Very wet poops

This morning I realized that the poops of our visitors have become very bad again. In one of the pots literally a lake was there - everything totally wet. I don't even know who of the visitors was sleeping there - I only realized during the night - when I went out on the balcony because I heard some noise - that the pijji that had occupied said flowerpot was sitting in front of the drinking bowl - later on he was back in his pot.

The pijj that regularly sleeps in the long basket has improved her poops nearly to normal yesterday but this morning it looked very wet again.

All of the pijjies including "our own" make rather soft poops at the moment but it is not worrying yet. I have realized that this happens each time when the temperatures drop and the weather becomes ugly. Could I do anything against it? Especially when it is as dramatic as above?

I gave them all brown rice to eat first thing in the morning. I intend to give them vitamins for a week now each day in their drinking water to boost their immune system. What else could I do when this does not improve? Any idea? None of the pijjies looks sick for the moment and their appetite is good.

They are all moulting still though and I assume that this is part of the problem! Any ideas?

Liquid calcium in the water (or Sandos Calcium) may help. I give mine cinnamon tea but I don't know if feral bird will accept it and it is not good to deprive them of water. Maybe two dishes, one with cinnamon and one plain water, so they can pick what they want.

Plamenh - when you are talking about Sandoz Caclcium - do you mean those fizzy tablets? Which dosis do I need - i.e. how much in 1 l of water - and which tablets with how many mg?
For the cinnamon tea - can I use simple cinnamon powder?

Thank you for your help!!!!

Cinnamon tea -- Info from another forum which I'd copied:

"Cinnamon tea - 2 teaspoons in a liter of water; boiled for 2~3 minutes and left to settle for another 10 min. then only water mixed with additional 3 liters. I gave it to all my birds instead water for 24 hours.
I don’t know if this is a miracle drug, because I only used it once. It has the following effects:
- Firmer poop.
- Birds were showing more energy than ever.
- One of the birds with severe canker infection and something that I suspected it was fungal liaison in throat recovered quicker then usually, but I was treating her with canker drugs and antibiotic before that.
I didn’t want to mention this in the forum before I make sure this really works, but what you have to loose? Cinnamon tea won’t hurt if nothing else. Mix it with honey and try.
Some of the benefits of the cinnamon are: anti-protozoan activity (Canker, Cocci); anti-fungal (Candida, Aspergillosis); Indicated for respiratory blends for the lungs; Eases colds and breathing difficulties; emmenagogue (stimulates blood flow in the pelvic area and uterus) which will help I hope in case of egg problems; antispasmodic; antibacterial."

Sandos Calcium are exactly the tablets you describing, I use one in one liter of water once a week - you can't overdose so it is safe.

Teresa's info on cinnamon tea is the one I'll sugest (sounds familiar)
BTW cinnamon tea is also very good for humans and they use it presently in Bulgaria as preventive from Swine Flu.
Which reminds me of garlic in the water (also works well)

plamenh wrote:

Sandos Calcium are exactly the tablets you describing, I use one in one liter of water once a week - you can't overdose so it is safe.

Teresa's info on cinnamon tea is the one I'll sugest (sounds familiar)
BTW cinnamon tea is also very good for humans and they use it presently in Bulgaria as preventive from Swine Flu.
Which reminds me of garlic in the water (also works well)

Aha, was it your post? I'd just copied the text, ages ago, and didn't know who the author was. With hindsight, it makes perfect sense: I mean it's good, informative, precise, helpful and well worth keeping for reference. Yep, definitely sounds like one of your posts!

That's very interesting about the cinnamon tea.

Teresa, I am not quite sure I understood correctly:

You boil 1 liter cinnamon tea and then mix it up with another 3 l of plain water? Do you filter the tea because it becomes very dark brown?

I offered it yesterday - the pure tea - to our pijjies and they wrinkled their nose of course at the the brown stuff -


Plamenh - thank you - will buy some of this stuff!

Yes you boil Cinnamon tea and become concentrated. After boiling you leave it to cool and settle down. Pour it carefully in another container to separate lees from fluid and dilute with water to make it more acceptable for the birds.
Like humans different birds have different taste, some will drink more, some less, they need time to get accustomed to the taste. (maybe weaker tea in the beginning will help)

Thank you so much, Plamenh, I will try that tomorrow!

pigeonwriter wrote:

Teresa, I am not quite sure I understood correctly:
You boil 1 liter cinnamon tea and then mix it up with another 3 l of plain water? Do you filter the tea because it becomes very dark brown?
I offered it yesterday - the pure tea - to our pijjies and they wrinkled their nose of course at the the brown stuff -

Plamenh - thank you - will buy some of this stuff!

I boiled the 1 litre of water with the cinnamon powder, then left it to settle. After that I decanted the liquid, and then filtered it with a coffee filter. Then I mixed the clear brown liquid with 3 litres of water.
I gave it to Piper and the ferals after I'd heard two ferals sneezing. The ferals drank it, but Piper wasn't too pleased, so I diluted it a bit more, and she was OK with that.

Teresa, that's exactly what I did today. I had to dilute the stuff a couple of times until it was a light brown fluid. My little Pina was the first to try the stuff. What a brave little girl - I was so proud of her. You should have seen me how I tried to talk her into drinking the stuff and she looked at me as if she had understood that it is good for her. And finally she tried it. Oh my - if someone would have watched me s/he would have thought that this woman is ready for the loony bin

I mean it is quite clear to me that the pijjies look very irritated when they see that suspiciously brown liquid. I mean would YOU drink that stuff that looks so awfully like dead poop water? If I were a pijji I would not. At least their caution helps them survive.

I stood again near the drinking pot and each time when Willy or any of the others came near and apparently wanted to drink I splashed a bit with my finger in the pot and told them that it is good stuff. One by one apparently listened to me and drank. I am so glad.
Now I can increase the mixture slowly so that they get the full stuff in a few days. I think when they get used to the colour it will be easier and then I very much hope that the poop gets better and that their immune system gets ready for winter.

Btw - I added some organic apple vinegar to the cinnamon water as well because they already love to drink that stuff.

Will keep you updated how it goes.

for your help again and good advice

Well done, Petra!
And well done, clever pidgies!

Oh my these pjjies are really fussy - today I had to talk them into drinking that brown stuff again. But at least I succeeded in getting Pete and Pina to drink it and one of our lodgers.
I think the other might get used to it too. I am stubburn now - I will give them cinnamon tea only until they learn to drink this stuff.

Tonight I saw 2 pijjies again - in the dark - drinking from the cinnamon tea but in the night everything is pitch black - so what the heck does it matter then? This morning nearly the whole water was gone...

The difficulty with ferals is that they are very suspicious and they will have other sources. So why should they drink that dangerous, awfull lookin fluid? I hope though that they will learn to trust me