Training to POOP on command is NOT a good idea..

[lovethatgrey]

I will never attempt to try this type of training with my parrots.

 

I thought I'd share this info from another parrot owner that I have alot of respect for.

 

 

 

If you study the anatomy of a bird, you realize that they are meant to go when they have to. They have to remain lightweight at all times as they are a prey animal and be ready for flight at any given moment. They do not possess lengthy colons to store excrements. I've heard of birds having severe medical problems and illnesses, for example prolapse, as a result of being potty trained, holding it, and holding it too long repeatedly over a period of time. Exception: Nesting hens will hold it all day.

 

I would not encourage a bird to poop on command - they will try to force one out even if they don't need to. This practice is VERY DANGEROUS as it can cause cloacal prolapse - a horrible thing!! You can encourage them to let you know when they need to go poop and make sure they are in an appropriate place to "let one fly." Straining to poop when they don't need to is very dangerous and training them to poop on command can and does lead to this.

 

When a parrot poops they always lift their tail. If you notice they want to poop and you don't want to get pooped on, all you need to do is hold their tail down until you can hold them over an appropriate spot and then let them raise their tail to poop.

[judygram]

Thanks Adina for sharing that with us, that can lead to problems more so than I originally thought.

[Guest]

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Edited August 9, 2010 by jacarual

[lovethatgrey]

But I have a question about this...My cockatoo goes in her cage throughout the night, but Noogie and Chiku hold it all night every night. Is that kind of contradicting to what that article states? Everywhere you read, our birds require at least 10 hours of quiet time a night for their sleep. Chiku still sleeps a little longer sometimes...so they also hold it in on their own for lengthy hours daily. During the day, I'll cage Chiku when I'm busy but always stop and let him out to go, and I put him on a paper to go. So, I'm not really potty training, but it's as if they do it on their own too.

 

If the parrot is doing this naturally on their own, I would not worry about it. It is very common for african greys and other species to refrain from pooping where they sleep. This is something that is very innate/instinctual and supposedly because they do not wish to attract predators to their roosting site in the middle of the night. My Emma holds it in through the night as well. Her first morning poop is a HUGE one!!

[Guest]

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Edited August 9, 2010 by jacarual

[crossfit]

I think what is important is to not train them to hold it in. You can train them not to poop on you or the carpet or whatever as long as they always have an alternative location and never are required to hold it. It seems like splitting hairs but I learned about this before Hawkins came to live here and thus had a lot of time to research it. At this point, I am just saying, "good poop" when he poops so he knows what I mean at some point later on. Who knows if this will work though. But I also heard that they shouldn't ever be taught to hold it.

[jessdecutie18]

Hmm... this is worrying. Yoshi poops on command no problem. About every 20 minutes I put her on her playstand and say 'go EW' and she does within the minute. Then back to me again. If I don't take her in time though she still poops wherever so I know she isn't going to hold it or anything. Sometimes she does just a tiny poop and sometimes a full size poop. I've been told about every 20 minutes is right though and that has always worked for us... I have never heard of them pushing it out and hurting themselves, that sounds a little odd but still worrying... yet if I take Yoshi to her stand too early she doesn't try and try or anything, so just wont poop and if she hasn't in about 1 minute I bring her back with me and return her to the stand about 10 minutes from then.

[Elvenking]

Oh yes, the only time you can actually hear from another room, that your bird pooped!

 

Ahh don't you just love that? LOL. Ohh and that splatter factor...SWEEEET!!

[Xtreme575]

Hmmm, I'm interested in the asking them to poop. Normally I ask Paco to "step-up" every 20 minutes or so when he is on me to to go, and sometimes they are really tiny as well. I hadn't considered the prolapse, he usually lets me know that he doesn't need to go by trying to climb up my arm, and I accept that as him not needing to go.

[Dave007]

A bird defecates about every 35 to 45 minutes. What you're referring to is NOT training to poop on command. That's what the thread starter here was referring to. If a bird doesn't wanna go, he doesn't wanna go so he shouldn't feel obligated to go simply because someone says a certain thing. You can figure out a rough schedule and simply put him on a stand and say something when he goes and after he goes but that should be the extent of what you're doing.

[Calindy]

I thought I had the only strange bird that help his poop all night! He spends a lot of time outside of his cage, and he NEVER poops in his cage. That morning one is a biggie!

[Azzie]

Cleo is trained to poop on command. I always tell her to go before taking her out of the cage. If she needs to go, she does, if not, she just looks at me sideways. When she's out and I tell her, same deal. If I forget, she just poops at will, on me, on the floor, wherever, so she doesn't hold back. She goes during the night as well, I can hear her when I am quietly sitting at my computer in the dark. Seems she just wakes up during the night and goes, so I've never had the joys of the notorious morning bomb hah.

[Tweedle]

Frequency of pooping is related to activity levels. The more active you are, the more muscles are working, the more waste products are produced, the more peeping/pooping required. Hence at night time they're less active, so less stuff gets pushed out. Whereas I'm sure if they're being very active, it might increase to every 10mins? (my bird is not very 'active' so will call on your experience to answer that one)

 

I give puppy training classes, and often have to explain this. People get frustrated when a pup can hold it for hours, then suddenly needs to go every 10mins. 'But you're only just beeeeeen!!!!'

[Dave007]

Actually, the frequency of pooping has nothing to do with the activity of parrots. The easiest way to se this is when a bird is totally inactive when sleeping yet when it wakes up in the morning, the largest amount of pooping occurs. Muscles that are active during the day quiet down when sleeping. A parrot urinates frequently during the day--approx every 30 to 45 minutes. Most of those droppings are small because 90% of it is urine. The same holds true for defecating during the day. Very small amounts because the major buildup was released in the morning so very tiny amounts are released during the day. A parrot builds up that amount by constantly eating all day but the build up of feces is small because the parrot is releasing droppings all day long. Many people compare urinination dropping with fecal droppings. When a bird shits on a person during the day, it's mostly white colored and the amount is small. That's urine/urates. The urine has a quick bleaching effect on clothing and needs to be removed quickly. That bleaching effect isn't as quick acting when fecal matter is mixed in. A person may *train* a bird as far as droppings go but won't hold it in if a person's response isn't very quick. All of this happens on a regular basis because a parrot is a wild animal. Training a puppy is simple but the effort of training a dog is mostly put on the shoulders of the person. A dog needs to go out after eating and training a puppy to do that is simple because as time goes on, a puppy finally realizes that it doesn't like to shit in the house. As a puppy, that instinct hasn't yet developed. Lack of taking a dog out enough during the whole day will cause accidents. A parrot doesn't have accidents. It goes wherever it is because it nature that's telling the bird to defacate/urinate. I've had many dogs and all of them have done their business in the house when they were puppies. They don't have bladder or bowel control yet and it's up to the person to keep an eye out as far as when a puppy is ready to go. Also, a dog becomes house broken when a regular rountine is taught. A parrot has no routine, just an approx time schedule.

[Tweedle]

I stand corrected! Thankyou:)

[Jayd]

I stand corrected! Thankyou:)

Any parrot can be "Conditioned" to poop at any time of the day,the same way they hold it at night, there less active to some extent. You have no reason to apologize. We learn new things every day, that we once took for granted, we have to open our eyes and except that what we once held as truth, might be old news now. Jayd

[Tweedle]

Yup, I'm here to learn, and sooooo glad to have found this place

I should have phrased it as a question 'I wonder if......like with puppies......' , I am such a novice parrot owner, and generally aware of the huuuuge gaps in my knowledge. I am quietly composing a whole raft of questions for when I get back off holiday next week.....