healthy but has diarrhea

laurelbrookhens said:

Hurray! My Campine laid her first egg today. NOT in the approved nesting area but a pretty white egg in a scratched dirt nest. She still has loose stool. I'm having trouble getting a "sample". But maybe this is all much to do about nothing. I hope.

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Congratulations on the egg!

If you are having trouble getting a poop sample, separate her for an hour or so. Place her in a kennel or dog crate lined with rubber shelf liner (so she can keep her footing). Easy way to collect poop and know it's hers. Chickens poop a lot so it shouldn't take long to get one.

Just to follow up, in case it's helpful -- my hen who was having the same symptoms as the OP's came back negative for parasites. So I think the loose stool was from excessive water drinking in the heat; this could turn out to be the OP's issue as well. Always a good idea to do the test if you can, but in the meantime, hoping this might be a little reassuring that there is another possible cause that is not so serious.

I know its been a while but I finally took stool samples to the vet. Even tho my chicks are acting healthy, getting fat and laying eggs almost every day, I know they came from a flock that wasn't healthy and Re-etta still has watery stool. SO the samples were examined and my vet called hours later to tell me they both had cocsillious (SP?) and worms as well as mites. The vet suggested some Rxs but she wasn't a farm vet so the local feed store guy gave me better info. Suggestion was for corid , pipersine, and lice powder which powder he said he puts on the ground and ruffled their feathers a little with it. He said almost all chickens have mites most of the time.
Now I want y'alls advice as to whether I'm headed in the right direction or if you have some better thoughts. I'll get the meds mentioned on Wednesday if I don't hear anything more. I appreciate good advice.

Oh, I'm so sorry they have ended up having parasites. I believe coccidiosis is pretty common in chickens who have been moved from one place to another and get introduced to new microbes to which they have no immunity. From what I have heard, Corid is a good solution for that problem in particular -- it is easy to administer and seems to work well. I have read often than it clears up quickly and the chickens perk up soon after starting the Corid.

De-worming is another issue and you might want to get some more opinions and read around about; people have a lot of different opinions about handling that.

It is also true that all chickens are carrying some mite load; the question is whether it is at a level unhealthy for them. The other question is what kind of mites: some live in the coop and emerge at night to bite the chickens while others stay on the birds. So a couple of things you might want to do to determine the mite situation are: 1. check the coop interior at night with a flashlight and see if you see any on the roosting bars, etc; 2. check the birds themselves at night -- usually if any mites are going to be visible, they will be around the vent area (you might need someone to hold a flashlight while you pick them up, or else use one of those lights you can strap to your forehead). If you decide you want to treat and are OK with pesticides, I think people use something called permethrin for mites. (There are several threads on mite treatment here, from chemical to natural/essential oil; those threads are very helpful for determining if you have an actual problem.) I went the essential oil route when I had mites, but I don't want to bore you with that whole long protocol unless you are interested.

Good luck! One thing that has been suggested to me to increase chickens' resistance to coccidiosis and worms is to give them a probiotic every once in a while to strengthen their internal flora and immune systems. But that is just for maintenance -- it won't treat an actual problem.

I'm sure others will have useful thoughts and opinions, too.

For Coccidiosis, you need Corid.

Dose:

1.5 teaspoons (NO LESS) of 20% powder per gallon of water

OR

2 teaspoons of 9.6% liquid per gallon... treat for 5-7 days, mix fresh at least once daily, and make sure it's the ONLY water they can access during this time.

For worms, I would recommend picking up a bottle of Valbazen.

Dose:

One-half cc/ml for an adult, standard chicken... One-quarter cc/ml for a young bird or bantam. Give orally undiluted via syringe with no needle. Re-dose in 10 days.

Hope that helps.

MrsB

Thanks for info.

I have a similar problem: seemingly healthy hen has had diarrhea for three weeks. Actually, she is in our home hospital recovering from a dog attack, but she has healed amazingly well and would be back outdoors this weekend if I weren't worried about her chronic watery stools. She could have an infection, parasites or worms - although her symptoms don't closely match. Does this pic give any clues? The closest match on the handy poop chart posted here was the hot weather mess, and she does drink more water than any chicken I ever saw. I haven't restrained her, figuring her body knew what it needed. She eats a full and healthy diet with probiotics. After reading this thread and others, I think I'd better try a wormer and perhaps Corid. Thoughts?

I am having the same issue of loose poop, but not sure if it is all of them or 1. I have had a chick that had cocci and gave her corid and she got better. I still have some because it comes in a very large bottle. Does anyone know if I put it in their water bucket would it hurt the ones that don't have loose poop?

I do put that in their water bucket every time I refill it. Should I not do it every time or it that what could be giving them loose poop?

will it hurt the ones that don't have it if they drink the water that has the Corid in it?