Orange droppings, aggressive behavior

[OLIVERhys]

Worrying about the birds again.. I get very easily paranoid the second something might be wrong. It's driving my family up the wall. But, I read through the guide on healthy vs sick budgie poo, and didn't see anything matching what I just saw in Coda's cage tonight. Her droppings are a strange slightly brown shade of orange, though the urates seems normal. She's also gotten more aggressive than my other little bully- she's always been somewhat of a bully but only to Tenor, and now she's actively being mean to Forte (the more aggressive one), too. I don't know if the two would be at all related, I'm just including it in case it's pertinent information for her health. Is something wrong with her?

I have been trying to get the entire group to eat something other than seeds, I still cannot get them to eat any fruits- They came from a store, which was feeding them a seed diet- but I've mixed pellets and some dried fruit at my friends' mother's advice (she evidently used to raise birds). It didn't seem like any of them were eating the pellets that I could tell, but if Coda started to, would that cause the change in color?

[Marianne Marlow]

Do you have a photo of the droppings. It could certainly be what you have fed them. Mine have orange droppings when they have a lot of carrot, also when they chew on toys with an orange vegetable dye in them.

[birdguhl]

Look out for pink droppings if they get into beetroot! It gave me quite a fright when I first saw them.

[OLIVERhys]

Oct 10, 2020 16:23:24 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Do you have a photo of the droppings. It could certainly be what you have fed them. Mine have orange droppings when they have a lot of carrot, also when they chew on toys with an orange vegetable dye in them.

Uhh I do- update: this morning Coda seems to be doing alright? I put her away from the others in case she is sick and she isn’t happy about it at all though.

[OLIVERhys]

Update again- One of the other birds’ droppings are orange now, too, and stain the papers at the bottom of the cage. I’m really hoping the two of them aren’t sick?

[Hezz]

Before you have a big panic, and seriously I don't see anything too terrible in those poops to be concerned about, check what is on the other side of the paper you have down. There could be an ad or picture with a lot of orange on it - rooky mistake to have a panic over "coloured poop" when it is only the dye coming through from the other side of the paper. I see coloured pellets there as well. That will definitely change the colour of their poops.

Someone in the mix has done a couple of green poops as though they haven't been eating properly, I'd keep an eye on that. The only way to be sure who's doing what is to have them all in their own separate space.

[OLIVERhys]

Oct 11, 2020 0:33:10 GMT Hezz said:

Before you have a big panic, and seriously I don't see anything too terrible in those poops to be concerned about, check what is on the other side of the paper you have down. There could be an ad or picture with a lot of orange on it - rooky mistake to have a panic over "coloured poop" when it is only the dye coming through from the other side of the paper. I see coloured pellets there as well. That will definitely change the colour of their poops.

Someone in the mix has done a couple of green poops as though they haven't been eating properly, I'd keep an eye on that. The only way to be sure who's doing what is to have them all in their own separate space.

Yeah, they all were making the colouration of droppings for a seed diet (the green, right?)- I've been trying to get them to eat fruit and pellets and two are still refusing. My hope is that the two making orange droppings are just finally eating the pellets (they have their own spaces now/I know who's making what and put the ones that aren't making orange droppings away from the other two.) I'll definitely check the other side of the paper though, didn't think about that.

[Hezz]

The green droppings are not from eating greens, or seed, but rather from NOT eating enough at all. If you have been fiddling with their diet, that could well be the cause.

[OLIVERhys]

Oct 11, 2020 9:26:30 GMT Hezz said:

The green droppings are not from eating greens, or seed, but rather from NOT eating enough at all. If you have been fiddling with their diet, that could well be the cause.

Oh! Hm. Alright. Thank you for informing me. The information I had said that was just seed diet colour. I'll make sure to keep track of that and how much the little guys seem to be eating then, I'll probably let them eat just what they were earlier? I just wish I could get them to eat something aside from seeds, they're very stubborn little guys.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Rather than focusing on them eating pellets, how about offering them fresh veggies and herbs? Many people have had success with hanging "leafy" greens like Romaine lettuce, basil, grass, dill, initially to get them to try fresh stuff.

[mona]

I would agree with tweetiepiesmom

Since day 1, I have been hanging spinach, coriander, lettuce, mint - any green leafy veggies as per the recommended amounts and frequency. They sometimes just start with playing with the leaves in the beginning, but end up tasting it. I guess that also resembles their natural env..with green leaves hanging here and there..! 🥰


Other veggies which they don't eat, I chop them finely with a food processor (separate one for the birds). I mix this chop with sprouts.

With sudden changes, the birds might stop eating and end up starving otherwise. During the first day of diet conversion back then, I observed my birds searching for their seeds in the entire chop..it would seem like they are eating, but actually they would be just searching. You would also not want them to scream, be frustrated or irritated over food, which was the case with one of my birds too, who otherwise was very chilled out. So, I changed the approach to go very slow and take as much time as required. started with 70 percent seeds and 30 percent chop + sprouts. Gradually changed it over to include more sprouts and less seeds and so on.. The response to diet conversion would also depend on the bird persona. Generally if one of them tries it out, others follow, being the curious ones they are! 🥰

[Morgan]

If there is food coloring in their new food it will change the color of their poops. You might want to try a pellet that doesn’t have any added colors or sugar especially. There is no reason for a food to have dyes in them, even if they are safe, and as you have already found out it can make pop-monitoring a pain. As others have said before, slowly transitioning them to their new diet is better than a sudden switch. As to eating pellets (advantage is they can’t be picky eaters), don’t stop feeding some seeds either (fresh foods over processed any day). As to eating fruits specifically - wild budgies don’t eat a lot of fruit either and too much sugar in their diet is really bad for them - can potentially cause Megabacteria. Try clipping veggies up for them in their cage daily until they become used to them and try them, or you can try turning them into “toys” by cutting veg into long strips or thin slices and clipping them together to hang in the cage like a colorful shreddable toy.