Michael wrote:Oh yeah? If they can hold it all night, what's wrong with holding it an extra few minutes?
A sleeping state is different from a waking state, Michael. I don't know if it is the same with birds but I would assume it is as with people. Humans produce a urine-suppression hormone when asleep so they can 'hold it' all night long but they don't produce it during the 'awake' time. Children can start holding it all night when they are VERY young but, if they hold it during the day, they end up with physical problems (I have a grandson that had this problem). And then there is the case of the bird that ended up with prolapse from been potty trained (there is thread here somewhere about it).
The point is that anything that is so very unnatural needs to be considered very carefully. A little poop never hurt anybody but making the bird hold it might so, personally, I would much rather deal with an extra bit of cleaning that risking their health.