YouTube Parrot Poop

[Atomiklan]

Alright so this has been bugging me since day one...

I have been living with my finches for a few months now and Lada has been with me for a week or two now and I still have trouble understanding the magic of "YouTube poop". Allow me to explain as I know you are probably pretty confused.

I have learned to deal with the finches poop pretty well. They poop just outside the cage which I catch with paper towels, they poop on the play stand, etc. The point is, they poop a lot and I manage to contain most of it.

Same with Lada, she poops a lot and since she was never trained by her parront, she goes wherever and whenever she likes as if she is just a jumbo sized finch haha. Ok so now for the question. I don't understand how all these people have their parrots out on their furniture, on their carpets, etc. without any blankets or anything else protecting them. It's seriously as if every parrot on YouTube NEVER poops... Now I know what most of you are gonna say in response to this:

1. They train the bird to prevent accidents.
2. People just don't upload videos of their parrot pooping on the couch.
3. They keep a close watch on the clock and take the parrot back to playstand or cage when poopy time comes.

Is this really all there is to it? Am I alone in my amazement of all the poop free videos on YouTube? Do people just get used to having accidents on the couch, floors, etc. and just clean it up constantly? Doesn't that eventually leave your carpets looking pretty disgusting and potentially unhealthy?

As you can tell, I am still getting used to being a bird owner and having to deal with poop constantly. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Clueless]

I've been to a house with a lot of free flying birds. They told me the birds use the bathroom when they land on their places such as tree stand, etc.

I have to admit, while I was there that evening I didn't see one use the bathroom in any area other than that.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I actually just do what you said, clean it up as they go! A little vinegar and water and you never will know it was there. Or if it's dry it flakes off easily. I'm a neat freak too! If I know my bird will be somewhere for a while, I will put down a blanket or something. You get used to the poop!

 

[Clueless]

I owned dogs and cats before the parrots moved in.

Poo happens......theirs is just way smaller

 

[Atomiklan]

Poo happens

 

[Mizzely]

My parrots have always pooped more often right before they fly than any other time. They also hang their butt over the side so as to not poop exactly where they are standing.

Knowing this, I can predict where i need the most coverage. I create favorite roosts for my birds using atoms and boings, and they tend to use those the most. So, this considerably cuts down on the places they poop. I then only have to spot clean the couch etc a few times a day. I rarely have poop on the carpet.

 

[Atomiklan]

Knowing this, I can predict where i need the most coverage. I create favorite roosts for my birds using atoms and boings

Yeah, I have lately been trying to do the same. This is why I just built them some new perches just the other day: Perch OVERKILL! | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

You're right about take off too. I think the only time I have seen the finches poop in flight is when they were really scared mid flight. Something literally scared the s*** out of them

I guess my question is more specific to less controlled and clearly non ideal locations for them to poop. Like on the couch and if you're letting them play on the carpet.

Caiques seem to LOVE to play and roll around on the carpet. Since I am still strongly considering one of these, I am preparing myself for this eventuality.

 

[Familyof12]

We've raised kids for so long that we have all leather couches (easy to wipe) and everything is washable. Their poops are so little and easy to clean after raising my own kids, puppies, kitten, turtles, frogs, lizards and chickens through the years, it's not something I've really thought about other than for health (theirs and ours).

I wash the bird room down daily by scrubbing (water/vinegar) using gloves (it's the body scrub gloves) and then wipe with towels then vacuum, daily. We own a Dyson wet vacuum (once a month) and a Dyson Ball vacuum, it's heavy but fantastic attachments for hard to get places (daily). We are vacuum people (I'm saving for the new portable Dyson V8). They poop in the same places usually. I have a wall up high they love to hit (I think they are doing target practice on the wall-I'm about ready to put up a bullseye sticker) and the rest is on the window sills (someone here said to put liner paper and works great). I soak with warm water and then put my scratchy gloves on and scrub. Their poops are cute, I can sometimes tell Sola's apart from everyone else, the way I know which puppy made any "accidents" by sight.

Mine poop in their sleep. Usually there is a little pile under them (except lovebird) in the morning when we open their cages.

 

[finchly]

I too have noticed the poop-free videos. And the FINCH PERCHES oh my gosh. They must video the moment after they change them out! My vids always show poop.

I think the bigger guys control it a little better, Ernie rarely poops on me and waits until he's back at his cage. Through the day he hardly goes inside the cage so his is all on a newspaper I place under his outside perch. In the living room he'll go when he is on his swing so that's another place for papers on the floor.

Finches.... I had some ladies over doing crafts one day and looked up from this 'tools' table I had against the wall. There were at least 6 finch poops on the wall! I scrubbed it as soon as they left....ugh.

 

[Familyof12]

I'm cracking up! I cannot imagine people don't know birds poop. The eat crumble, some seed, lots of veggies and fruits. Their poops aren't that bad.

 

[cassiesdad]

Poo happens.....

When we go visiting, I always go over some "ground rules" before we take our birds out of their cages. The first rule stated is "Poop Happens." At school visits, that always gets the kids laughing.
And then there's the story about Cassie...for all you veteran roadies, you know the story, so please indulge me while I tell it for our newbies.

A few years ago, I was at a nursing home making a visit with our birds. I went to get Cassie out of her cage, and she hopped right onto my hand. During my talk, Cass began "the wiggle"...she was about to poop. When she let it go, I stuck out my free hand...and caught the poop in mid-air..and continued talking.
Cassie turned around and stared at me...and the residents applauded my "catch"...

 

[Atomiklan]

I stuck out my free hand...and caught the poop in mid-air

WOW WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!! I just took Lada upstairs to the bathroom for a bath. Afterwards I put her on top of an empty server rack near the bathroom and then thought to myself, hmm, I should put a towel down since the rack was temporarily sitting over the carpet. As I was thinking that, I saw Lada take the poop stance (Enter slowmo NOoooooooooooooooo here). I dove Matrix style and caught the poop right in the middle of my palm! I was shocked I managed to pull that off! Apparently you have had LOTS of practice. That was a first for me lol.

 

[WendyN]

Fresh warm Joey poop feels weirdly uncomfortable, from personal experience..
The next time I grabbed a napkin...

 

[Diesel13]

In my case, Diesel is fully flighted and will often fly to one of her stations in my house to poop and then come back. It's not something I trained, just slightly encouraged. If she pooped on me or the furniture (which still does sometime happen), I just place her on her stand and then clean it up, no punishment involved of course. She typically poops every 10-20 mins depending on how long it's been since she's had a big meal. I've gotten into the habit of keeping a mental note of how long it's been since she's last pooped, and if it's been awhile I send her to one of her stands, she poops, and then I call her back over. Through repetition this has just become habit for us. However, accidents still happen if I don't stay on top of "poop time".

It helps that I have a lot of stations for her to hang out on, so if she's not on me she's on one of her stands and those are poop-okay places. I've discouraged landing on any other furniture by making the stands more desirable with treats and toys.

 

[finchly]

Once when I was a kid I was in the passenger seat of the car talking to my mother, arm out the window. I caught a bird poop in my hand!

My little brother still reminds me of it. He still thinks it's funny. I fail to see the humor BUT it made me sure I don't want to catch it in my hand!

 

[Atomiklan]

It was definitely gross and not something I wish to repeat unless necessary, but I would rather it land on my hand temporarily then on the carpet which is where it was headed. I did immediately rinse it off, albeit in a very repellent manner. ie a one handed rinse to get 99% followed by vigorous soap and water haha. I will get over poop eventually. I don't think it's any of our fault. We are hard coded from an evolutionary standpoint to be disgusted by poop. The fact that I was willing to catch it though was either a sign of improvement on my part or just a unconscious heroic reaction on behalf of the upstairs carpet haha.

 

[ode.to.parrots]

I'm at the point where I'm like 'Poop happens, and it small and doesn't even smell, so whatever.' We keep a roll of toilet paper nearby when the birds are on the sofa with us. My fiance still cringes when one of the tiels has an accident. I'm also looking to invest in a steam cleaner, since it both cleans and disinfect surfaces easily!!!
I'm also working towards getting more birdie stations for them.

I also invested in a vynl floor mat when we moved into our new apartment. I keep it under their cage and play gym, and it is SO easy to clean! I have some extra, too, and plan on using it in other birdie stations.

 

[finchly]

I like the vinyl mats too. We had a couple we replaced that were under our computer chairs so I turned them into bird mats.

What do you use for stations? Play stands? I want more stations in the living area and am getting push-back. Something they can land on, so not just a tabletop perch.

 

[BirdGuy21]

We clean as we go here. It gets everywhere- couch, floor, coffee table, etc. We have gotten pretty good at learning when they are going to go so we are able to either catch it or clean it up right away. I've never had anyone complain about our house being "dirty" or unclean because of the birds, but I guess people wouldn't necessarily do that in front of me. Besides poop the birds give us many reasons to clean. We sweep and scrub floors several times a week, vacuum two to three times, and dust constantly.

 

[cassiesdad]

We carry a clean-up bag with us when we visit. We are guests, after all, and we want to be polite when visiting...