Hi Everyone,

I'd just like to bring this subject up to one and all. It would seem that poop concerns are a HUGE topic of debate and I would just like to say a few things about this.

I know for myself in my "earlier" days of not being familiar with pigeon diseases, proper nutrition/health maintenance, medications, and the various forms of feces I was looking at, I was very bewildered at times. I've seen all kinds of pigeon poop; runny and green, black with white urates, slimy and pea green, yellow liquid, mostly water, spaghetti feces in water etc. etc etc. What I'm trying to say is that I've been exposed to all forms that pigeon poop can manifest.

We as pigeon folks, even as bird people altogether have been predispositioned to watch, look, monitor and note what a bird's feces *should* look like at all times. It's very true that poop can be directly related to the state of a pigeons health but it's not the holy grail that we have become accustomed to hearing over and over.

There are nearly as many reasons for inconsistent poops in pigeons as the colours in which they come in. Watery feces can be attributed to excessive drinking (plain & simple thirst on a hot day), green droppings can be caused by hunger, high pea ingestion or certain other green legumes in excess. Large smelly droppings are often expelled from a bird after sitting on the nest for long periods of time. Slimy feces can be caused by a high fruit or vegetable intake. Medications/supplements/temperatures/heat/cold/age/male or female all play into this equation too. The point is, droppings in our birds vary from day to day, week to week and month to month. What is important is to see "normal" droppings during these times....the classic nutty green/brown, firm droppings with a white dollop on top.

I feel at times, we are being burdened by over analization of what all these different droppings mean. We as humans don't always have the same type of bowel movements and they can vary from day to day with diet, excercise, dietary changes, nervousness, overall nutrition etc, and the same is true for our pigeons. This however, DOESN'T mean that our birds are dying or in need of medical attention. It's also important to watch their overall behaviours, actions and day to day routines...this can also give us much insight of what is going on with their health.

I have 2 younger pigeons, they are domestic, indoor birds that have never been exposed to the outdoors, they are separated from the my other pigeons, and have excellent dietary choices. They are given multi-vitamins 2 times per week, ACV 2 times per week and probiotics once a week or more if needed. I also give them brewers yeast tablets once per month & fish oil capsules once a month. The have special multi spectrum lighting in their room, the area is scrubbed meticulously every day and the room is well ventilated as well. These birds are robust, almost hyper active, eat well for hand reared birds but....they have droppings that (at times) have matched every one of the descriptions I've listed above. They've been treated for worms now and also coccidia (just in case). Again, my point is this, pigeon droppings can be very inconsistent and unusual but it doesn't necessarily reflect bad or failing health.

Another thing about poops worth mentioning is that you should smell them often. I know it's not the best job in the world but you can often tell if there is something wrong by the smell rather than going by the look of the droppings.

A pigeon's droppings should have very little or no foul odour at all. The exception to that being a hen or even a male bird that has held their feces in for an extended period of time while on the nest, then lets loose...those will stink! Otherwise, you should smell your birds droppings regularly, get them right up to your nose and take a few deep sniffs! If they smell sour, rancid, funky, putrid, etc., then there probably something going on with the bird that needs further investigating.

I just wanted to bring this topic to everyones' attention because I felt it was important for us to realize that not all "suspicious" droppings mean doom and gloom. Everyone should have their birds feces taken to an avian vet for testing every 6 months and if all checks out ok, chances are, the birds themselves are just fine

There are other factors that can have effects on droppings, such as grit intake (too little or too much), type of grit, and hens getting ready to lay.

In any case, here is an old "before & after picture" of my handraised pigeons' poop when they were much younger. At this time, I was allowing them free access to grit and specifically, the red granite type. They also had access to oyster shell grit but were not eating it at the time these pictures were taken.

At the time when they were eating the large volumes of grit, I was unaware it was affecting them. The droppings didn't reflect what was happening for a period of time because it was a gradual process of them over indulging and before the droppings started to change into a consistency that was very frightening, to say the least! Anyone looking at the first half of this picture, would or could easily view these droppings and say, "there is something seriously wrong here with these birds". Sometimes there was grit in the feces themselves but often there wasn't either. In this shot, you can see a few pieces of the grit that were expelled in the droppings.

The second shot in the photo shows the difference after stopping the grit and was taken about a week later. To this day, I have to limit the amount of grit that they are allowed by offering them small quantities every other day or so and since I've been doing this, their droppings have never reverted back to looking like they did in the first part of this picture.

***Grit should be made available to your birds at all times, just sometimes they overindulge and for unknown reasons, watch for excessive grit intake***

Image of perfect poops:

Brad, that is a - um- very interesting article you did... Really. I do have a question tho... You mentioned "Brewers Yest"... Just exactly how do you administer this, and how often, and why? I am sure I am not the only one to wonder :o Brewers Yeast, where would a pigeon get that in the wild? Maybe it is just for domestic birds ? Yes, I am curious. thanks,

Hi Sue,

There are a couple of ways to give brewers yeast to pigeons that I'm aware of, it comes in powder form and tablets. You can lightly glisten their seeds and with just a few drops of olive oil then lightly sprinkle the brewer's yeast powder on the seeds. The other way is by giving them a tablet, right down the throat. I find the tablets easiest and because I only have 3 birds. People with large numbers of birds will normally do the oil and powder though.

Brewer's yeast contains important minerals and quite a few of the B-complex vitamins which are supposed to be good for the metabolism, immune system and also a good stress buster. I generally give the birds a tab once or twice a month. I've been slacking on the brewers yeast and fish oil though lately. I'm trying to simplify my regiment of supplements. My main supplements now are ACV, probiotics with garlic, vitamins, and calcium with vit D3.

A pigeon in the wild would never be getting brewer's yeast but I think it's the important minerals and vitamins that's in the yeast that they might get from another source that we don't know about. So by offering the yeast, we are just providing them with the vitamins and minerals in another form that is supposed to be very good for pigeons, humans too!

Thanks Brad, sounds like some solid info. I do have a bottle of Brewer's yeast tablets, and with only the few that I have, catch and release would not be a problem.

so, you give one WHOLE tablet to each bird? You don't cut them in half, or in quarters then? OK, that sounds easy enough. Thanks, we never stop learning, do we?

Hi Sue & everyone,

I don't go by doses for supplements like that myself. I would buy the smallest tablet I could find and that seemed would go down the hatch easiest. If you can't find small ones, then cut them to make them go down nicely. You can purchase these things from any of the pigeon supply stores too and they give "doses" and often have other good stuffs added to their products. I have probiotics that have garlic added and many of the things have two or more supplements combined to cut down on all the stuff for the water or popping things down them.

Certain vitamins you have to be careful of though and they can be toxic if given too much like vitamin A found in fish oils.

With all this said though, generally pigeons will get what they need strictly from their diet and if they are provided with a very good quality seed mix. The things I use the most are: ACV (apple cider vinegar), probiotics, and the additional calcium with Vit D which I give maybe twice a week now and because my hens won't stop laying! Also, my considerations are different because my birds are housed inside so need to get a little help since they can't forage outside or get the direct sunlight. I do have full spectrum lighting in their room, but I fairly recently learned that if the animal isn't within a fairly close distance to the light source, then they don't benefit from it.

Brad wrote: Otherwise, you should smell your birds droppings regularly, get them right up to your nose and take a few deep sniffs!

When I read that part there it made me wonder...Are you sure we can't just look and take a educated guess?I love my birds but I don't know about all this sniffing pigeon poo stuff!

Well, actually, jAxTecH, if you have HENS with eggs, you don't have to get that close...the smell comes to YOU! And some of those poops are quite "odorous" to say the least!

Also, my MR. Squeaks, when in mate mode, sits on his egg(s) for long periods. When he dumps in the morning....well, let's just say the poops are large and I know when he's taken a dump!

'Course, some diseases will have their own aroma, I'm sure. I think a lot might depend on how sensitive your nose is!

BTW... to the site!!

Shi with MR. Squeaks/Dom/Gimie/WoeBeGone/Rae Charles

Desert Fire wrote:

Well, actually, jAxTecH, if you have HENS with eggs, you don't have to get that close...the smell comes to YOU! And some of those poops are quite "odorous" to say the least!

I'll say!! There have been some crackers on my loft floor of late I can tell you!! I still have to go out and see what they have left for me today to clean up!

I must not have that good of smell cause I don't smell anything with my birds but then again I have'nt tried putting my nose that near thier droppings. Thanx again for the post brad very informative and it answered some questions I've had.

Not MY birds!! but they are in the open air

I like the new title of this thread!

jAxTecH wrote:I must not have that good of smell cause I don't smell anything with my birds but then again I have'nt tried putting my nose that near thier droppings. Thanx again for the post brad very informative and it answered some questions I've had.

You're welcome and thanks, Jaxtech Anaerobic bacteria tends to have a distinct, unpleasant odour. When the bacteria levels reach an overpopulation level in the feces, you can usually tell that by sniffing them.

Jax&Paddy wrote:I like the new title of this thread!

Thanks Lindi...thought it might be a more suitable title and maybe an overhaul since I last posted the information.