loose smelly poop in 3 and 4 week old chicks, just switched to organic

[pastrymama]

i had been using purina non-medicated crumbles and everything was fine with my 3 and 4 week old chicks. but i found out my feed store carried O.H. kruse organic crumbles chick feed and decided i would rather give them that. as soon as i did, a few of them had their poo turn into super smelly mush. i mixed some of the new stuff into what was left of the purina so it wasn't straight organic. but they are not all doing this. i have 6 chicks. i know one is for sure and maybe another one. they were also outside in their coop/pen the other day because it was about 90 here in phoenix. i am not feeding treats or anything like that. they were pecking the ground like crazy and they eat their pine shavings all the time. always have, especially this latest bag i just got at the same time as the organic feed. they pull out these little strings that look like worms(but its shavings) and eat them. they all seem to be acting typical, nothing out of the ordinary, just loosery smelly poo. from the change of feed or something else? ideas?

noel

 

[HerbiLady]

I would think if you didn't switch them over really gradually, that's the culprit

That's an issue with dogs and every other animal when you change food. Some dogs, like my dearly departed Doberman, have cast iron stomachs and it never bothered her but for some dogs, it's major runny stools.

The best way to do it is to start adding small amounts of the new feed to the old feed, gradually upping the new feed ratio over the course of maybe a week. I switched my feed recently and it took me about four or five days before I was giving them all the new feed. No poop issues at all, thank goodness!

Maybe a combo of the new feed and eating all kinds of new stuff outside (was it the first time?) helped contribute as well. Is the protein in the new feed a lot different/lower/higher as well? If it's lower, maybe some high protein snack supplements will help?

Now, since you're in the middle of it, maybe you can just wait it out and give some oatmeal and yogurt to firm things up a bit? Especially if they aren't acting sick and just being smelly and loose

Good luck!

 

[pastrymama]

the protein level is the same, 18%. and they have been outside before, probably 4 other times, it's so nice here. so the feed is really the only thing i have changed. the pine shavings are the same brand, just a bigger cut. the first bag i got was a cut so small there was so much dust in it i couldn't stand it so this time i got the bigger shavings, but they are not eating the big pieces, just those little strings. what kind of yogurt and oatmeal do you give and how do you give it? i am so new at this and clearly have no idea what i am doing 90% of the time. thanks.

noel

 

[HerbiLady]

Hi Noel!

I'm no expert but I've raised chickens before a long time ago. And I'm the type of person that does way too much research ...

Anyway, I was giving mine just some raw regular old Quaker oatmeal and I treat them with Greek yogurt. I like the Greek yogurt because it's so much thicker (they drain out the whey, I think) and it has much less sugar. It makes a nice firm glob on a board and it'll stick to the brooder wall or a spoon nicely without being runny. They can get a good glob of it to swallow as opposed to something runnier. You can find it anywhere but if all you have is plain regular yogurt, that's fine. Just messier. Some folks prefer cooked oatmeal since it's supposed to have a greater nutritional value but for firming things up, raw might work a bit better. I didn't grind it up or anything, just sprinkled it in the shavings so they could hunt for it. They scarfed it up pretty fast. Cooked rice might have the same firming effect, and possibly cottage cheese but I don't know about that for sure.

One word of caution...go easy on the oatmeal and/or supplement with some additional protein ( the yogurt will provide some or you can give them some hard-boiled egg)

You could try a small dish of oatmeal and yogurt mixed but it may take a bit for them to warm up to yogurt. I would do the mixed and offer maybe a little oatmeal plain on the side? If you smear some yogurt a little higher up than their heads on the brooder wall or hold it on a shiny spoon, it's more fun for them (and you to watch!) If you don't want to get your brooder walls messy, you could put some on a board and prop it up or something, for entertainment purposes

I'm currently pararnoid about displacing a lot of protein with starchy foods like oatmeal and rice, which I was giving for treats and ended up with some picking that was making me nervous. That, and their new food was a lower protein than their first. So I've switched to high protein treats and a few greens (dandelion leaves, strawberry hulls, a bit of sod with grass snipped short) But if you're doing it to firm up their poo, it should be fine.

Mine eat some shavings too...annoying little creatures! They seem fine from it though but again, it could be replacing some of their nutrition.

 

[HerbiLady]

You know what...I had forgotten about this poo link:

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

And I just read another post where someone said smelly looser poos can be ceacal poos, totally normal. Sorry...it's not really fun to look at a page full of photos of gross chicken poo but it's handy to have. I looked at it last week when I was worried about foamy yellow poop (normal!)

 

[pastrymama]

it is only the one chick, one of my EEs. i gave some oatmeal in the bottom of their box(i don't have any yogurt, just my kids flavored gogurts) and they all went crazy! so i looked at that website(yuck) and my chick is having some watery poos and some of those cecal poos, but when she goes it makes a gross noise coming out too. is she sick? i know is said both are still normal, but she is one of my favorites and i would rather not kill off any of my first chicks by accident, or on purpose for that matter. no blood, i checked. everyone else is fine. can i give her some strawberry flavored gogurt or will that just make it worse? i will ake a hardboiled egg right now and hope to hear back from you. thanks so much.

noel

 

[HerbiLady]

Well, chickens act kinda weird sometimes when they poop anyway and noises .. well, that's probably normal I guess.

She just might have a little more delicate digestion and the change of food upset her a bit more than the others. Or maybe she ate something outside that didn't agree with her that the other chicks didn't find and eat. It's good that poop is coming out ;>

The important thing is to make sure she's eating and drinking and acting otherwise normal. You know, moving around, being interested in stuff, not sitting around hunched up.

I wouldn't give the flavored sugary yogurt, especially if you think it has preservatives or anything like that in it. I would just give some oatmeal or some mushed up cooked rice for now and monitor her and make sure they're all warm enough. If they get chilled, it can make them have looser poops. Check to see if her vent is clear, meaning that the loose poop isn't crusting up and blocking her vent. Make sure her vent looks normal too.

If she doesn't want to eat or drink, then it's serious but otherwise, she'll probably be fine. I know how it is to worry about them though so keep posting if you're still worried about her.

 

[pastrymama]

well, as i was giving the hard boiled egg i noticed that another chick was having the watery poo now too. i just don't know who did it. so do i still offer the feed in addition to oatmeal and egg? they all seem to be eating just fine and drinking. but definately my EE is making a lot of watery poo now and it looks like it is full of shavings. do i need to seperate her and which other chick is now doing the same thing? there is so much water coming out but the poo is now formed. it's weird. it's nice in the garage, but i will turn the heat lamp back on. thanks for all your help with this. noel

 

[HerbiLady]

Hmmm...I'm a little worried that you said there are shavings coming out with the poo but at least they're coming OUT and not hanging up in the crop. If they're acting normal and eating and drinking, no blood in the poo, their crops seem o.k., just make sure they're good and warm and have little teeny servings of oatmeal and some good grit and keep an eye on them. The grit is necessary to help them digest whatever is in the crop that isn't chick crumbles.

I wouldn't separate them out based on watery poo alone...if their eyes are crusty, they're dumpy, they won't eat or drink, then it could be something like an illness and I would separate them. I've seen such a range of poos from my chicks that I don't freak out about any of it anymore (unless it had blood or worms in it!)

Try posting in the emergency forum if you haven't already to find out if it's really bad that the shavings are being passed but honestly, I think they're all right if they're going poop and acting normal.

 

[pastrymama]

checked her crop and it feels like a marble, so does another chick. picked up a few others, one feels squishy, a few others i couldn't find their crop at all. i have to pick up my daughter at school right now to take her to the dr but i will pick up grit on the way home and post on the other section then. chicks still acting fine. it's about 85 in the garage right now so nice and warm. it's phoenix and it's may. i hope i didn't create a death sentence to these little birds. crap! noel