Chicken with diarrhea

[Jen26]

Hello All -

Hoping for some advice/recommendations please

I have a 2-1/2 year old sapphire gem who has had a couple of bouts of long-lasting diarrhea (about one month each time). Both times she’s had a negative fecal float. She seems to act like herself each time.

I noticed last week loose stools starting again. Her stool is explosive and mainly watery with a foul odor to it. I did isolate her Wednesday because she seemed to be resting more in the coop, but nothing drastic. Comb still red in color and off lay for the winter (although she did lay a few eggs between her last bout of diarrhea in October and now).

We have a flock of 10 and she seems to be the only bird affected.

The girls are kept in a coop with an enclosed run. Good ventilation and poop scooped daily.

I free feed Purina layer crumbles and Feather Fixer higher protein feed. Small amounts of scratch and/or mealworms. No table scraps, and an occasional head of cabbage or scrambled eggs.

I give probiotics about 1-2 times weekly.

She drinks a good amount of water. I’ve been feeding her one scrambled egg daily and her seed and mealworm treats. She readily eats all of that and has been eating some of her regular food as well. I’ve given her Poultry cell in her water the last 3 days. Talking in the crate and comes out when we open the door for her.

Looking for any suggestions please - not sure if this is just her norm or if there are any ideas what might be going on?

Appreciate the help!

 

[azygous]

Three possibilities leap immediately to mind. One is that she is prone to watery poops and it's a default state while solids are her anomaly. I had a hen like that a long time ago who lived to be eight. I could only recall a few incidents of solid poop from her, yet she was never sick until she died.

The second, due mainly to the bad odor of her poop, may be a chronic bacterial infection. E.coli is a very common bacteria that loves to squat in the intestines, humans included. It's not easy to get rid of, though.

The third is the Feather Fixer. I've used it before. It's pretty powerful stuff. Protein in that amount should not be fed over long periods. It can cause short term and long term issues. It is great, though, for boosting a chicken who is having a difficult molt or is coming off being broody and needs to regain weight quickly, etc. Except to correct short term protein deficiencies, it shouldn't be fed as a regular feed. So, I would stop feeding it and see if her issue clears up.

Time will tell which of those three is causing her issue. And, there can always be something else to add to that list.

 

[Jen26]

This is all very helpful - thank you for the e quick response!