# My cockatiel acting strange after taking a huge poop



## Chippah92 (Dec 24, 2013)

Hey! I unfortunately lost my 2nd cockatiel which was a male on the 24th, at that time he was taking turns with his female partner on sitting on the eggs, they had 3 of them. Today while I was at work, apparently the female cockatiel which is named Chippy, threw one of her eggs down and later on took a huge dump which i think she has saved for about 5 days, I've heard about those dumps and apparently its before or after she has laid an egg? Now she hasnt laid one and here comes the weird part. She has been kind of sucking in her stomach and then fluffing up for a while now, she is definetly weak at the moment noticing by how she flies and all that, she is one of those birds that dont eat her cuttlebone but i have bought some egg-like product that she doesnt mind eating. I guess what I'm trying to say is that after these events of her throwing down her egg and then taking a huge dump, now she is acting weird by also which i forgot, is that she also made a new sound today which worried me. I know its not an accurate description but if you have any ideas please let me know. 

On a sidenote, she isnt acting "sick", I saw my bird the other day that died (we decided to put him down btw) and I know what a SICK cockatiel is but she honestly just looks weak at the moment, right now she flew from the cage which is about 2 meters away to my head and sits on my knee which she always does. Any answers are appreciated!

Edit: We just realized she laid a new egg today, now im not sure if this was earlier of this was a few minutes ago, anyhow, the whole thing about her stomach going in and out has been solved, altho she isnt going in her nestbox for some reason? She is still sitting on my knee


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## Stevolteon (Aug 31, 2013)

I don't have any experience with eggs (yet >.>), but our girl Nyra tends to do some really huge poops considering her size, especially if she's been napping.

Hopefully someone with hands on experience of laying can shed more light!


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## Chippah92 (Dec 24, 2013)

The first pic is her poop early up when she first came out of her nestbox, the 2nd one is on my desktop about 4 hours laters, any ideas? Right now she is sitting on my lap and just preening herself, she seems perfectly fine and does everything a bird should except for that green/yellowish poop and her stomach is working a bit weird when she is pooping. Time was when she would just squat and poop like nothing else, now sometimes she is pushing her stomach in and out a few seconds after pooping, like there is more to come. Could it be that she thinks she might lay an egg, or that she perhaps does have an egg to lay but right then and there, it wasnt the time?

Edit: Dont know if I mentioned it before but I'll say it again anyhow, we are also feeding her some egg protein we bought in the birdshop for her but she has eaten it for a while now, but whats new to her is the cuttlebone that she never touched before, now i shred it to pieces and throw it in her food bowl, as i just wrote this she took a dump on my leg, a perfectly fine poop tho, looks exactly like the ones she has taken the 10 months or so she has been with me. And something else I would like to know is how long should i keep feeding her protein and cuttlebone pieces? 5 days after she has laid an egg or like 2 weeks or so? Thanks alot for the answers, hopefully it's nothing serious and Chipper can live a few more years before her time is up! As my dad told me when we had to put down our other tiel, one day they live the next day the die, just make sure they had a good and fun life before they pass away!


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## Fredandiris (Nov 27, 2012)

Throwing down her egg? I'm not sure what you mean by that. At first it seemed to me like she was egg bound. Generally cockatiels will lay their eggs every other day, but it took her 5 days to lay the next one. It seems to me like she was having problems passing the egg, indicating a potential calcium problem. Cockatiels won't hold their poops in for 5 days, at least not in my experience. They will hold it in for their incubation shift and come out after their shift is over to poop, so about every 12 hours. 5 days seems like waaaaay too long a time to be holding in poop.

I've had experience with a female experiencing prolapse. They will be weaker than their usual selves and will have an extended abdomen. Unfortunately, she died during surgery. I would be very careful about your birds intake and activity for the next few weeks.

I don't stop feeding my birds their breeding diet until all babies have left the nest. Their breeding diet entails lots of soft foods (vegetables, moistened pellets, pastas etc). I start this diet about a week before they lay and end it a week after babies are gone. I always provide them with cuttlebone. In fact, I have to give them extra because while my female is laying, she'll demolish them. If she's not willing to eat cuttlebone, and does not eat pellets regularly, I would recommend calcium supplements. 

But, your best bet would be to take her to the vet and have her checked out. Her symptoms may be worse than they appear. Birds are great at hiding sickness.


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