Linus's poop vary's in color and consistency throughout the day.

[notaparrot]

We had a scare earlier this week, Linus's poop was red, like really red, and I was worried it was blood. Turns out, He eats his pellets by color, and decided to eat all the red ones in the morning and leave the others. So sometimes his poop is green, sometimes brown, and sometimes red. How can I be sure he doesn't have a health problem? Since his poop vary's throughout the day?

 

[plumsmum2005]

We had a scare earlier this week, Linus's poop was red, like really red, and I was worried it was blood. Turns out, He eats his pellets by color, and decided to eat all the red ones in the morning and leave the others. So sometimes his poop is green, sometimes brown, and sometimes red. How can I be sure he doesn't have a health problem? Since his poop vary's throughout the day?

I personally do not like pellets with artificial colours in, so by changing to another type without them will help you see more clearly what is going on in the poop stakes. Birds don't need the artificial colours and I have read negative things about them.

Poop will quite often vary depending on what he is eating throughout the day, more greens/veggies and fruit can contribute to more watery poops. Beets always scare the poop out of me because they produce red tinged poops and I forget they have been fed!

A red flag would be if it looks more slimy than watery and obviously if the poop doesn't change back to normal throughout the day. There should not be any unpleasant smell to healthy droppings. If you need to keep an eye on things use some kitchen towel/paper as a liner under the normal resting place.

This is useful Is Your Bird Suffering From Poopology - Parrots I thought and hope you do too or it won't get deleted

 

[ZephyrFly]

Just to add on the coloured pellets piece.
Artificially colourings put a lot of strain on animals livers. In people we have large hardy livers but like with excessive drinking they can be permanently damaged. In birds they have a small liver that is not familiar with these synthetic colours, along with their faster metabolisms this can cause so e very serious health problems later down the line and probably sooner than anyone would like.

Although there are some pellets with natural colouring they tend to not be bright, more like shades of brown/orange and green.

 

[notaparrot]

The pellets I have been feeding them are ZuPreem Harvest feast, Which are dull colors and don't change the color of their poop, but A few months ago I had to switch to ZuPreem Fruit blend since the Harvest Feast wasn't in stock anywhere. The fruit blend has pretty bright colors, and turned Jake's poop red. So I ordered some Harvest Feast in bulk online, but I had some fruit blend left so I mixed it in and figured since there was much more of the Harvest Feast it would be fine. While Jake consumes it all at once, his poop is a consistent color throughout the day, but since Linus eats it one color at a time, he eats all the red pellets from the fruit blend at once, and his poop is red sometimes. After this food is gone (about a week or two) his poop should go back to normal. Any ideas why Linus eats it one color at a time? Birdie OCD prehaps?

 

[Teddscau]

Hmm, I'd consider feeding your boys a different brand. Any company that adds anything artificial to their products is on my do not feed list. They could've just as easily used natural ingredients, such as beet juice and tamarind, to colour the food. Instead, they chose to use cheap, unsafe synthetic dyes. Instead, why don't you try Goldenfeast Goldn'obles II and Totally Organic Pellets?

As for Linus only eating one colour at a time, it's like how some humans only eat one thing on their plate at a time. Peas, corn, steak, then potatoes, not eating any other foods until they've completely finished one of the foods on their plate. Or when you pick out all the red M&Ms to eat first (or last). Odds are, he really likes the colour red, then consumes the rest of the pellets from favourite to least favourite colour.