I was playing with my cockatiel the other day when suddenly I heard a farting sound.
I’d never heard him fart before, and I’ve had him for a very long time.
I didn’t smell anything, so I wracked my brain trying to figure out what had happened before it happened again while I was looking and it dawned on me—he had made the noise with his mouth, and was imitating something he had heard.
Not that I would know anything about that!
In any case, I was curious if they farted at all, so I decided to look into it.
So, do cockatiels fart?
No, they don’t. cockatiels and birds in general lack the gut bacteria possessed by mammals which causes them to fart when gas is produced as a by-product of digestion. They could fart, if they needed to, but they don’t as they have no gas to release.
So, if you’ve noticed a bad smell coming from your cockatiel, it wasn’t a fart and it may be a cause for concern.
Cockatiels will not fart, just like pretty much any bird and indeed many non mammals.
Let’s look further into this.
Can cockatiels fart?
Yes, they can.
However, they just don’t.
When we fart, we use pretty much all the same muscles to expel the gas we would to actually poop.
Naturally, cockatiels have muscles that they use to poop, and those same muscles could be used to expel gas if needed.
As I’ll get into, though, a cockatiel’s digestive system does not produce excess gas, so there is none to be released in the form of a fart.
So, while they would be able to fart if they had gas, they do not fart as they don’t have anything to expel.
That’s not to say that they may never make noise when pooping, as I’ll get into.
Again, though, without going into too much detail, what produces sound when we fart is the sound of buttocks moving.
A bird may have something similar to this when pooping, but it’s not the same as farting out gas.
So, why exactly is all this the case, then?
Like I said, this is true not just of cockatiels but of all birds.
There are a few reasons why this is the case, and you’ll see that farting is actually quite unique to mammals.
Why don’t cockatiels fart?
As I’ve mentioned, the simple reason is that they have no gas to expel.
On a deeper level, this is about the fundamental make up of our respective digestive systems.
We, and indeed most mammals, have a complex internal gut biome.
Bacteria live in our guts and are essential to the overall functioning of digestion.
These gut bacteria help to break down food in the intestinal tract.
When that food is broken down, a by product is created: gas.
That gas then passes down the intestines with our food, where it needs to be passed.
We have a complex diet of many different foods, which our gut bacteria is necessary to break down.
A cockatiel’s digestive system is much simpler, and does not need a complex gut biome to break down its diet. therefore, little to no excess gas is produced during digestion.
That’s really all there is to it!
Do cockatiels fart when they poop?
Now we are more getting into whether you think of a fart as the noise or the gas.
As I said, cockatiels can indeed make noise when pooping, that can sound like quiet farting.
They will not, however, release any gas.
It’s simply the sound of the muscles moving and other things like that.
Cockatiels may make some noise when they poop, but it is not farting.
What to do if my cockatiel farts
If your cockatiel seems to be producing a bad smell, then you just need to get them to an avian vet as soon as you can.
A healthy cockatiel will never fart, and it can be an indication of a number of problems if your cockatiel is smelling bad in some way.
There’s not much you can to do to treat or diagnose the problem from home, so just get to a vet as soon as you can.
Your cockatiel will thank you later.
Conclusion
So, farting is not something your cockatiel will do.
They do not have any need to fart, since they don’t have gut bacteria producing gas to be farted.
If you’ve noticed bad smells coming from your cockatiel, likelihood is its unwell in some way or another.
There’s no point taking any chances—get them to a vet as soon as you can.
If, on the other hand, you’re thinking of getting a cockatiel and worried about farting—don’t be!
They don’t fart, and they certainly don’t produce that same bad smell.