4 month old hens sick?

[gamergirl78]

We have nine 4 month old Leghorn hens and I noticed yesterday while changing their water, that there was dark blood on the waterer in 2 places. Today when we cleaned out the coop we saw some caramel colored diarrhea, and more traces of blood only the blood seemed a little lighter in color (more watery). We're new to chickens, we've only had them a month and a half. They aren't acting sick, and we can't figure out which one/s are eliminating the blood. We did have a dead chicken a week ago, and have no idea what caused it's demise.

We've been feeding them layer feed, but I went and got a bag of chick food to get the antibiotics in case they are sick. I've also started feeding them garlic which they love. The guy at the feed store thought maybe they were just getting ready to lay and that's why we are seeing traces of blood. I talked to him before we saw the caramel like stools that we saw today.

I was hoping someone that knows a bit more about chickens could give me some advice.

Edited to add: they are really only around 14 weeks old. I forgot when it was that we bought them as 10 week pullets and thought they were older then they are.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Here is a great tool to diagnose poop. Sometimes pullets that age shed their intestinal lining very normal to see blood mixed in with poo. There are worms that can cause this too. Check out this chart to help you out.

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[gamergirl78]

Almost all the poo is normal.

The blood looks more like the coccidosis, then the pictures of lining shedding, but we saw less blood evidence today then yesterday.

The caramel stools are like the ceacal poos on that link. We've had a couple watery stools, but it was pretty hot today, and they had a lot more food matter in them then the picture on that link depicts.

I'll see how they are doing in the morning and update.

 

[chic-a-deee]

Hi,
I think hens arent ready to lay until around 6months old??
So your hens wouldnt be ready to lay yet.

Hope this helps

 

[gamergirl78]

I know hens don't lay until 6 months, but some hens do start laying closer to 4 months and I thought mine were 4 months old. My brother had 2 of his chickens start laying eggs at 4 months.

My chickens are still acting normal. I'm still finding dark red blood in some of their droppings, it doesn't look like lining to me. I guess as long as they aren't acting sick I'm going to hope they get better instead of die.

 

[EMaker]

Sounds like Cocci. I'd start them on liquid Sulmet in their water right away.

 

[gamergirl78]

I've called the farm supply store and they only have Duramycin for chickens. Will that help or be worth going to pick up?

 

[EMaker]

You need either Sulmet (which acts faster) or Corid, if it's Cocci. Antibiotics, like Duramycin, aren't effective against Cocci. (Blood in dropping is a classic sign of Cocci, and Cocci can kill them quickly...so if I were you, I'd find a source of liquid Sulmet somewhere asap. It's a common treatment, you should be able to locate a bottle.)

 

[gamergirl78]

I can't find either medicine locally. I don't have time to order it. Today is the third day we've seen dark red blood so by the time I get any medication they should be starting to shed it. Based on what I've read they will either be dead or on the mend by Tuesday.

I'll order some, but I'd don't know if it will help my currently sick chickens. Maybe it will help any that are not currently infected. Hopefully being 3.5 months old they will be strong and not die. In the mean time I'll keep feeding them garlic and onion which is the best thing I can think of doing.