I have 14 hens which are about 14 weeks old. They are in a coop and secure run which are large enough to give them all plenty of space. They were vaccinated when I purchased them online and received them in the mail. I didn't know better yet, so I gave them medicated starter food, then switched to non-medicated when I read that the medicated kind would undo the vacination.
At about 12 weeks I switched them to layer crumbles (Kalmbach), then just realized yesterday they still need starter crumbles for about 4 more weeks. I will switch them back to starter.
They get small amount of snacks, i.e. black oil sunflower seeds, blueberries, cracked corn(when it was below zero a week ago), apples, broccoli, etc. They don't get snacks every day. Their food and water are kept in the run. They get vitamin water once a week.
I use a roost board that's 4'' wide and have a poopboard underneath covered with a combination of sand and stall dry.
So I just realized maybe there's a problem because someone has brown runny poo. I don't see worms, but I don't know if I would recognize them if they were there. All the hens seem to be feeling and looking healthy and I don't see any problems with their behavior. I don't think the runny poo is a suddenly new problem, I think I just now realized maybe it isn't normal. I'd guess 90-95% of the poo on the poop board is fairly solid, so it's not a pervasive problem at this time.
I'm new at this chicken raising. Any help would be appreciated. I'm posting photos of their poo for comparison.
At about 12 weeks I switched them to layer crumbles (Kalmbach), then just realized yesterday they still need starter crumbles for about 4 more weeks. I will switch them back to starter.
They get small amount of snacks, i.e. black oil sunflower seeds, blueberries, cracked corn(when it was below zero a week ago), apples, broccoli, etc. They don't get snacks every day. Their food and water are kept in the run. They get vitamin water once a week.
I use a roost board that's 4'' wide and have a poopboard underneath covered with a combination of sand and stall dry.
So I just realized maybe there's a problem because someone has brown runny poo. I don't see worms, but I don't know if I would recognize them if they were there. All the hens seem to be feeling and looking healthy and I don't see any problems with their behavior. I don't think the runny poo is a suddenly new problem, I think I just now realized maybe it isn't normal. I'd guess 90-95% of the poo on the poop board is fairly solid, so it's not a pervasive problem at this time.
