At some point, you’ve likely witnessed your cockatiel eating their dried poop from the floor of the cage.

And you’re right to be concerned about this.

Too much poop consumption can lead to some nasty health problems in your cockatiel.

In this article, you’re going to learn the most common reasons why cockatiels eat their own poop and how you can prevent it from happening.

Quick Navigation:

• Nutrient Deficiency
• Boredom
• Cleaning Their Environment
• Other Uncommon Reasons Why Cockatiels Eat Poop
• What If My Cockatiel Eats Too Much Poop?
• Conclusion
• Sources

First, we’ll go through the two most common reasons why cockatiels do this.

Nutrient Deficiency

One of the most common reasons for cockatiels eating their poop is nutrient deficiency.

If they are lacking certain nutrients, they may try to find those nutrients in their poop.

According to Beakcraze.com, cockatiels can sense when they’re lacking certain nutrients, which causes them to seek out the missing nutrients in their poop.

If this is true, we can assume they’re lacking the nutrients that are found in their poop.

Cockatiel poop is known to contain traces of the following nutrients:

• Amino acids
• C vitamins
• B vitamins
• Choline

If a cockatiel is eating poop, they could be lacking 1 or more of those nutrients.

To help solve nutrient deficiency, you should be providing different nutritious vegetables to your cockatiel.

Nutrient deficiencies are often caused by a lack of vegetable variety.

You should definitely give a few different vegetables to your cockatiel every day.

Specifically, you should offer vegetables that contain the nutrients found in poop, that way your cockatiel won’t need to eat poop to get those nutrients.

Here’s a list of all safe vegetables for cockatiels.

Vegetables that contain vitamin C:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Spinach
• Mango
• Brussel sprouts

Vegetables that contain vitamin B:

• Romaine lettuce
• Spinach
• Egg
• Green beans
• Peas

Foods that contain amino acids:

• Broccoli
• Egg
• Green beans
• Peas
• Meats
• Carrots
• Corn
• Romaine lettuce
• Parsley

(Amino acids are absorbed after the protein has been digested in the body, if the food is high in protein, they’ll get plenty of amino acids)

Foods that contain choline:

• Meats (chicken, beef, fish)
• Egg
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Brussel sprouts
• Cooked lima beans (NOT RAW)
• Green beans

Typically, if you’re feeding a varied enough diet to your cockatiel, nutrient deficiencies shouldn’t be a problem and are likely not the cause of poop eating.

Boredom

If not given enough opportunity to shred and forage, cockatiels will resort to chewing random things in the cage which can lead them to eating their poop.

Cockatiels need engaging activities for them to be happy.

Wild cockatiels spend around 70% of their time foraging for food in their environment.

They will quickly become bored without enough good toys that properly stimulate natural behaviors.

If they can’t find anything to mimic their natural activities, they’ll chew their poop instead.

Good toys act as an outlet for destructive and foraging behaviors.

Cockatiels need both shredding and foraging toys to be mentally stimulated, busy, and happy.

This fun toy offers both shredding and foraging opportunities to your bird.

If your cockatiel still regularly eats their poop even after you add more toys, it could be because of the next reasons we’re about to discuss…

Cleaning Their Environment

Observe your cockatiel closely…

Are they actually eating their poop, or are they just picking it up and flinging it away?

Wild cockatiels have been documented cleaning their environment, they’ve been seen removing feathers, debris, and dried droppings from their trees.

If the cage gets too dirty, your cockatiel will start removing the droppings themselves.

If your cockatiel is always cleaning their poop from the cage, it could mean that you need to do more for their cage hygiene.

This could be their way of telling you to “pick up the slack”.

You can help this problem by keeping the cage as poop free as possible.

They can’t eat what’s not there, right?

I clean my cockatiels cage once or sometimes twice a day.

This means I replace the cage liner every day to prevent excessive poop build-up, I also wipe the bars of the cage so poop can’t build up there either.

No poop in the cage = No poop eating.

Other Uncommon Reasons Why Cockatiels Eat Poop

The reasons we just went through were the most common causes of poop eating.

However, there are other less common reasons why cockatiels engage in this gross behavior.

Here are some other possible reasons cockatiels eat poop:

Seeds In The Poop

Food that hasn’t been digested properly will be whole within the droppings.

This is especially the case with small seeds.

As you may know, cockatiels have no idea what they shouldn’t eat, they’ll see seeds in the poop and won’t hesitate to eat them.

If your cockatiels droppings have full pieces of any food in them, SEE A VET!

This indicates a digestive issue and is not a healthy occurrence.

Smelly Poops

Droppings that emit a strong odor will spark curiosity in your cockatiel, causing them to investigate the dropping.

Investigations for cockatiels often involved tasting, licking, and eating.

Cockatiel poop shouldn’t have any strong, distinct smells to it.

If you notice any strange smells coming from the droppings or the cage, it may be worth a vet visit, or at least a thorough clean of the entire cage with hot soapy water.

What If My Cockatiel Eats Too Much Poop

The fact that you want to stop this behavior means you already know that this is a problem.

There are definitely problems that can occur with cockatiels eating poop.

Dried, old cockatiel poop is the ideal breeding ground for harmful bacteria that can infect your bird.

Bacterial infections, especially severe cases, can be life-threatening to parrots.

Among other things, this is the main risk and concern of excessive poop consumption.

Conclusion

Cockatiels will eat their poop for a number of reasons that include:

• Nutrient deficiency
• Boredom/Lack of engaging toys
• Cleaning their environment
• Food in their poop
• The poop stinks

Stress can also cause poop eating in certain situations.

Being stressed may cause a cockatiel to aggressively eat their poop if it’s nearby.

To help prevent them from eating poop, you should:

• Provide them with vegetables high in different nutrients
• Offer more opportunities to forage and shred
• Keep their cage as clean as you can

Consult with your vet if your cockatiel is still eating poop after you’ve implemented the suggested changes.

Vets will always have more solutions.

I hope this was helpful.

Sources

• https://www.justanswer.com/bird-vet/5uxfq-does-young-cockatiel-eat-its-own-poo.html
• https://cleverpetowners.com/why-is-my-cockatiel-eating-his-own-poop/
• https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/questions/parrots-eating-poop/
• https://beakcraze.com/why-your-cockatiel-is-eating-its-own-poop/
• https://www.allaboutparrots.com/why-do-parrots-eat-their-own-poop/
• https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/61646#1
• https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/birds.html
• https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/vitamin-c-and-your-health
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-b-foods
• https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002222.htm
• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-choline