Possibly sick zebra -very watery droppings

[cindy]

Nelissa, have you caught the birds up and checked their breast bone to see is sharp or the birds are plump? What type of water do you use? When you took them to your friend's house did they use the same kind?

[cindy]

Nelissa, I did some reading on switching over to pellet only diet...if the birds were not eating the pellets at all their droppings would be very small and dark or very watery with just a small section of green which means they are filling up on water. But seeing that you are offering both pellets and their old diet this does not make sense since they are still eating their seeds and other foods you have offered in the past and letting them go to the pellets when they choose to.

I never forced my bigger birds over to pellets only, it was a gradual switch and most the hookbills were on pellets from the time they were weaned. Offering it free choice as you are is what I do now with my finches, the owls and a few zebra down the pellets and seed and their stool is not an issue.

[nelloyello11]

Thanks Janine and Cindy. Unfortunately, I was gone all day today so couldn't try catching any of them to check them out.

They drink tap water, and when they went out, they drank the same tap water (I have them on the ball-valve drinkers which I change every couple days, so they didn't need a water change while they were there).

I checked on them tonight when I got home, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of watery looking droppings tonight. So maybe it was nothing.

Something else that may be connected is that at least two of the hens in the cage have been laying eggs for the past several days. A total of about 12-15 in about a week and half. I know that at least two are laying because they both laid within minutes of each other, while I was right near the cage. (Normally I only find 1-2 a week total.)
I am not sure if having an egg in the works every day might have been preventing much feces from coming out, so mostly just urine was getting through. Is that possible?

I will be keeping a very close eye on them in the coming days...
I had thought of taking out the pellets for a few days, as you suggested Cindy, but forgot this morning. So I will tomorrow. I am also going to change the paper in the cage tomorrow to start fresh and see if it is cleared up.

[cindy]

Nelissa it may very well be the egg laying hens. An egg can block droppings from passing. They are dropping a lot of eggs so make sure the have a calcium source
like Calcium Plus and cuttlebone available. Honestly I don't think the pellets will cause this. It sounds like it is due to them passing an egg. The fact you are offering other food and they aren't consuming all pellets makes me think your hens may be the ones leaving the droppings. The article I posted and you bookmarked discusses this.