Black Tar like poop

R.M.Qureshi · Jan 23, 2013

Dear BYC members,

Its my first post of the new year. Please accept my greetings for the new year. May this year bring all of us prosperity and happiness.

For the last few days i have observed some black tar like droppings in my chicken. These are some times pasty and some times accompanied with normal poop. But very stinky.

All the birds are on Grain food/Commercial mesh mix. Drinking and eating normally. active and healthy.
I have been raising chicken for the last two years now but its the first time i have observed such a poop.

Please be so kind to let me have your valuable comments.

Regards
RM

willowbranchfarm · Jan 23, 2013

Chicken Poo Chart (graphic)

Categories: Chickens , Urban Farming 101 , Urban Livestock | 8 Comments
Grody but pragmatic. It is necessary to know what normal and abnormal waste looks like from your birds. To this end, the Poultry Page Forum has created an online guide to poultry feces. Great job PPF! You can view what they have created thus far but be forewarned, its not pretty.
Normal

Picture taken by Catsmuvva

These last three pictures have shed intestinal lining in them – quite normal, not a cause for concern.

Coral coloured Urates

These are frequently deposited overnight and are quite normal

Oily and Foamy

The range of “Normal” is huge :shock:

Ceacal

These are produced from the caecum of the chicken and are mustard to dark brown froth. They are expelled every 8 to 10 droppings.

Fly Maggots

(picture curtesy of Vember)

Flies will lay their eggs on moist chicken poo and in warm weather they will very quickly hatch into small maggots.

Watery

Watery droppings can be produced by hens which are too hot. It can be a way for them to cool down by drinking a lot and losing some of their heat in frequent wet droppings. It can also be a sign that the hens are not eating enough too.

Abnormal poos

Coccidiosis produces blood in faeces.

The hen who produced this specimen was an older bird who became very thirsty.
She is producing a large amount of watery urates the cause of which is unknown, but could possibly be a kidney problem.

The hen who produced this specimen was about 25 weeks old. She went off her food and ate so little she became underweight. She held her tail down and was tired. She may have had worms and/or egg peritonitis.

Worms

picture taken by smiler43 picture taken by Lindeggs

Sulphur yellow, foamy dropping can bea sign of Blackhead (Histamonosis) which is caused by a protozoan parasite infecting the gut. It is however rare in back yard hens !

This picture was taken after 2 days treatment with flubenvet. The worms are probably Ascaridia galli, they don’t cause much harm to the birds unless they are present in large numbers. It is not unkown for them to enter the reproductive tract from the digestive tract via the vent and be found inside an egg :shock:

Happy Chooks · Jan 23, 2013

Do your chickens free range? The color of their poop can change based on what they are eating.

I can tell you if you feed your chickens beet greens, they will poop red. Freaked me out the first time I did that and went to the coop and saw red poop everywhere.

JerseyGiantfolk · Jan 23, 2013

Happy Chooks said:
Do your chickens free range? The color of their poop can change based on what they are eating.

I can tell you if you feed your chickens beet greens, they will poop red. Freaked me out the first time I did that and went to the coop and saw red poop everywhere.

I experienced that too.

They found a big bush of ripe Deadly Nightshade. The whole rest of the day they had dark, greenish, almost purple poops. The next day it was out of their system.

R.M.Qureshi · Aug 21, 2013

They must have eaten something. The poop became normal after three days.

ChickNanny13 · Oct 3, 2013

willowbranchfarm said:
Chicken Poo Chart (graphic)

Categories: Chickens , Urban Farming 101 , Urban Livestock | 8 Comments
Grody but pragmatic. It is necessary to know what normal and abnormal waste looks like from your birds. To this end, the Poultry Page Forum has created an online guide to poultry feces. Great job PPF! You can view what they have created thus far but be forewarned, its not pretty.
Normal

Picture taken by Catsmuvva

These last three pictures have shed intestinal lining in them – quite normal, not a cause for concern.

Coral coloured Urates

These are frequently deposited overnight and are quite normal

Oily and Foamy

The range of “Normal” is huge :shock:

Ceacal

These are produced from the caecum of the chicken and are mustard to dark brown froth. They are expelled every 8 to 10 droppings.

Fly Maggots

(picture curtesy of Vember)

Flies will lay their eggs on moist chicken poo and in warm weather they will very quickly hatch into small maggots.

Watery

Watery droppings can be produced by hens which are too hot. It can be a way for them to cool down by drinking a lot and losing some of their heat in frequent wet droppings. It can also be a sign that the hens are not eating enough too.

Abnormal poos

Coccidiosis produces blood in faeces.

The hen who produced this specimen was an older bird who became very thirsty.
She is producing a large amount of watery urates the cause of which is unknown, but could possibly be a kidney problem.

The hen who produced this specimen was about 25 weeks old. She went off her food and ate so little she became underweight. She held her tail down and was tired. She may have had worms and/or egg peritonitis.

Worms

picture taken by smiler43 picture taken by Lindeggs

Sulphur yellow, foamy dropping can bea sign of Blackhead (Histamonosis) which is caused by a protozoan parasite infecting the gut. It is however rare in back yard hens !

This picture was taken after 2 days treatment with flubenvet. The worms are probably Ascaridia galli, they don’t cause much harm to the birds unless they are present in large numbers. It is not unkown for them to enter the reproductive tract from the digestive tract via the vent and be found inside an egg :shock:

WOW, fantastic info...I joined BYC a recently & have been scrolling to figure out how to remedy the "softer" poop, they're stinkier & attract more flies. My girls will be 18wks Sunday, fed dry medicated chick starter but will be changing to Raiser as they're not laying yet. Got 3 Wyandottes, 1 Ameraucana (says breeder) or an Easter Egger (BYC), 2 Orpingtons...I've started adding ACV with Mother to their water for about a month, poop was nice but notice lately getting a bit more "soft" ones. Nothings changed, they get freeze dried mealworms & rolled oats for treats, papaya & chopped veggies (cabbage, lettuce, tomato, etc..) for morning extras. They're cooped in the evenings are loose during the day & my yard (grass) is fenced. The weather however has changed a bit, been raining alot more lately which is normal for this time of the year for my area....Wondering if that may have something to do with the "soft" poop that looks like the picture (Ceacal) that you posted. I'm relieved to know it's "normal" though yucky. Anything I can to do firm it up? Thanks

R.M.Qureshi · Oct 5, 2013

Dear chicknany13,

I have compiled a new page on poopology. here is a link http://sdrv.ms/1fwHoSn
If you have any photos to share please send with detail

ChickNanny13 · Oct 5, 2013

R.M.Qureshi said:
Dear chicknany13,

I have compiled a new page on poopology. here is a link http://sdrv.ms/1fwHoSn
If you have any photos to share please send with detail

Thanks a bunch, helps us newbies, fretting over poop, ha ha

Black Tar like poop

More options

R.M.Qureshi

Songster

willowbranchfarm

Chicken Boots

Happy Chooks

Free Ranging

JerseyGiantfolk

Crowing

R.M.Qureshi

Songster

ChickNanny13

Enabler

R.M.Qureshi

Songster

ChickNanny13

Enabler

Similar threads

New posts New threads Active threads

Latest posts

Latest threads

Threads with more replies in the last 15 days