Identifying the differences between healthy and unhealthy poop is tough for many cockatiel owners. 

A lot of people simply don’t know what to look for.

But learning what normal and abnormal droppings look like will help you spot any health issues early, which could potentially save your cockatiel’s life.  

This article aims to help you understand those key differences so you can better judge the health of your bird.

Warning! This article contains gross images of bird poop.

What Healthy Cockatiel Droppings Look Like

Cockatiel poops are made up of 3 parts:

• Feces – The main part of the dropping, also the most solid

• Urate – The white “yolk” semi-solid part of the poop

• Urine – Clear liquid urine

Healthy poops spiral and are solid with a semisolid white urate within the centre of the feces. They also contain a small amount of clear liquid urine. The fecal matter will normally be brown or green, depending on the diet, but can also reflect the colour of recently eaten fruits or vegetables, which is still healthy.

Please see the cockatiel poop chart below for more info on healthy droppings:

Signs Of An Unhealthy Cockatiel Poop

An abnormal dropping is anything other than what your cockatiels poop normally looks like.

Abnormal droppings are often unhealthy droppings.

If the poop looks different and you don’t believe this has anything to do with a diet change, it could indicate a health issue and it may be worth consulting your vet. Below I’m going to discuss some common abnormalities found in cockatiel droppings and what they could mean.

Watery Or Runny Poops

According to PetKeen, a few watery droppings throughout the day could mean some food isn’t going down too well with your cockatiel or they’ve overeaten.

They also say this isn’t usually a problem.

However, it’s a different story if watery droppings persist for more than 24 hours as this could indicate a health problem, such as diarrhea among others.

Eating wet foods, as well as stress, can also cause watery poops.

Watery cockatiel droppings look like mostly urine with small bits of semi-solid feces, as shown below:

Discoloured Droppings

Although the foods eaten by your cockatiel will affect the colour of their poop, you should be cautious if the droppings are becoming strangely discoloured…

Especially if the colour doesn’t match what they’ve recently been eating.

You should be particularly worried if your tiels droppings are bright red as that could mean a whole range of horrible things, some of which include:

• Heavy metal poisoning
• Bleeding from the digestive tract
• Intestinal infections
• Parasites
• Tumours

Super dark black or “tarry” droppings can also indicate those same problems plus bleeding from the upper digestive tract.

Other odd colours unrelated to what they’ve eaten should be taken as a concern.

Less Frequent Droppings

Cockatiels normally poop every 10 – 20 minutes, which can add up to 40+ poops in a 12-hour day.

Some individual birds poop slightly more or less often.

A significant reduction in your cockatiels poop cycle often means your bird is eating less than what it should be, which could indicate another issue.

Birds often eat less when they’re feeling sick.

If you notice infrequent droppings, you should closely monitor your bird while they’re eating to see if they’re actually eating the normal amount of food.

If they’re not, a vet visit is recommended.

The Best Way To Monitor Your Bird’s Droppings

Monitoring your cockatiel’s droppings daily is the best way to spot illnesses early before they worsen.

So, what’s the easiest way to monitor their poop?

By looking at the cage liner!

If you use any type of paper as your cage liner, such as newspaper, you’ll easily be able to check the daily batch of poop for any abnormalities. I suggest using plain white paper over newspaper as it’s just easier to see all 3 parts of the droppings, including the clear urine.

However, if you use wood shavings as the cage liner, it’ll be extremely hard to inspect the droppings as they’ll mix in with the substrate.

There’s nothing bad about wooden shavings as cage liners, but you should change it to white paper if you want to monitor your bird’s droppings accurately.

It’s also a good idea to place paper beneath perches outside of the cage for monitoring.

How To Properly & Easily Clean Cockatiel Poop

Although your bird’s droppings can help judge their overall health, you don’t want them lying all over your nice clean house.

They need to be properly cleaned up.

Fresh droppings can easily be wiped away using toilet paper or a wet wipe, but hardened poops need a little extra to be 100% sanitary. How I deal with these is by wiping away the hardened piece of poop with a wet wipe and using a towel soaked in hot (almost boiling) water to remove the remaining stubborn stain.

I do this at the end of each day while spot-cleaning for poops outside of the cage.

You need to do something a little different while cleaning your perches.

Cockatiel Eating Poop? Read This…

A common problem I want to quickly provide a solution for in this article is when cockatiels eat their own poop.

It’s gross, unsanitary, and often seems impossible to prevent.

But it’s not…

My super simple solution to this problem is to remove all poop from the cage and surrounding area!

They can’t eat what’s not there 🙂

I know, this doesn’t address the cause of the problem (which could be anything), but if your bird won’t stop eating their poop, you need to just get rid of it before they get sick. You could also try setting your bird somewhere they can’t reach their droppings, like on a high perch outside the cage, for example.

Read more about tiels’ eating their own feces…

Is Cockatiel Poop Toxic To Humans?

Yes, your cockatiel’s droppings can make you sick if you inhale or consume it in any way. Of course, nobody would do this purposefully, but it can happen accidentally if you don’t wash your hands after cleaning the cage, for example.

The CDC even suggests not touching pet bird droppings at all with bare hands.

Another thing you should be aware of is that parrots infected with the psittacosis disease can spread the illness to humans through droppings.

Again, all it takes is for the human to consume a bit of feces from infected parrots.

A lot of other illnesses can be spread via droppings to humans and other birds.

Healthy bird droppings also contain bacteria that can be harmful to humans.

Overall, cockatiel poop is toxic to humans, especially if the bird is infected with a disease, so make sure you wash your hands after handling any of your bird’s items.

Conclusion | Short Summary

Before ending this article, I want to quickly summarise everything you’ve learnt here today!

Firstly, what is a healthy-looking cockatiel poop?

Healthy cockatiel droppings include brown or green fecal matter, a white urate in the centre, and a little clear liquid urine.

Some healthy-looking droppings:

See the poop chart below for more info on a healthy cockatiel dropping:

Secondly, what does an unhealthy cockatiel poop look like?

Unhealthy droppings show abnormal characteristics or anything different to what your bird’s normal poop looks like. Any unusual changes to the appearance of your cockatiels droppings should be considered abnormal.

Watery or runny droppings could indicate:

• Diarrhea
• Overeating
• Stress
• Eating lots of vegetables or fruits
• Eating wet foods

According to PetKeen, watery droppings are only a concern if they’ve been happenings for more than a day, which is when you should book a vet visit.

Discoloured droppings could indicate a whole range of things.

Sometimes, bird poop will reflect the colour of recently eaten fruits or vegetables. However, it’s a concern if the discoloured poop doesn’t match anything that has recently been consumed.

Bright red or black poops should be a concern as those colours often indicate health problems.

Sources:

• https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/birds.html
• https://petkeen.com/diarrhea-in-cockatiels/
• https://petkeen.com/
• https://www.omlet.co.uk/guide/parrots/parrots_and_disease/catching_diseases/
• https://nilesanimalhospital.com/files/2012/05/The-Dropping-_-An-Indicator-of-Health.pdf
• https://www.cockatielcottage.net/droppings.html