Black poop that looks like tar

[sarahjessica]

I've never wormed my chickens or anything, they're two months old and have the same poop problem. ( no evidence of worms in the poop ) They're all incredibly healthy, but i feed them TONS of kale, which is a super dark green lettuce. It's gross, but they like it. I'm thinking that it could be that. I don't know how much greens you feed your chickens but thats just what i'm hoping is the cause of the black poop on my end. I can't imagine they have anything wrong with them, best conditions a chicken could ask for.

 

[Avas]

Thanks Sarah Jessica - I'm not sure either but I don't give my chickens Kale. I give them lettuce and cabbage sometimes but they are not crazy about it! My chickens seem to love noodles the best and they also like rice and sometimes oatmeal. I don't know why we're having this problem but I hope it isn't any internal problems. I have kept them in the coop area for the last few days and it seems like the black poop is stopping. Maybe they ingested something when they were walking around the house. We just finished our roof and maybe they found a piece of the shingles or something - I don't know - we did pick up everything from around the house but maybe they got something I didn't see, something really small. I don't know. I just got very scared when I saw the black poop - my first thought was bleeding inside. I hope not. I hope this is over and they are okay and I hope your chickens are okay too. Maybe yours is from the Kale or maybe they picked up something in the yard (if you let them free range). Wishing you all the best and thanks.

 

[sarahjessica]

I've just discovered that every 6 poops a chicken has a cecal one which is black and smells BAD. So it's pretty normal i guess.

 

[happyhens1972]

Cecals don't tend to be black usually, they are more a mustardy colour and sometimes slightly frothy. It would seem that these dark poops you are seeing ARE the cecals if they are not on every poop but that there has been something wrong to cause them to blacken. If the problem has improved since you isolated them to the coop area, you should now be seeing healthy mustard coloured cecals which should show you that whatever was in their system has now cleared out.

 

[sarahjessica]

I think its all the kale they eat. They are incredibly healthy and don't free range. Kale is such a dark color and they get so many other treats too (maybe I should cut back)

 

[dkissler]

Any discoveries about why your chicken had black poop? I just noticed one of my chickens with that same problem today - hoping it isn't anything serious

 

[sarahjessica]

Yes it turned out to be nothing, it went away in time. I'm guessing it is what they call cecal poop. I think that's how you spell it. It turned out alright. Everyone is healthy!

 

[lolita117]

Ivermectin only kills a couple types of worms. DE won't do anything for worms. Albendazole which is the content of Valbazen is a far better wormer. It kills them all and is safe at .5 cc for standards and .25 cc for Bantams. I used Wormazole and a few others over the years, but Valbazen is carried in most feed stores, so I don't recommend the ones I buy out of convenience for others. Dark droppings and a variety of colors are seen with birds that range. It wouldn't hurt to run 2 tsp of Corid 9.6% per gallon of water for 5 days as a treatment. Give a break for a couple days with vitamins,electrolytes, Probios in the water. Then worm them with Valbazen, and do it again 10 days later.

I'm having strange poop issues with my chickens. Never had issues before. Everything I've looked up seems like it's cecal poop but it seems to be too frequent to be cecal poop. I've had chickens for 5 years now and I've never had consistently dark tarry or puddling orange poos like I've been seeing for a 2-3 months now. There's still normal poos but what I'm seeing too frequently to write it off as nothing is unusual poos for my flock.

The only difference in my flock in the last 12 months is I have (I raised) some turkeys and ducks with my flock.

Everybody acts normal. I haven't had no deaths or sick looking chickens but I'm interested in doing this treatment plan because I'm worried to death about Coccidiosis. Especially because I have dogs and I raise puppies.

I have a few questions, if you or anybody could answer.

What is the withdrawal period for laying hens? Or is it safe to still consume eggs.

Both the Corid 9.6% and Valbazen aren't labeled for poultry. How old do the chickens need to be to treat for both products. I have some babies in an ajoining room to my adult chickens (chicken wire separates them). They range from 7 weeks down to one week old.

I'm looking at the products on Valley Vet, is there a better place/price to buy these products.

Thanks so much in advance.