That good. For a second I thought you misted them and got worried for them getting sick. You obviously know what you're doing.

Yes, that sounds like a good way to do it. Once I read that budgies chicks are pretty bad about getting poop stuck to their feet - do you know if that's true?

It's almost a daily chore. I've been thinking about how to keep the moisture out of the nest. So the poop doesn't stick to the feet put to 'something else' I put in the nest. But so far my mind is blank. Only thing I dare use are woodshavings (I throw some in after getting the chicks out to clean out most of the poop anyway)

I'll try and shoot some video of how bad it gets. The foot ring doesn't help at all. That can turn into a giant ball of poop if I miss a couple of days of cleaning them. That poop-foot is the main reason I give them what I call 'a bath'.

I've heard that budgie hens frequently don't accept wood shavings in the nest before the eggs hatch, and will toss out anything that you add. But some of them will accept wood shavings after the eggs hatch. So it's worth a try.

Cockatiel chicks usually keep their feet clean. When they're very small they back away from the chick cluster and deposit their poop near the edge of the nest, which helps keep the center of the nest clean. When they're older they aren't as diligent about doing this, but their feet still stay clean. I don't know if the wood shavings help, or if the parents or babies clean off any poop that gets stuck to the feet.

More of the budgie cam:

I was waiting for the video about the poop to upload the same day I put up my previous video, but it lasted a bit longer and now is the first time I have found the time to put up the link!

Sorry for those that found it already



To be fair, the younger budgie in the first nestbox I checked died two days back...

I'm not doing well this first round.

They do get crusted over with poop pretty bad! I'm glad that cockatiel chicks stay cleaner than that.

Here's another video!

New Vid: