Poopy Situation

[nicole22]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or stories to share about how you handle your .... poop situation .. haha in your households with your birdies? My mom loves playing with the birds but can't stand when they poop everywhere, especially on her! Haha! Also we want to let them have freedom around the house, but it is hard to just let them run around and be free in the house when we have to watch them so we can clean up their tiny little poopsies!

We tried buying the flight suit diaper, but Kiwi just HATES it and will fly away when he sees it in our hands! I've also heard about "potty training" but am not quite sure how that concept works.

If you have any other suggestions please, HELP! :)

[Flapjack]

Hmmm- not really. Birds = POOP!

Lots of people have some success with potty training larger birds, but in small ones it's pretty rare.

One thing you can do is keep an eye on their posture. Approx every 5 mins (for a lovie), you might see them back up a little, squat, or wiggle their butts.

My gcc is VERY polite, and will poop out of his cage, but will always hang his butt WAY away over your arm or shoulder, so it drops on something besides a person.

My caique only poops every 1/2 hour or so when he's out, so no problem.

Good luck!

[CompassionAk]

My lovie Boo used to be potty trained before him and Annie had babies,now he has a habit of flying over to me and landing on my right hand and pooping on it.>: Anyways to get him potty trained I did like Flapjack suggested and just watched for the tell tale body language and signs he was going to go and when I noticed he was ready to I would say."Make a poopy" and hold him over a paper or the cage and if he pooed in the proper place I would reward him.it didn't take him long to pick up on it.I'm trying to get the stinker back in the habit but he's being a stubborn brat and just won't listen anymore lol.

[HaleBoppPeachyluv]

Yeah... I basically watch the body language. It's easier when the lovie is clipped because they can't fly away & poop where ever. When we take sunny out of her cage, we hold her over a trash can near her cage & say "Poop, poop!" and she'll usually poops & then I praise her. Sometimes when she wants out & sees us coming, she'll even hop to the perch infront of her door & pre-poop. When I see that I make sure to praise her as I take her out.

Once she's out & playing it's a little more difficult. You just have to get used to getting pooped on. lol

[Enko_chan]

Its a funny thing. I always have a wad of tissue in my pocket and a rag at my disposal. Jack's right, Birds = Poop. Unlike we human beings, birds do not have the musculature in their anal area, and are unable to "hold it" like we can. They may have warning that a poop is imminent, and be able to move to their bathroom spot (if they have one), but they can't wait very long once its coming. Not a single one of my birds that I have presently has ever pooped in my hair. For some reason my parrotlets seem to know better somehow. I'd assumed my first parrotlet had been trained, as parrotlets have an insatiable need to hang out wrapped up in their human being's hair... until my baby came along and she leaves my hair to poop, too. The lovebirds just aren't allowed on my head, and I think they learned that from Linda, because they've never even tried.

Beyond the hair, I don't much mind their poop. My birds live and play in my bedroom- or I should say, my bed is in their birdroom, haha. I use bird shirts- and I've got a lot of them at this point- that are OK in terms of beak-holes and poop stains (not that bird poop generally stains, but sometimes on a light colored fabric it will) and when I am wearing clothing for polite company, will wear a rag over my shoulder. I suppose I'm too much of a bird lady to be in company so polite for such an extended period of time without a bird on me. You could have your mom borrow a birdie shirt, or wear a rag. An old folded pillow case works well for a shoulder-guard. Another thing I do is put a sheet down on my bed and floor when the birds come out. It takes all of 2 seconds and when they're done playing, roll them up and put them aside. We wash them once every few weeks and it saves the floor. My quaker leans off me to poop, and parrotlet poops are so tiny and compact- almost like a funny-colored rabbit poo, and are easy to clean up... but lovebird poops are just big and just messy enough to be a pain in the butt, and I've never had a lovebird take to potty training. Some lovebirds will have preferences in terms of where they like to poop, but I've never been able to teach them to go in a particular spot. I know if you've got a large area that they play in it can be tough to lay sheets down and keep them from pooping on things that you want to stay clean, but there's not a whole lot that can be done about it- except watch them for the "gonna poo wiggle" and move them or hold a rag under their bums, or clean it up. There are lots of good cleansers for cleaning up bird poo once it dries, too, in case you miss one.

[Jally]

oh, I beg to differ. We have 2 birds that hold their poop all night long. And, a third who likes to poop in the same spot all the time, which is, unfortunately, while hanging her bum off the side of the pot rack so it lands on a pot or the island in the kitchen.

I always have tissues and baby wipes laying around to wipe up the poo. Underneath their play area's and cage doors, I have throw rugs to catch poop. When they get too dirty, I just wash them.

[thebubbleking]

only boo is potty trained she will poop when i go push push, and i have seen her hold it and dive poop flock members or poop on something somebirdie is eating just to be a bi**! lol

[wilkiecoco]

Birds = POOP = POOP OFF HANDY WIPES!!!!!! :whistle: :omg:

I walk around with kleenex in every pocket. I can always tell when Kiwi is going to poop. Like Flapjack said, there are signals as to when they are about to poop. My son and I are masters of catching him and pointing him in the right spot. :)

[kimsbirds]

Birdie Potty Training = Owners Watching Body Language

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[nicole22]

Thank you! :)

[Pips mom]

Ahhhh, bird poop! You always run the risk of going to work with bird poop on your back and you don't even know it! :rofl: I guess it's just one of those things you learn to live with, and hey....at least it's small and doesn't stink!

[LauraO]

The easiest way to deal with bird poop is just to become desensitized to it :whistle:

I will say larger bird's poops are easier to deal with cause they don't poop as much. Birds with wing clips are also easier to manage in terms of where in the house they poop. We manage most of our poops by having birdy stations throughout the house where there is plastic on the floor.

Honestly, I find the food mess much harder to deal with than the poop. It's infuriating watching the birds fly across the room with a piece of corn in their mouth and drop it half way to their destination, or Cookie my meyers parrot who loves the sound of food crashing to the ground. He will empty out a whole fresh food bowel in two minutes and take zero food:x

[jk1944]

I have at least 4 containers of wipes in use for Ethel. If she lays a real "hummer", I bring out the PoopOff and new J rags.

However my 2 inside-their-huge-flight-cage budgies poop the most, being our poster fids for just eating anything! They're a positive credit to our Lovebird Forum advice to just "hang in there, be patient, keeping feeding the veggies, pellets, etc." It sure worked for the Rev and Sonny.