10 week old chick with white watery stool

[BantamBabies]

I am definitely new to Chickens, hopefully somebody can help me with this. Our mama hen hatched two of her own chicks, now 10 weeks old, shes stopped sleeping with them in the nest box and rejoined the pile. The two littles pile in the box now to sleep. They’ve been picked on by another hen and one of our roosters. There is an issue with feed. We have their crumbles available but I have seen them stretch and reach the older chickens food. And they have been run off from their own food at times so I’ve given more feeder options. It gets to a low of 30 degrees at night here. The night before last I noticed they getting run off of their food so at bedtime I closed their nest box with them in and offered food and water and they ate like crazy. The next day one of them had watery white paste and an odor coming out everywhere. I rinsed her and warmed her and quarantined her with her sibling. Is this from stress, cold, or eating the older chickens feed? Or yeast? Her crop was empty this morning and full right before bed.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would separate them in a large dog crate or pen with their own food and water. Try to keep the crate inside the coop with the others. It sounds like the white droppings could be from dehydration. At their age coccidiosis may also be a problem, but I have never had that problem with broody raised chicks before. So, I would get them fed and watered and consider getting Corid (amprollium) for coccidiosis if the one is not eating or drinking. It may just be from not getting to eat/drink and stress. They should have enough feathers to keep warm, but if the one is sick, she may need a little extra heat.

 

[BantamBabies]

Thank you so much, Come to think of it, it had been pretty rainy and she particularly looked a bit wet when I brought her in to clean her, she has been eating and drinking normally, but did look like maybe she was shivering, the rooster has been trying to keep them out of the coop where mama and baby chicks are since we have a second broody who is raising six right now, only two weeks old. I took your advice and extended their nesting box with our dog kennel and I’m hiding their food and water inside the nesting box for them so the others don’t see it in there. I got to see her defecate this morning and it just had a thin stream of white running through normal poop, she was alert and eating when I checked on them. Hoping we are out of the woods, I have treated my flock for Coccidiosis in the past when we had one go lethargic and pass away, so I know I can do that, and I have some on hand. Do you know anything about vent gleet? I am not finding any relevant information that fits the bill for her because her vent area is normal healthy tissue no redness at all. One thing I forgot to mention was we do have a very happy fat little mouse who frequents are nesting boxes with the Broody mamas because of the chick feed that we have to keep in there, could it be she pick something up from the poop? I clean every day hoping that they won’t eat the Do you know anything about vent gleet? I am not finding any relevant information that fits the bill for her because her vent area is normal healthy tissue no redness at all. One thing I forgot to mention was we do have a very happy fat little mouse who frequents our nesting boxes with the fruity mamas because of the chick feed that we have to keep in there, could it be she picked something up from the poop? I clean every day hoping that they won’t eat the droppings.

 

[coach723]

If you feed your flock with an all flock or flock raiser type feed, then you can feed them all the same thing, no worries about having different feeds for different age birds. Have oyster shell available in separate feeders for the laying hens that need the extra calcium (I use small milk or vinegar jugs with windows cut in them-see picture below), they will take what they need. If birds are being kept from feed, any age, then more feeders need to be put out. Some pictures of your set up might help. How many birds in how much space? If there are enough feeders with enough space between them, then everyone should have the opportunity to get feed. Same with water. I use electric mouse traps, safe for the birds and if you are seeing one mouse then you very likely have more. I would try not to have feed in the nest boxes, it really will cause problems. Both mama and babies tend to fling it everywhere, and you can have a huge mouse problem in no time. I have a dedicated 'nursery' area for my broodies, that is parallel to my main coop and run. That is where the broodies go when they sit, and they stay there until the babies are big enough to be with the main flock, it's just less stressful for everyone. I don't have broodies getting upset about their nest space or leaving it due to stress. Since they are parallel to each other from day one integration usually goes pretty smoothly. You might want to consider trying to come up with a way to do something similar.
Vent gleet is usually pretty nasty, and is often fungal or yeast. It's usually pretty apparent if it's that rather than runny droppings from something else. I would really concentrate on making sure they are getting adequate feed and water, and maybe try adding a probiotic to see if that helps. You can use chicken ones (make sure it's probiotic only), there are multi species ones, like probios, or you can empty a human capsule into some moistened feed and give it to her.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt.64647/*Edit: Sorry, forgot to attach the picture before.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since you have Corid and have had an outbreak before, I would probably go ahead and treat the 2 10 week olds, just in case that is what is wrong with the one with runny white poops.

 

[BantamBabies]

If you feed your flock with an all flock or flock raiser type feed, then you can feed them all the same thing, no worries about having different feeds for different age birds. Have oyster shell available in separate feeders for the laying hens that need the extra calcium (I use small milk or vinegar jugs with windows cut in them-see picture below), they will take what they need. If birds are being kept from feed, any age, then more feeders need to be put out. Some pictures of your set up might help. How many birds in how much space? If there are enough feeders with enough space between them, then everyone should have the opportunity to get feed. Same with water. I use electric mouse traps, safe for the birds and if you are seeing one mouse then you very likely have more. I would try not to have feed in the nest boxes, it really will cause problems. Both mama and babies tend to fling it everywhere, and you can have a huge mouse problem in no time. I have a dedicated 'nursery' area for my broodies, that is parallel to my main coop and run. That is where the broodies go when they sit, and they stay there until the babies are big enough to be with the main flock, it's just less stressful for everyone. I don't have broodies getting upset about their nest space or leaving it due to stress. Since they are parallel to each other from day one integration usually goes pretty smoothly. You might want to consider trying to come up with a way to do something similar.
Vent gleet is usually pretty nasty, and is often fungal or yeast. It's usually pretty apparent if it's that rather than runny droppings from something else. I would really concentrate on making sure they are getting adequate feed and water, and maybe try adding a probiotic to see if that helps. You can use chicken ones (make sure it's probiotic only), there are multi species ones, like probios, or you can empty a human capsule into some moistened feed and give it to her.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/vent-gleet-aka-nasty-chicken-butt.64647/*Edit: Sorry, forgot to attach the picture before.
View attachment 2046936

This is super helpful! I’ll have to beg my hubby to make adjustments to our coup and run for the mamas especially since we have 6 chicks who are 2 weeks old.

We have three feeders for 2 rooster, 4 hens and the 2 10 week old chicks. I’ll get some pictures of our coup and run. Maybe you’ll have a suggestion of how to separate everyone.

 

[BantamBabies]

Update. Our chick is better! Although she looks as though she lost weight. Her poops are back to normal and she no longer has white leaking from her vent. Her vent never became red or swollen. I sprayed Banixx (antifungal) on her vent area for 4 days and washed that area every other day for 5 days. I have quarantined her and her sister and added probiotics to their water and gave them a heat plate. I’ve noticed them under it many times through out the day. Our days are between 45-58 degrees and our nights as low as 28. I’ve noticed that when the flock gets close to their cage that our head rooster and head hen (their mama) attack. I think they were just stressed and cold. Poor babies. They were probably not ready for their mama to leave them for the flock. We are rejoining our rooster due to aggression.