Bird Diapers

[Lilyab]

I would like some advice please, How can I potty train my Parrot she poops alootttttttttttttt , and please I need some advice about Bird diapers is it OK to use, or is it harmful for my baby..?

[Ashling]

First of all; what species? If it's a lorikeet.. good luck!!!
Whenever you see the signs that she is about to poop (fluffing up rear end feathers, shaking tail, backing up, squatting etc) say "go potty" and if she poops give her a treat and lots of praise. Soon she will realize "go potty" means she should go to the toilet. Now start training her to go to the place you want her to go (eg. piece of paper, a bin, her cage etc) Give her a chance every 10 minutes to go- put her in the desired place, say "go potty" and if she goes, treat and praise.
Don't teach her to only go when asked though, as some birds hold on until you tell them to go, and this can cause serious problems. She should want to go in the desired place because she gets treats and attention every time she goes there. My lorikeet knows what it means and can go when I ask, but goes everywhere anyway... it's not a really hard thing to train- you just have to be very motivated and persistent... and spend a lot of time with your bird.

[Laura65177]

Also I've read, most birds poop about 20-30 minutes apart.

Time when you pick them up, wait for them to poop then pick them up and keep time and look for signals, put said fid down again untill she poops (over paper) and give a verbal command, and you could possibly teach them to poop over paper, well at least not on your shoulder/unwanted area.
But there are issues as Ashling said, they can sometimes want to keep owner pleased that they will 'cross their legs' for too long and cause kidney damage.

[hopehaswings]

I have never heard of "bird diapers". Some birds poo all the time, others are much better, has a lot to do with diet and species. My blue front amazon, will rarely go on me, my harlequin macaw, seems to go about every 15 minutes wether you are holding him or not. Also some of them havemuch runnier messier poo then others.

[Lilyab]

Thank you guys for you reply...My parrot is a double yellow headed amazon she is ver hard headed specially that she is new to the house and to us as we are new to her i HAD HER NOW FOR 5 days only...she is getting used to me but she does not talk clearly at all she mummbles only and she poops alooootttttttttttt. but she is so sweet...Yesterday she and I slept on the sofa with her head squized between my arm. I will try to [potty train her...thank you

[Buteo]

I find our Gracie has to drop one about every 15-20 mins.

You can train parrots fairly easy to poop on command..
it takes patience, but more importantly it takes a higher level of attention & awareness of your bird so you know when it will need to relieve itself.

Our Gracie will poop on command..
LOL! I ususally say, "You Gotta poop?" just before we put her Flightsuit...
and I hear a little tiny nasal exhale (LOL! the equivalent of a birdy grunt) from her as she does. Good Bird!!

Getting a FID used to wearing a Flightsuit or "birdy diaper" is a bit more difficult.
I'll be honest, it's usually most sucessful when started at a young age.

It can be quite the process. The suit can feel somewhat restrictive- especially to a creature that's never had an item of clothing on it.
Introductions should be slow... You don't want the bird feeling like you are fitting them for the inside of some funny shaped snake. ;)

Of course, it does all depend on the bird.
Some birds will fight the suit beak & claw...
of course you realize in that situation, most likely that bird will be attempting to amputate any of human appendages that seem bent on helping the suit win.

Sadly some bird never get used to the feel of the suit...
Others, like our WCP, seem to accept it's presence gracefully (pardon the pun) after some initial disagreement with it.

BTW, Flight-suit use has time limits too.
With Grace, her poops aren't really huge and most of the time they are quite solid, so she can have her suit on for 4-5 hours before you need to remove the suit and change the liner pad. The bigger & messier the droppings, the more often you will need to

***Note if you want to try using a flightsuit, I'd like to point out a personal modification I've made for Gracie's suit in my BB photo section. It's an easy to make extra liquid-proof liner that I insert to help prevent any looser or watery droppings from soaking through the suit.







OH yes....
As cute as it is....it is very unwise to sleep with a FID.
You can roll over & trap it, crushing or even accidently smothering it.....
More than one bird owner has made that tragic mistake.

[DeaGrain]

I taught my M2 to poop on command. I hold him over a trash can, say "bombs away" and he poops. It took me about 2 hours (maybe a little longer) to teach him. I would give the command and when he did, praise him lavishly! I did it a few times and he got the message. Everytime he does it on command, I praise him lavishly (which he likes). Also I don't like the "birdie diapers", to me it is just yuck! But I have never used them, its just a personal opinion.