Weird Poo ((pics)) What Should I Doo??

I have been all over the 'net and archives here trying to figure out what this is and if I need to do something about it--and what that might be. Now I've taken some pics and I am hoping somebody here can give me a definitive answer. Best I can tell from my research is that this is shed intestinal lining (it's not deep red like plain blood, and it has a stringy consistency to it). The thing is, I have been finding lots of droppings like this for a week now, maybe 25% of all droppings out of 35 birds. I've never seen this before in my last meat bird flock or in either of my current layer flocks. What on earth would make them shed intestinal lining like this? I've watched them closely for any other signs of illness or parasite infection and they look and act perfectly normal. I haven't weighed them yet to be sure, but they seem to be gaining fine (although I am afraid this might mess with nutrient absorption if it continues). I've put a lot of time and money into these birds and I am hoping they make it to the freezer (year's supply). Any recommendations from anyone??

The first image is a fresh one; the second image is one that had been rained on, showing how the stuff remains after most of the dropping is broken down. Disgusting..I know...I'm sorry!!

are these cornishX birds?
if so they are eating too much feed
feed at 6Am and 2pm and then nothing after that
get the gut on the right track

I think fro searching it may be a type of

Salmonella enteritidis fecal shedding in the chicks
oe E.coli
try this
E.coli is something chickens do get
Now, anytime you have any gut problems, the health of the beneficial bacteria that should naturally occur in the gut should be considered.

It's usually when the populations of those good
bacterial decrease that we see an INcreased in bad bacteria, thus gut illness. The good
bacteria literally crowd out bad bacteria, and some even secrete substances
that ward off over abundances of bad bacteria.

So during illness, and really any time there is
stress, you'll want to increase the number of good bacteria in your bird's gut. You can do
this quite easily through the use of probiotics
available over the counter, and some even at the grocery store.

(1 In this case, with a
probability of E. coli, you'll want to find a
"probiotic" that contains live cultures of
Lactobacilus (most commonly lactobacilus
acidophilus) as well as B. bifidum.

Bifidum is one of those bacteria that secretes stuff to ward off bad bacteria, in this case it specifically wards off E.coli.

(2These two live bacteria are usually found in Walmart yogurt.

Just make sure it's NOT artificially sweetened.
(Birds don't do aspartame well.) You'll want to
encourage your bird to somehow take 1 teaspoon per day any time during medication.

(3, nutrition during illness:
You can mix it up with boiled/mashed egg yolk for a combination of good high protein for healing,
super nutrition from the egg, and the good bacteria from the yogurt. Plus, this treat is soft and easily dissolved.

(4 vitamin E.
Vitamin E acts specifically against overdoses of E.coli. I'd use the oil capsules. 1-400 mg of people Vit E daily.You can put it in a small bit of food if you KNOW that bit of food will be eaten entirely.

When birds are sick, their crops/gizzards slow down, so it's really easy for their crops to back up and get impacted.

If you don't think your bird will eat yogurt (some dont, some love it),

tYou can pick up a non-dairy human probiotic from the human health food store.
You'll find them in the remedies for yeast infections. Liquids are easiest to use, though
you can crush tablets if you absolutely have to do.

Be sure to read the label to see
that it says that it contains both acidophilus (aka lactobacilus) as well as bifidum.
Nathalie Ross provided this excerp

Glenda L Heywood provided this

My favorite natural probiotic is this
for chicks over two weeks
adults all ages

NATURAL PROBIOTIC RECIPE
1 qt of dry crumbles
2 qts of milk any kind :ie sweet, sour, or buttermilk
(to make sour milk use 3 tbsp of apple cider vineager per gallon of milk, keep all unused sour milk in frig till used)
1/4 cup of natural unflavoered yoguart ( no artificial sweetner)

feed 2 tsp per chick each time you feed it
for adul chicen 3 tbsp each time you feed it:

what they will eat in 20-30 minutes
then clean milk feeder out and restore dry crumbles

use every day for a week after medicating them
then once a week will do for life of chicken
restores good gut flora to fight diseases

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
Here is a website that shows the tons of normal poos. Most are normal. It can put your mind at ease. Hope this helps.

Glenda --

Thanks for the good advice. I do restrict feed, but I do it 12 hours on, 12 hours off. (Hard to tell how much they'll consume day to day, since they grow really fast.)

I will try the probiotics since it certainly cannot hurt. I just wanted to be sure that they didn't need dewormer or some other medication. I don't favor medicating unnecessarily, unless I could truly pin down the cause of the problem. E-coli or salmonella sound very probable. I hadn't thought of that. This many meat birds produce so much manure. I am constantly cleaning their bedding. DH picked up some materials for me from the hardware store today so we can construct a movable pen this weekend. I expect rotating their location daily will help a lot.

Ewww dookie!

umm.. my sick chicken's poo looks just like this!

I did feed them yogurt and it seemed to clear up for a few days but now it's back. She is the one doing the open mouth thing and the occasional head shake, but is otherwise active and friendly.

Update--In case anyone else has this problem and freaks out like I did (and actually thinks to check the archives first!):::

The problem gradually phased out on it's own. I did note a definite hinderance to their growth because of this. Processing day is delayed now by at least another week, maybe two.

Seemed like it mainly just had to run it's course, but toward the end I gave them some yougurt and added cider vinegar into their water. They liked both and I hope it helps them bounce back.

Thanks Glenda and others for the advice!!