Consistency of the droppings
A normal dropping of a budgie consists of a dark, firm range and a white urine portion in the center. The urine is of a creamy to firm consistency in general. If the bird drank much or ate fresh food, it is a bit more wet. If the condition of the droppings differs from the consistency described above during a longer period than two hours, this could indicate a beginning illness.

Very wet droppings and urine portions which contain more water than firm portions point on a kidney problem. If the excrements themselves are too wet, the bird probably suffers from diarrhoea. In both cases you should watch your bird very careful and should be alarmed. It is recommended to go and see your vet as soon as possible, since every now and then dangerous infections may be the cause for the things you've noticed.

If all the entire droppings look voluminous and the colour of the excrement portion is nearly the same than the one of the urine - the entire dropping is coloured light-grey or brightly grey-brown then -, this points on an infection of the pancreas. Please bring your budgie to your vet immediately. Such infections should be cured as soon as possible to save the bird's life!

Changes in the colour of the droppings
When you find reddish or dark-brown to black droppings, there may be blood causing this discolouration if you didn't give red food to your bird before. For example red beet or cherries as well as some kinds of berries temporarily lead to reddish droppings. In case the droppings remain discoloured in the described way for a longer period, it's better to contact a vet and tell him about it. The photo on the right shows a dropping that contains lots of blood.

Two different causes can lead to green droppings. Budgies who didn't eat anything for a longer time poop green, sticky droppings with almost normally coloured urine portions. Young budgies who recently left the nesting boxes occasionally eat few and therefore their droppings may be green what doesn't mean that they are ill. When they are more experienced in eating, their droppings will show the normal colours.

You should always try to find out why a young budgie doesn't eat much. Maybe the parents stopped feeding it and it is in danger of starving to death. Or maybe the chick suffers from a painful infection in his crop. You can recognize this by the sticky feathers on the budgie's head and in the face. If you have any particular suspect which points on an infection, the bird must be cured urgently by a vet who will use an antibiotic to save the chick's life.

Green excrements with yellow urine portions refer to a substantial disturbances of the internal organs. If the liver is damaged, the organism excretes biles what leads to the discolouration of excrement and urine. In case you notice such droppings you should go and see your vet. Liver problems for example can be caused by bacteria or viruses, most illnesses are curable.

Seeds in the droppings
If undigested grains or seeds show up in the droppings, see photo on the right, or if you can see pieces of vegetable or other fresh food in the excrements, the bird's digestion is strongly disturbed. The budgie is threatened by starvation or with deficiency symptoms if you do not bring him to a vet as fast as you can.

Occasionally it happens that droppings contain parasites such as roundworms. Usually this happens only during or after a bird has received a treatment to get such parasites out of its body. If you suddenly find a worm in an excrement of a budgie who wasn't treated against parasites before, it's an emergency and the bird must be examined by a vet immediately. Unfortunately internal parasites usually are very small and therefore it's hard to notice them.

Distribution of the droppings on the floor
You should consider the time of day when you try to find out something about your bird since different distribution patterns are typical for day and night.

During the night, a healthy bird remains perched at the same place and sleeps without any disturbance. The droppings therefore concentrate in a small area as you can see it in the left part of the illustration. If the bird is jerky and not sleeping well he moves in the cage or in the aviary at night. His droppings are wide spread on the floor what can be seen in the right part of the illustration. If the droppings are spread on the floor in such a manner, for example parasites like red mites may have disturbed the bird when he tried to get some sleep.

The situation is exactly in reverse during the day. A healthy and active budgie widely spreads its droppings on the floor. Concentrated amounts of droppings by day as shown in the right part of the illustration point on extended breaks and thus on a potentially existing illness.

Link tip: Do you want to discuss with experts and other bird owners about your bird's health? Then please feel free to visit the English forum of . Of course you will meet me there, too. My nickname is "Feenseeschwalbe".

This chapter in Turkish on muhabbetkusu.org