# HELP-My hen is taking monster poops and my male is molting



## patpeplow (Jan 30, 2012)

Im freakin out a bit my hen is takin monster poops as soon as shes let out of the cage its like shes holding it? but ive also read it could be because shes about to lay, what is going on?!?!? and my male is molting, is their special food or anthing i should be feeding them? and what size of feathers fall out when they molt? any advice would be great   other than that they seem to be energetic and happy singing and flying around my apartment liek mad lol


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## CourtyWilli (Feb 15, 2012)

Sounds like yer about to be the proud parent of Cockitel babies.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I moved your thread to the breeding section because that's what this sounds like. Eggs will cause the hen to lay bigger poops. As for the molting, some bigger feathers will fall out but there will be a lot of smaller ones too. What are you currently feeding them?


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## patpeplow (Jan 30, 2012)

just a basic seed seems to be their favorite, i shred up carrots and other fruits and veggies but they barley touch it, they love scrambled eggs but they dont get it all the time, and millet once and awhile and usually whatever im having for dinner lol, that is safe for them to eat


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

OK you would need to try to get them to eat more veggies, you can sprinkle seed on and under the veggies to tempt them. The rest of their diet sounds good, do they have a cuttle bone and FSL lighting?


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## patpeplow (Jan 30, 2012)

yep they have 2 cuttlebones in the cage and whats FSL lighting?


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

This thread has info on FSL lighting, http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27588.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I recently picked up FSL lighting for my newest addition who needed help absorbing vitamins and so her feathers would look pretty.  I picked it up from home depot and paid less than $20.

this is what i got:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...isplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=full spectrum&storeId=10051
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=clamp lamp&storeId=10051

then i attached a long perch to the top of her cage and clamped it to that..it is supposed to be between a foot or 2 away from the cage and above it. Like this:










I didn't have anything around the cage that I could clamp it to so this was easiest for me.


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## patpeplow (Jan 30, 2012)

thanks for all the help guys i will head to home depot tomorrow and prob do that  i just wanna keep my babies healthy and happy


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## patpeplow (Jan 30, 2012)

do you leave it on all day????


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

You can leave it on anywhere from 3 to 12 hours...most people do about 4, but the amount of fsl lighting a bird should get is one of those "up in the air" subjects that haven't been fully decided on yet.


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