Society droppings

[dfcauley]

Hi All,

I know this is a gross question, but I am curious..... for those who have society finches do you notice that they are a little messier and have big nasty poops compared to other birds?

I guess I never noticed this before, but I have a pair in my classroom now and it seems they have some really big nasty poop....yuck.

And the ones in my aviary which are fostering will go in the nest.
I never had gouldians to do this before when they had babies.
Of course the babies do, but not the parents.

Just curious.....

[CandoAviary]

YES
Years ago when I had the pet shop I had societies that I bred and sold. That is why I never wanted any more..... they are the dirtiest and smelliest of all the finches I have ever kept... with the exception of some softbills.
Anyway, since I got into breeding gouldians and due to a lot of hand feeding and all of the nice and encouraging comments from helpful forum members.... I bought some. I love them but they are filthy little birds

[nixity]

Ditto - my societies have poops that rival the Mousebird's.

Actually, I'm thinking of officially getting rid of the four I have because they are so disgusting/dirty.
They are the only ones that manage to constantly bomb the walls with poop.
I find the Gouldians have tighter, smaller, less messy droppings unless sick - whereas the societies have messy gross droppings all the time.

[franny]

Funny, I had societies years ago, and don't remember ever noticing.

But more recently I've had a pair of Goldbreasts. VERY tiny poops. So I guess I've been spoiled.

Then I got this society female to keep my GB company after loosing her mate... and BOY are you right! Her poops are huge! And she manages to always poop on the wooden lip of the tray, instead of on the paper.

Good thing she's cute.

[cindy]

I agree Gold Breasts have dainty poops!

[dfcauley]

Well... good to know it is not just these. I guess since they are in a cage I have really noticed this more. But...... I am keeping them anyway because they are incubating some gouldian eggs I found in the aviary (4) that no one was sitting on. I am hoping once again to give my students a chance to see some babies raised.

But gosh... they are nasty. I have to clean the paper on the bottom EVERY day.

[CandoAviary]

Yep, I will be keeping mine also. They allow me more sleep
2 of the 7 gouldians and 2 of the 3 societies chicks they have been raising fledged today. I took some pics. I will post some of them and their dirty flight later

You know I have never cleaned a gouldians nest while the chicks were in it before. But when they are fostered.... I do, probably 3 times with clean straw even before they can even fledge. Those societies will poop in their own nest right along with the chicks

[dfcauley]

Yep... me too. I have been cleaning the nest of these five every third day ..... I can't stand for those babies to be in that mess.

And I have never cleaned a gouldian nest either.

[cindy]

One word for that ....YUK!!!!!!

[lovemyfinch]

I have also noticed that my societies need to have their cage cleaned more often than anyone else, including the aviary that is full.

Now I am curious, if I remove my 1 week old shaftails and clean out the filthy nest is there a possibility that the societies will abandon.

[L in Ontario]

Now I am curious, if I remove my 1 week old shaftails and clean out the filthy nest is there a possibility that the societies will abandon.

Not likely - Society finches are very dedicated foster parents (most of the time). I had to qualify that just in case but I've never heard of them abandoning once they've started taking care of eggs/chicks.

They should be fine with a fairly quick nest cleaning.

[lovemyfinch]

Now I am curious, if I remove my 1 week old shaftails and clean out the filthy nest is there a possibility that the societies will abandon.

Not likely - Society finches are very dedicated foster parents (most of the time). I had to qualify that just in case but I've never heard of them abandoning once they've started taking care of eggs/chicks.

They should be fine with a fairly quick nest cleaning.

It's the "most of the time" that worries me. I've already had to save these babies once I think maybe I will just leave things as they are, they do seem to be pushing everything off to the sides, where they are laying for now everything appears to be clean.

[cindy]

My St Helena (even without chicks)clean the nest out. They carry the dropping out of the nest. If they are pushing the stuff over to the sides, I guess that is their way of house cleaning.

I never cleaned nest boxes out when the lovebirds or my zebras breed and everyone was fine. Some birds are very picky about how their nest are constructed. I touched the front of the Helena nest while cleaning and it moved a little of the construction in the entrance. They went right off and fixed it.

[CandoAviary]

The problems with societies fostering gouldians is that they gouldians are accustomed to dryer bedding. They will turn around and poop out if they can. Seems their poop dries quickly. Societies on the other hand are big, moist poopers. They tend to dirty a nest rapidly of which is not the best accomadations for the gouldians. Especially when you have 5 gouldians and 3 society chicks in one nest I mean it had to be cleaned out!!!!!

[MLaRue]

Another thing to think about is all the water a Society consumes compared to a Gouldian in a day.

The same water bottle with the same amount of water will be gone with two Socs in a day and the Gouldians will still half of it left...