3-month old hen with diarrhea - should i be concerned?

[jnsnedigar]

Our 3-month old hen (most likely an Ameracauna mix) has had very runny poop for about a week and a half. (No blood). She is still eating and doesn't seem to be too lethargic, but I am wondering what might cause this and how I should treat it. Is it cause for concern? There are two other hens in the coop with her. We are feeding her a commerical crumble mix of 16% protein, along with other "treats" like greens, fruit and other food scraps. I am a total novice with chickens and just joined this forum, so any information is appreciated!

 

[TwoCrows]

First off,

Many things can cause running poo. The heat is a big factor, lots of diarrhea in the heat. Too many greens, fruits even will give very loose stools. Is this a bird that you raised from a baby? Or did you recently aquire her? If you have had her for sometime and nothing much has changed in the yard, including adding any new birds, etc... then unless she is acting sick, she is probably ok. If she is a new comer, she could have worms or some illness of some sort.

If the diarrhea continues on for any length of time it could be worms. If the poo dries up at night then definitely it is the heat.

Maybe someone else here will have more input.

 

[jnsnedigar]

Thank you, this is helpful. It was hot last week (we are in California) so that might have been the initial culprit, plus maybe too many treats. She and the other two hens were hatched in an incubator in my son's classroom, so we've had them since they were about two weeks old and as far as I know nothing has changed in the yard. Are there any symptoms to watch for if we suspect she ate something she shouldn't have? The reason I ask is because our neighbors have one of those ornamental cherry trees and it just started dropping fruit. I've noticed squirrels dropping them around our yard near the coop and wondered if maybe she ate one? Not even sure if they are poisonous to chickens, but it occured to me that it might have caused some digestive trouble.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am not sure about ornamental cherries being poisonous, but normally chickens won't eat something poisonous unless they are really hungry, although it is known to happen. Most likely she is eating too many of them and getting diarrhea. My girls love blueberries and raspberries and even a few of them turn the poo's really runny. And blue!! LOL But fruits are good for them and I wouldn't be too concerned unless she really starts acting ill.

We have had low 90's all week here and there is runny poo's alot around here. You can tell if it is heat if the poo's dry up at night in the coop.