The thought of putting a diaper on a bird that is known to constantly poop (such as a cockatiel or budgie) might sound fine at first.

However, even though it will be convenient for you, it won’t be very sanitary for your bird and it’s actually disgusting and uncomfortable for them.

Unfortunately, these bird diapers are becoming more popular among bird owners.

It’s understandable to not want poop on the floor or on your furniture, but there are ways to manage poop, putting your bird in a diaper is not a good poop management plan.

The truth is, you can’t eliminate poop from bird ownership, it’s something all bird owners need to deal with.

Quick Navigation

• What Are Bird Diapers/Flight Suits
• Do Birds Like Diapers?
• Why Are Bird Diapers Unhygienic?
• Why Do People Use Bird Diapers?
• Short Summary

My goal with this article is not to make anybody feel guilty if they use bird diapers, my goal is to help you understand why diapers are unhygienic and unnecessary to be used on your bird.

So, firstly…

What Are Bird Diapers/Flight Suits

Bird diapers, also known as flight suits, are cloth pieces that go under your birds bum and over their chest like overalls.

It’s equipped in a similar way to a harness except it doesn’t have a leash and it goes right under their bum to catch and store their droppings.

It’s exactly like a human baby diaper.

Here’s what they look like on a cockatiel:

Bird diapers come in different styles, patterns, and sizes but all function the same way.

They don’t restrict your birds wings, but they’ll feel uncomfortable while flying as the diaper and their dirty baggage is dragging them down.

You can spend weeks or months trying to train your bird to wear a diaper similar to how you would harness train them, I believe that would be a waste of time as you could use that time and effort to come up with an effective poop management plan without diapers.

Do Birds Like Diapers?

From what I’ve seen, birds like wearing diapers just as much as they like wearing harnesses, some parrots don’t mind if they can get used to it or get properly trained to wear them.

Although they can get used to it, they would most definitely prefer to not wear it at all.

Even if the birds didn’t mind wearing the diapers, it wouldn’t change the fact that it is unhygienic for them to be wearing it, especially for long periods.

Why Are Bird Dipaers Unhygienic

Bird diapers are gross for the reason that you may have already guessed…

The poop gets collected and is sitting right near your birds vent for however long owners wish to leave it there, that is unnatural and disgusting.

Birds in the wild are never anywhere near their poop.

Not only is it just plain gross, but having a bird diaper on will restrict your bird from preening their chest and rear end as the diaper is in the way.

Birds should always be given full access to their own feathers.

Not even harnesses cover as much of the body as these bird diapers do.

The feathers in those areas simply won’t be as beautiful as they are constantly being covered by a cloth piece that prevents them from preening.

Your bird will want to move and fly around while wearing the diaper, this will cause the poop stored in the diaper to splash around and be in constant contact with their clean feathers.

This means you’ll need to bathe your bird every time you remove the diaper as the poop has made their feathers dirty.

The bird won’t be the only thing that needs cleaning…

You’ll also need to thoroughly wash the diaper before the next use as stored poop can spread harmful bacteria if left for long periods.

There will be more work for you if you decide to use a bird diaper.

Now you know that bird diapers are not only gross and unnecessary, but they are definitely not convenient for you.

Especially compared to simply laying out disposable materials in known poop zones to catch your birds poop.

Why Do People Use Bird Diapers?

Most people who use bird diapers are doing so for their own convenience, not for the sake of their bird.

Look, there is nothing wrong with doing things to make it more convenient for you as long as it doesn’t affect your bird, but diapers affect the cleanliness of your bird.

Pet birds poop more often than most other pets, anyone who has adopted a bird should already be prepared to deal with excessive poop.

Using a bird diaper should not be part of the plan.

Click here to learn a few tips on keeping a tidy house with messy birds

The linked article goes into how you can keep your house poop free without a diaper on your bird.

No bird owner likes bird poop on the floor, I personally like to keep all areas of my home poop free as much as I can, but I also realize that it’s not going to be clean at all times.

This is something all bird owners accept when adopting a bird.

Another reason people buy these bird diapers is due to the lack of discouragement, most sources or online shopping pages will promote bird diapers in a way that makes buyers think they are key to keeping a clean house.

Although bird diapers do help keep the house clean, the pages that promote this will skip over the negative effects it has on birds who wear them.

These pages probably only care about making a quick buck from selling you bird diapers even when they’re not in the best interest of your bird.

Just because something is being sold on Amazon, Etsy, eBay, or other e-commerce websites, does not mean they are any good, this often goes double for pet products.

Short Summary

This was more of an opinion post than a factual, evidence-based post, I personally would not use a bird diaper on my cockatiel due to the reasons mentioned and I definitely wouldn’t encourage others to use them either.

It’s unnatural, unhygienic, and completely unnecessary to strap a diaper to a bird in my opinion.

Again, this article was not made to offend anyone who might be using bird diapers, it’s to bring attention to the lack of cleanliness that comes with using bird diapers.

I personally believe that the time and energy spent on training a bird to wear a diaper should be spent on other training, such as harness training or free flight training.

These training programs actually benefit your bird, diaper training does not.

I also think that people who use bird diapers are not doing it for their birds but for their own convenience.

Your convenience should not be the driving factor that encourages you to do something with your bird.

I strongly encourage anyone thinking of using bird diapers to think about why they are actually using them and if they’re really going to benefit your bird.