How long will it take my bird digest strings from her toy?

Question

My quaker, Sara, ingested strings from her toys and I noted it by the change in color of her droppings immed. & removed the toys. Did research and discovered they are bad bad bad. Feel sick to my stomach. She is happy and active and still pooping but it is a mix of green, dark, clear and white and some pink. The string was pink.Her vent is clear and clean and she is not having any trouble pooping, she is happy and playing. I found this yesterday. How long til I know if she is ok?

Answer 1

If your bird is healthy and happy, don't worry about it. Have you offered your little bird any little rocks to eat? That's right, rocks, gravel, little stones. All birds eat rocks. They store them in their crops and the rocks aids in the breakdown and digestion of their food. You can get gravel from the pet stores. If your bird gets any of the rocks in their stomach, no big deal, they'll be discharged in some poo poo. Get some for Sara, put some in a seperate bowl and offer it to her.
As far as string toys go, they're fine. Quakers chew on natural fibers in the wild. Just make sure that the rope or string is made from natural fiber and not man made fibers like nylon or rayon.
Since you stated that your quaker is fine, happy and playing, then Sara is ok. The poop will change color slightly with the food she eats, yours does.
Don't forget Sara is a bird, her system is much different than yours. But you and your bird eats alot of the same foods.

Answer 2

Birds are very resiliant and it is not unusual for qualkers or tiels to chew string. Their gut is very capable of dealing with it. The motions being passed sound normal. I doubt that there is any string inside it now

Dennis
Cockatielbreeders MSN