FINCHforum

In one of my other threads, we talked about how often we clean our cages - and i saw a couple of you write that your societies could be compared to little hogs It made med giggle - since i totally agree with this!

Do you think that your society finches are messier/dirtier than your other birds ? What kind of messy things have you seen them do ?


I have 4 societies, and compared to canaries (which i've had before) they are little pigs! First of all - their droppings ... they are huge O_O how can a little bird produce such big poops!
When they bathe, they always splash around the water so the floor outside the cage gets all wet and when they eat they gladly hop INTO the salad bowls and eat! They also like to throw the food around so it some times ends up sticking to the walls outside the cage

Tell me about your societies messy habits!

guilty as charged! I do jot think my societirs are dirty just mess makers! First problem: bathing, they splash tyere drinking water all over the room!! Second: mine like to oretend they are spiders, and hand upside doen, and off the wals, and shoot poop on the walls!! BUT allthis is overlooked because, my hen eats all fresh veggies and eggfood, and has a beautiful chick, and the male ls are so unique.

I think my zebras are worse.
My societies don't poop into their food like the zebras do.
And when a cage stinks, it is the zebras cage that stinks first.

Mine aren't bad at all. Maybe it's the size of the cage they are in? I've heard people say their Societies poop through the wire to the outside. Mine have NEVER done that. They're in a large home made flight that sits on a 6 ft long table. Once in a while they'll poo in their fresh food but that's usually after they've eaten their fill. their seed is in a hopper they can't poo in. I made a bath for them out of the bottom 1/2 of a plastic gallon milk jug so when they splash, the sides are so tall not much goes out. However, they do eat like little piggies! they love their fresh food and gobble up anything I put in there.

PS... if their poo stinks you might give them a dose of probiotics? I really don't think their poo should stink at all. My birds don't unless I'm neglectful with cleaning their paper floor of course. That's not their fault but mine.

6finchfriends wrote:PS... if their poo stinks you might give them a dose of probiotics? I really don't think their poo should stink at all. My birds don't unless I'm neglectful with cleaning their paper floor of course. That's not their fault but mine.

Dont worry, their poop doesn't stink at all if it does - its like you say, because the bottom paper needs to be changed! The only time it smells from the cage is because the bottom paper gets wet because of their splashing, but thats just a musty wet paper-smell.

My societies have never pooped outside the cage, luckily but they do poop on the cage wires when they sleep on a perch stacked on each other

My Societies are sloppy, rather than dirty. The fling food, water, and whatever else they choose to play with around the cage, outside the cage and in the water/food dishes. They love to drag around the used up millet sprays and play tug of war sometimes. They do get droppings on the cage sides and walls, as it sometimes goes through the wires, but they aren't doing that on purpose. Most of the time, they mess the food and water dishes before the day is half over. If I'm not working, I check their food and water dishes three times a day and they always need changing. It only takes them about 20 minutes to dirty up the water dishes. They don't like the bottles. UGH. Oh well, they are very entertaining and I love watching them interact with each other.

My societies aren't too bad for flinging food. They'd rather eat every single piece they can get their little beaks on. I'll put a huge dish of fresh veggies/fruit/eggfood, and in 4 hours, (2 birds feeding 3 chicks) the entire dish will be gone.

Deborah - my societies do exactly the same with the water/veggie dishes! They seem to have a thing for pooping in the water bowls (of course i always change the water when i find poop in there!) and in the veggie bowls! At first they munch on the veggies, and then poop on them My dishes are not placed under perches, so the poop doesn't come frome above, they simply poop in the dishes!

Um.. .. Societies aren't sounding very appealing at the moment.

RigorMortisKitten wrote:In one of my other threads, we talked about how often we clean our cages - and i saw a couple of you write that your societies could be compared to little hogs It made med giggle - since i totally agree with this!

Do you think that your society finches are messier/dirtier than your other birds ? What kind of messy things have you seen them do ?


I have 4 societies, and compared to canaries (which i've had before) they are little pigs! First of all - their droppings ... they are huge O_O how can a little bird produce such big poops!
When they bathe, they always splash around the water so the floor outside the cage gets all wet and when they eat they gladly hop INTO the salad bowls and eat! They also like to throw the food around so it some times ends up sticking to the walls outside the cage

Tell me about your societies messy habits!

My societies quite like the spiderman antics lol. They love hanging onto the walls, sliding up and down, building webs lol. Yes, their poop is of extreme proportions compared to their size. They like standing on top of each other, too, ask them why they do it!

Mine don't seem to make too big a mess with the food, other than hurling the lettuce around and rarely if ever poop in the food dishes. They are definitely pigs, and would sell their souls for fresh veggies. I prep it when I make my morning tea, and as soon as they see I'm up, they start hanging around the treat dish spot. I can hardly get it in the cage. I try to gently shoo them away from the big door to put it in, but they are so focused on the food they pay no attention to that huge escape route. On the whole, the food is pretty contained.

But the water splashing - oh, my! I have one of the Lixit bird baths. The pair has starting bathing together - it's the perfect size for two - and it's astonishing how far those rattling tails can fling water. I keep bath towels on the floor around that corner of the cage, inelegant in the living room but what can you do? They are birds in absolute bliss when they are splashing around - and most days they do it twice. It stays remarkably clean though and I rarely find poop in it. I stopped putting another water cup in. They love the bird bath so much, it immediately became one stop shopping for all their water needs.

They make me laugh so much, they are worth some clean up - and mop up!

I've had a couple zebbies, a cockatiel, societies and a parrotlet over the years. My societies are by far the messiest! Sometimes I think mine deliberately spit the food outside the cage and they poop 4 x's as much as my parrotlet. They poop in and on everything - especially their water and food. But they are relatively quiet and the sounds they do make are very sweet. They are also very hardy and although I've never had them foster, they can be true lifesavers when needed.

Although I believe they are complete pigs (and I was raised on a hog farm so I know! ) they are worth their weight in gold in many ways!

You all are so funny. I can hardly wait to have my societies.

very cute those societies....and they are worth it!