Greg Burkett (Owner of The Birdie Boutique in Durham & a certified Avian Vet) states that smaller birds like budgies excrete more frequently than larger birds like macaws.
How often do budgies poop? A budgie may poop around 3 to 4 times an hour and 40 to 50 times a day. Burkett says the reason budgies poop so frequently is the high metabolism that processes food quickly and lets them digest it in no time. Excreting the cloaca continuously keeps their weight to a minimum for flying swiftly and efficiently. Budgies poop least at night as they don’t poop while sleeping.
However, when they awake, they eliminate the whole supply of the night with a smelly and extensive amount of poop. The frequency of budgie’s poop, along with its color and texture, is an essential indication of their health. Let’s find out more information about their excretion so you know your pet budgie is healthy.
How Often Do Budgies Poop?
According to Karen Zielezienski (DVM in the Plantation Animal Hospital in Florida), how many times a bird poops a day is correlated to its size. He depicts that smaller birds excrete far more frequently than larger birds. Budgie is a smaller bird known to eliminate poop the most times in a day.
The stats say that budgies poop every 12 to 15 minutes, roughly four times an hour. Budgies sleep around 12 hours every night and don’t poop while sleeping. So, a healthy budgie poop around 40 to 50 times daily. It starts in the morning when budgies awake and excretes a lot of poop from the cloaca deposited at night.
One exception to that is the breeding budgies who lay eggs. They can hold droppings and excrete only 2 to 3 times every day in that period.
Why Do Budgies Poop So Frequently? Is It Healthy?
The avian veterinary Burkett says birds like budgies have frequent bathroom breaks due to their high metabolic rate. It makes them process the food quickly and get them digested in a short time.
Since birds are designed to fly quickly, they need light body weight. Birds have an internal chamber with openings known as the cloaca, from where the urinary and digestive waste gets eliminated. Frequent evacuation from the cloaca keeps the smaller birds like budgies maintain lightweight to fly efficiently.
How Much Should Your Budgie Poop?
The budgies poop the same amount every time except for the first-morning poop. But the volume can increase or decrease based on different conditions. If the budgie isn’t eating correctly, the amount can decrease.
But if the amount is more considerable than usual, you must first check what part of the dropping has increased. The enhancement of the green portion can indicate a digestive issue like the pancreatic disease that prevents normal fat digestion. If the volume of the liquid part has increased, it could probably be due to diabetes, polyuria, or kidney disease. In such cases, you’ve to seek medical attention.
What If Your Budgies Don’t Poop Enough or Can’t Poop?
If your budgie doesn’t poop enough, you must check out its diet and whether it’s regularly eating. But if the food intake isn’t interrupted for your budgie, the problem could be with its digestion.
Although constipation isn’t seen in birds, there could still be some blockage in the GI tract due to an egg stuck in the cloaca of a female budgie or some foreign body being blocked in other budgies’ GI tract. You must get your budgie checked by an avian vet if your budgie can’t or doesn’t poop enough.
Also read: Do Budgies Like to be Held?
What Do Different Colors & Textures of Budgie’s Poop Mean?
The budgie’s poop is comprised of feces, urine, and urates. The feces is the solid portion, urine is the liquid, and the urates is the creamy part of the poop. Here’s what the poop can indicate about your budgie’s health:
- A healthy poop will consist of olive green poop, mainly promoted by a seed-based diet. The urine usually is transparent, and the urate will have shades of white. The pelleted diet can cause a brownish tone in the budgie’s poop, and when it’s dried, it can turn black.
- For a sick budgie, the poop color can be yellow, mushy, or rusty brown, whereas the urates may be yellowish green in cases of a liver issue. The yellow urine color can also indicate a health concern. The coarse, mushy, watery, or unusually large feces can also mean something wrong with your budgie’s health.
Does Budgies Poop Smell?
Generally, budgie or other bird poop doesn’t have a foul odor like most mammals. It’s because they eat less protein, especially meat that contains odor-creating sulfides. They also don’t have anal glands or cecum like cats and dogs that secrete a foul odor.
So for a healthy budgie, the poop should have almost no odor. Poop that’s been held for too long (like the morning poop), or if it includes undigested food, can have a slightly more foul smell than usual. The foul odor can also mean some digestive issues, so keep an eye on the color and texture of the poop.
Cleaning the Budgie’s Poop
Wiping off the budgie’s poop from a hard surface is pretty straightforward. Use a wet paper towel and wipe. It shouldn’t feel cringe since it doesn’t smell. A poop that has dried out requires you to wet it for a few minutes, and it should quickly come off with gentle scraping.
Poop traces in the carpet or clothing should be cleaned after they’re dried. Bird-safe disinfectants or vinegar-water solutions can be used to clean the budgie’s place thoroughly.
Budgies are amazing pet birds that can be quickly potty trained. So it’ll poop on places that are suitable for you to clean.
FAQs
Here are some FAQs answered on the topic that you can check out.
Baby budgies poop as often as they’re fed, which means they poop a lot like most other newborns.
Although it sounds disgusting, coprophagia or eating own poop is sometimes seen in vegetarian birds, including budgies. They can eat feces or droppings, thinking of it as food. Budgies who’re hungry or lacking minerals are mostly seen doing so, and it’s not harmful if consumed in a tiny amount.
Related: How Often Do Budgies Molt?
Final Words
Small birds like budgies poop a lot, but that’ll not frustrate you as an owner. You’ll generally consider this with an “it happens” attitude. Besides, budgies’ poop isn’t smelly, it’s mostly dry, and they can clean themselves unless they have some digestive issues. Moreover, you can potty train your pet bird to poop where you want it to.
Your budgie must poop as frequently as 40 to 50 times a day. So keep an eye on your budgie to see if it’s excreting enough. Also, glance at the color and texture of your budgie’s poop, as it can indicate how well your budgie is digesting food. If it’s not excreting enough, or the poop has an abnormal color and texture, consult your vet immediately.
