veg

do you think this will help, i am so worried about him

[michael]

Most cockatiel mixes have a few of the more larger seeds than whats generally found in lovebird conure mixes. While I understand their ok to give to lovebirds, depending on eating habits it may be difficult to determine their food value, or your lovebird may even reject them. In addition to the seed you give him now, you could offer a separate bowl of the tiel mix and see what happens. For now, I would just stick to a good quality lovebird mix (or whatever your using) and continue to offer other healther foods besides seed.

As you probably know by now, lovebirds poop quite often. This being the case with Mrs. Lovett, something in his food bowl is disappearing very rapidly. Take a look around then try to figure out what exactly he's been eating. No doubt you'll find plenty of empty seed hulls along with a good chance their mostly of the millet and/or sunflower seed variety. This would be the number one reason for most cases of malnutrition.

[momo]

re: seed.. elmo does that in his play pen as well.. he's got a seed bell and he will destroy it all.. and then run down to the bottom and eat it. I think its his way of being "wild"..

Before I used to give him a small dog's bowl and put his seed and fruit and veggies in that.. he loved to sit inside it and "forage" for food between the veggies... ignoring the veggies of course...

[elijahfan]

he doesnt have sunflower seeds, but he has seeeds that look like they are from oranges, small whte seeds, alltho he seems better since i cleaned his perches, i have tryed him on fruit and stuff its slow gogin but i am sure he will suprise me soon

[michael]

Out of curiosity, what type of seed mix are you giving Mrs. Lovett?......Good to hear things are improving through the cleaning of his perches. Sometimes the smallest changes can make the biggest difference!.....As for introducing other foods,...usually its recommended to start out slow (which it sounds like your already doing). Should they take to something new, stick with it while you introduce other foods. Have you read through the "Lovebird Care" forum? There's whats called a "Sticky" at the very top of each forum. If you haven't already, check the sticky by Shylevon in the "Diet" section. She offers great advice about introducing new foods to our lovies...............:)

[elijahfan]

thank you :) he jst seems scared by new foods i have a spare food bowl i hang on the cage with new food in for him, i am sure he will be eating fruits soo but in his own time, he would rather eat me lol