# Squab-very wet poops



## solly (Jul 18, 2005)

Two of my pidgies have a 2 week old squab.It is very healthy looking and well feathered and enormous.However it does a huge amount of poop and they consisty of brown snaky bits with a HUGE amount of clear liquid.Its so much it even runs down to the shelf beloweven though i've got kitchen paper on the shelf to soak it up..It is the first baby for the mother.Any ideas-is this normal??


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

My babies usually have the ribbons of brown poop like you are talking about, not sure about all the liquid. 

What are the parents eating? Too many oily seeds can cause runny poop. What kind of prevention measures do you have implimented for your flock?


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## jbangelfish (Mar 22, 2008)

*squabs are pretty messy*

There is alot of liquid in their feces. Sounds normal to me. The parents feed them a pretty wet mess as they don't have a well developed gizzard to digest all of the dry seeds yet so their parents give them soaking wet seed from their crops apparently with plenty of water as well.

Often, handling baby pigeons, they will drop a nice big wet one on your hand or arm. You'll get used to it. The older they get, their parents will feed them a drier mix with more seed and bulk. By the time they are 4 or 5 weeks or so, it will be more normal and adult like until they are eating on their own and everything becomes completey normal by maybe 6 or 8 weeks.

Bill


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## solly (Jul 18, 2005)

I do give them the conditioning mix which has aniseed in it.They have food availabler all the time which is a dish of pigeon mix then the other dish has this conditiong mix or wild bird.They have grit and i did put probiotics in the water for just 24 hours last week.As for preventative measures i only worm and delouse.They do not fly free but have a shed to sleep in with aviary attached.


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Some babies have watery droppings because the parents go overboard on grit or minerals. I had this happen with some fantails. Couldn't figure out why the nest was soaked all the time even though the chicks appeared perfectly healthy. Finally figured out the hen was gorging herself on vitamineral powder. I took it away and the nest was no longer wet. 

They must have grit while they are feeding chicks, but you can cut back on it if it seems like the chicks' poops are too watery. What happens is that the parent birds crave grit when they raise babies and sometimes eat too much. It has salt in it and the extra salt causes them to drink more water, which they pass on to the chicks during feeding, which leads to watery droppings. 

Do keep a close eye on the chicks, as certain diseases can also cause watery droppings.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Ditto on everything everyone said. I have 7 individual breeding pens so each pair of birds has their own water jug. It really is amazing how much water they go through in a day. And not all the parents do this. They do crave grit.....in fact, my birds will hang on the doors in the AM waiting for me to pass out the grit. Once the babies hit about 3 weeks old, it all stops and gets back to normal. I used to worry about it too. I quit. Nothing you can do except take away the grit and I figure if they want it, they can have it. They haven't killed any babies yet.


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## solly (Jul 18, 2005)

Thanks a lot for all your answers.I'll stop panicking now!!


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