my chicken wets her self in the mornings, could it be her kidneys?

[Xtineart]

One of my hens is a lovely little thing, as happy as can be, lots of lovely eggs and a wee chubby fluffball to boot. but for months now she pee-pees when she comes out of the coop first thing. A proper wet pee, like a human or a dog would do. a skoosh of clear water. Then for the rest of the day she poops normally.

I cant work it out, she's been wormed, she's had a full poop screening at the vets and she doesn't have cocsidiosis or anything obvious. It's not even like chickn diarrhoea.

I'm really puzzled by it but also worried about her once the real cold spell comes as she nests rather than roosts and her patch of next is often quite wet in the mornings when I collect eggs and do a quick clean.

she seems healthy and bright enough so what could it be?

 

[chicmom]

Could it be something she's eating? If her backside is nice and fluffy (no dirt bum), I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Xtineart]

her backside is usually just wet from her piddling out so much water in the morning. She eats and drinks normally and although she probably eats more plants than the others (she is obsessed with eating anything green) she doesn't display any signs that she is eating and drinking more or less than the others overall.

 

[azygous]

If she's normal and healthy in every respect but this, don't worry about it. I have a five-year old Speckled Sussex hen who has had the liquid squirts since she was a day old. I've come to believe this is default behavior when she poops, and instead of solid urates, she has liquid ones. She's never been sick, ever.

 

[Xtineart]

thanks I'll try to stop worrying about her so much. I just had never heard of a chicken doing that before and the internet queries only seemed to show up things that it clearly was not. I've cut her bum feathers right back so she doesn't dribble down herself so much, I figured the loss of fluff warmth would be worth it for her not having a wet backside as it gets colder.