• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

poopy birds

safiya

Moving in
Joined
12/7/21
Messages
5
Real Name
safiya
hi, my snowy laid 4 eggs, i have 4 new members. 8 days, 7 days, 5 days and 3 days old. i am keeping them on a kitchen towel inside a nesting box. i change the towel 2 times a day, but still they are covered in poop. please tell me what to put as a bedding and how to remove their dried poop
 

Pixiebeak

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
6/18/22
Messages
7,320
Location
USA
Real Name
Laura
Newspaper might be better. But those who have had clutches and babies will be sure to add.
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,373
Location
Reino de España
Wood shavings is optimum bedding. Ideally Aspen, but coarse pine is ok also. NEVER cedar, and avoid fine pine.

Pour the shavings in, gently press down, and then make a dist and make a dent near a corner for the huddle to go in.

To clean, Line a bowl or tupper box with kitchen paper, or unscented kleenex, and place the chicks in there while you take the nest box, empty over the bin, scrape out (I find a scrap of cardboard makes a great tool for this), scrape all the poops off the corner and walls of the nest, then throw the cardoard scraper away, and refill the shavings.

When I have very young chicks, I just spot clean (pick up single poops as best I can) until they are a good few days old to avoid disrupting the nest too early. There´s always risk of the parents abandoning the nest, low but it happens, so it´s best to wait for chicks to be 5 days old before putting our hands in there unless absolultely necessary (makes for easier hand rearing should the worst happen).

Kitchen paper and newspaper are not acceptable nest bedding, They are things to use in emergencies (when finding injured pigeons etc). When we have the nest at home, those eggs didn´t incubate overnight, we had a few weeks to prepare and get the materials they need.

Inadequate bedding is the number one cause of spraddle leg (splayed legs), a life altering and easily avoidable condition.
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
2/22/17
Messages
1,780
I use small 18x24 poppy pads. Kitchen towels can be dangerous. It only takes one loose thread to wrap around a toe or leg and a bird could get seriously injured. Soft shredded aspen works well as a bedding. It’s absorbent and will help with the poop. You can use a wet paper towel to damped the poop until it comes off. Sometimes my baby green wing gets it crusted in his feet. I hold him in one hand and run warm water over it until it loosens up enough to come off. Don’t let it sit too long. It can be corrosive and will damage their feed if left too long.
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,373
Location
Reino de España
I use small 18x24 poppy pads.
Are these for your bigger bird babies? OP´s birds are budgies (found that info in a prev. thread).
 

Pixiebeak

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
6/18/22
Messages
7,320
Location
USA
Real Name
Laura
I've found this to be a good resource article. Under bedding it mentions using paper towels for the first 2 weeks. Its aldo notes the poop issues when using towels.
" Bedding
Young babies, less than two weeks of age, can be kept on paper towels in plastic cups, re-used yogurt containers or small aquariums. Babies should be sitting on clean and dry bedding which is therefore changed at each feeding. This may not provide firm enough footing for some birds which should be transferred onto paper or wood shavings or towels to avoid splayed legs. When babies are two-three weeks old, we transfer the babies to a small plastic containers that contain a few layers of newspaper under a few inches of wood shavings.Corn cob, walnut shell and pellet type bedding are not popular or losing favour with aviculturists because of various drawbacks."
" Some babies may have a tendency to eat shavings, perhaps as a result of other complications such as calorie deficient diets or excess heat. Using towels has the advantage of being able to clearly see the baby’s droppings but the feet and feathers can get caked up with feces and time and energy must be spent on washing towels. Disposable diapers are expensive and wasteful. Babies stay cleaner when they are kept on processed paper product or shavings."
 
Last edited:

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,373
Location
Reino de España
I've found this to be a good resource article. Under bedding it mentions using paper towels for the first 2 weeks. Its aldo notes the poop issues when using towels.
" Bedding
Young babies, less than two weeks of age, can be kept on paper towels in plastic cups, re-used yogurt containers or small aquariums. Babies should be sitting on clean and dry bedding which is therefore changed at each feeding. This may not provide firm enough footing for some birds which should be transferred onto paper or wood shavings or towels to avoid splayed legs. When babies are two-three weeks old, we transfer the babies to a small plastic containers that contain a few layers of newspaper under a few inches of wood shavings.Corn cob, walnut shell and pellet type bedding are not popular or losing favour with aviculturists because of various drawbacks."
" Some babies may have a tendency to eat shavings, perhaps as a result of other complications such as calorie deficient diets or excess heat. Using towels has the advantage of being able to clearly see the baby’s droppings but the feet and feathers can get caked up with feces and time and energy must be spent on washing towels. Disposable diapers are expensive and wasteful. Babies stay cleaner when they are kept on processed paper product or shavings."
Keep in mind the birds in the article are orphans living in brooders, they´ve been pulled from their parents. You can´t put chicks in a small yoghurt pot inside the nestbox and then expect the hen to be able to brood.
Another consideration is species, a macaw at two weeks is not the same development as a budgie.

Given the age of the chicks in the original post, they don´t need the paper on top of the shavings.

Shavings alone will be the best substrate for these birds.

(Side note, @Pixiebeak I´m not knocking the article at all, it´s full of great brooder and rearing info! But that´s not what OP has going on in their situation currently.)
 

Pixiebeak

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
6/18/22
Messages
7,320
Location
USA
Real Name
Laura
Oh definitely, not for chicks with parents ! Did miss that they were with parents. Agree Zara

The link does have lots of good stuff, not just for macaws.
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
2/22/17
Messages
1,780
Are these for your bigger bird babies? OP´s birds are budgies (found that info in a prev. thread).
I use them for conures as well. I just cut them into smaller squares as I need to.
 

safiya

Moving in
Joined
12/7/21
Messages
5
Real Name
safiya
Thank you all for the great information, will try it.
 
Top