Is My Budgie Constipated?

Budgies can be sensitive little birds. Sometimes their behavior can be odd and as a bird keeper, this can drive us down into a pit of worry. So, budgie doesn’t seem to be eliminated properly or with enough frequency. There could be a few reasons why.

Your budgie is not likely constipated. Constipation in healthy budgies is very rare. A budgie that is being fed properly should not have any problems with eliminating. It is not impossible though. A budgie that is constipated will not seem ill, just a bit lethargic and shy. This can be fixed by giving them better access to healthy food and water.

Hopefully, this answer helps to ease your worry. If you’re still concerned that your budgerigar is constipated, you are still in the right place. We are going to take a look at a few more reasons why your feathered friend might be acting in a way that makes you think they could be constipated.

Is Your Budgie Not Pooping Enough?

Constipation is not a common problem for budgies to have. More than likely this is a non-problem or something that will fix itself with time.

But, if it seems that your bird is not pooping enough there is probably an easy explanation. But, how much poop is enough for a budgie? And, how much should they go when they do poop? Let’s find out.

How Often Should My Bird Poop?

It all depends on how large of a bird you have. And it is kind of the opposite of what you may think. The larger the bird, the less that they poop. This is because smaller animals have faster metabolisms. They process their poop faster not only for that reason, but they need to eliminate waste ro remain light so they can fly most efficiently.

Budgies can poop almost every fifteen minutes and up to fifty times a day. That’s a lot of little poops in a short amount of time. Because of the frequency of these movements, it could be concerning to see an interruption in their fecal routine. And this is likely the most common reason why they are not pooping enough.

Why Is My Budgie Not Pooping?

Most likely, a budgie that doesn’t seem to be pooping enough isn’t eating enough. Simple, huh? Thankfully, this is usually a fairly easy problem to fix. If your budgie is eating enough food it should be making waste quite often. So, it is important to make sure that your bird has access to enough high-quality food and water and clean dishes to eat it from.

How to Help a Constipated Budgie

If you have a picky eater on your hands you may need to coax them into meal time by offering them some healthy fruits, veggies or other treats that they like. Adding a little extra green to their diet could help them if they are straining to evacuate as well.

This article has an extensive list that can help you to troubleshoot the reasons why your budgie might not be eating. In the meantime, here are a few of the more common excuses a bird might have for refusing food and water.

• Their bowl is full of seed shells: Your budgie may be shelling its food directly back into its food dish, resulting in a food bowl that appears full, but isn’t. If they aren’t touching their dish, change out the food.

• You’ve changed their food: A bird can be so picky about food changes that it will starve. If you are changing to a new food, introduce the food slowly by mixing it with their old food, or adding a few treats in with the new batch.

• Their bowl is dirty: We don’t like to eat off of dirty dishes and neither does your budgie. If their bowl is looking a little funky, you may need to give it a good scrubbing. Your budgie will thank you for it.

• They don’t understand the devices: If they are a young bird, or you’ve changed up their food dish or water bottle, they might just be confused as to where their food and water went. Show them where the food is or how to use the new bottle.

Other Reasons A Budgie Might Not Poop

So, your budgie is eating well and still seems to be out of sorts, there may be something else at work. Another important thing to consider is their night and day patterns with sleep, eating and pooping.

A budgie needs a structured routine for its sleep patterns and you might notice some changes in their pooping habits around different times in their schedule. Here are some things to note when it comes to other reasons they aren’t pooping.

• Night Time: Pooping will slow down in the nighttime and of course, will cease entirely whilst they sleep. Since a budgie can sleep up to 12 hours a night, this may come as a shock to you when you check their cage to find that they’ve held it so long. Not to worry. This is normal.

• Morning Time: In the morning, once a budgie has shaken the sleep from their eyes and stretched their weeks, it is standard that they make the biggest poop of the day. This could look concerning to a worry-wart budgie parent, who has just observed them not pooping for twelve hours. It might take them a bit in the morning for this daily routine. Again, completely normal.

• Your Bird Is Pregnant: If the bird in question is a female bird, it might be that she is exhibiting breeding behaviors and is having a hard time eliminating. As the egg grows larger inside her reproductive system, there will be less and less room in her tiny bird body for waste.

This means her poops will become larger, but more infrequent as more of her metabolic processes are focused on egg making. If she seems to be straining and not dropping any waste, you may need to bring a pregnant budgie to your vet.

• Gastrointestinal Infection: A budgie with an infection in their gastrointestinal tract could suffer from diarrhea. This could lead to soil clumping around their cloaca and this could in turn make it difficult for them to eliminate and that can lead to further stress and poor appetite.

 If you notice that your bird seems to be unable to keep their vent area clean, and their poop has changed in appearance, a vet may need to prescribe something to help with the illness.

• They’re Constipated: Again, constipation is very rare in birds. But not completely unheard of. If we’ve tried everything and the bird still won’t eliminate it is most likely time to take them to the vet. The vet may have to remove a blockage or prescribe some medicine or supplements.

Be Patient With Your Budgies

Hopefully, this helped to show you how to help a constipated budgie. It turns out it probably isn’t merely constipated and it is more than likely a problem related to their eating habits that is causing their poop interruption. Budgies can be finicky little creatures and the slightest change can make them touchy when it comes to food.

It is important to remember to observe these birds with care and patience in order to learn their habits and notice when they are acting funny. So if you think that your budgie is constipated, be patient and watch their behavior. Before you rush to the vet’s office, it might be something as simple as washing out their dirty bowl or letting them get through their morning routine in peace.