FINCHforum

My female zebra is pooping very large, white poops. It's not usual for her, she has only been doing this for the past few 2 or three hours. Is this something to worry about? How Can I Help Her Out?

Sometimes a female will do that after they have spent a long time in a nest. But I have a male Society that does it too. He seems ok otherwise, so I don't worry about it. He is in a nest quite a bit too though.

wildbird wrote: Sometimes a female will do that after they have spent a long time in a nest. But I have a male Society that does it too. He seems ok otherwise, so I don't worry about it. He is in a nest quite a bit too though.

Thanks for the reply. She's not in the nest all that much compared to my male. He's very excited about having eggs, but she's more chill about it. Her feathers have been looking rough aswell, and they still do, so that's mostly why I got worried about this so much. It almost looks like her head is wet, or as if some feathers are missing. I think she might also just be shedding a bit extra, like my male did once. Anyways, I'll keep an eye on her.
Again, that's for the reply.

OliwiaMoriarti

If she's looking rough, it would be best to wait a few weeks to months before breeding her. Laying eggs and raising healthy offspring is energy-intensive, so breeding is best reserved for when the birds are healthy, not moulting, and have been fed a breeding diet (higher protein and fat) for at least a couple weeks. If she is moulting, feed her egg every day, as the fats and proteins are good for growing new feathers.

Icearstorm wrote: OliwiaMoriarti

If she's looking rough, it would be best to wait a few weeks to months before breeding her. Laying eggs and raising healthy offspring is energy-intensive, so breeding is best reserved for when the birds are healthy, not moulting, and have been fed a breeding diet (higher protein and fat) for at least a couple weeks. If she is moulting, feed her egg every day, as the fats and proteins are good for growing new feathers.

Thank you for the advice. She´s been feeling much better, but her feathers still look like she´s missing some on her neck, not much though. I´ll buy them some higher protein food and take out the nest for a bit. Thank you so much for the info

Hi OliwiaMoriarti, How's your bird?

FinchMama wrote: Hi OliwiaMoriarti, How's your bird?

Very late reply I know. I figured out the problem. The whole feather situation has been explained, and in the funniest way possible. Turns out that she just likes to put her entire head and neck into her cucumber when she eats it, and it leaves her feathers a bit stickier and they end up looking wet until she takes a bath. The poop situation has been resolved, not sure about the cause. But I bought a better eggfood mix for her, and she hasn't had the same problem since. She's doing fantastic, although she's somewhat anxious, so I'm working with her on that.