Advice please- What is this in my chickens poop?

[Eggcessive]

Milo is sorghum and in a lot of bird seed, and not very nutritious. Some call it trash and a cheap filler. She might not be digesting that if she does not have access to poultry grit. Those scratch and peck type feeds look really good to us humans, but chickens will pick out the favorite things first and leave a lot of the nutrients added to it, resulting in an unbalanced diet or deficiency. I would at least soak or ferment the remainder of the bag, and then gradually offer a balanced pellet or crumble feed, where each bit is all the same.
Edited to say, that milo may not be that bad according to which articles you read. It has similar protein as wheat and other grains. But whenever I used to feed wild birds, they would usually leave the milo behind. I do think that a balanced crumble or pellet is the way to go with chickens.

 

[Perris]

From feedipedia: https://www.feedipedia.org/node/224
Poultry
Sorghum is of utmost importance in poultry feeding in countries where it is available. Sorghum grain can be fed as the main or only grain in poultry diets. Broilers can be fed up to 70% low-tannin sorghum in combination with soybean meal, minerals and vitamins (Jacquin, 1991). Low-tannin sorghum has a metabolizable energy comparable or higher to that of maize (Sauvant et al., 2004), and can replace maize grain to a great extent (Subramanian et al., 2000) even if a meta-analysis of literature on sorghum use shows slightly lower performance (Batonon et al., 2015). Tannin-free cultivars are preferred by poultry, but it is possible to feed them with high-tannin sorghum, provided it is reconstituted after high-moisture storage for 10 days. High-moisture sorghum is reported to have a higher protein digestibility and a slightly higher metabolizable energy. However, its digestibility remains lower than for low-tannin sorghum (Daghir, 2008).
It may also be beneficial to add fat, methionine or to grind grain sorghum in order to enhance digestibility (Blair, 2008).
High phytate content is also a problem because the unavailability of P reduces growth performance and can induce locomotive disorders. It may be counterbalanced by P supplementation or by adding phytase. The low level of xanthophylls (10 fold smaller than yellow corn) requires pigment supplementation in order to maintain egg yolk colour (Walker, 1999).
High-lysine sorghum cultivars have been created, but while they have a higher protein digestibility, their starch content is lower and less available than in normal sorghum, hence reducing the advantages of the higher lysine on broiler performances (Elkin, 2002).

 

[Chickenmama_]

sorry for your losses. Do you have any idea why they died? Any hint of any sort of deficiency in their diet? Unless the answer to the last is a definite 'yes', why start worrying about their feed? Your time would be better spent trying to identify securely what killed the other two than changing the feed of the living four.

Fwiw, milo/sorghum/dari (3 names for the same thing) is used as poultry feed worldwide; there is absolutely no reason to worry about it.

Well the first one that passed I had taken to the vet. The vet determined she had a severe case of egg yolk peritonitis. She was euthanized at the vet because she was suffering and it was determined at that point she wouldn’t make a recovery.

The following day, this past Saturday one of my chickens was suddenly acting lethargic and not walking right. I was holding her and she went completely limp and excreted a bunch of clear liquid from her vent. I thought she had passed but then she came back to it. Like 30 minutes later I was still holding her and she went limp again. Then she starting squawking and starting flailing and flapping her wings and going all over the place and then she passed. It was almost like she had a seizure in her last moments.

The only symptom they had that was the same was lethargy and pale combs.

I was only concerned about the seeds in the poop because I am now paying extra close attention to my remaining girls to ensure that they aren’t showing any symptoms. I have never noticed them in their poop in the past and they have been on this feed for close to a year now.

 

[Chickenmama_]

Milo is sorghum and in a lot of bird seed, and not very nutritious. Some call it trash and a cheap filler. She might not be digesting that if she does not have access to poultry grit. Those scratch and peck type feeds look really good to us humans, but chickens will pick out the favorite things first and leave a lot of the nutrients added to it, resulting in an unbalanced diet or deficiency. I would at least soak or ferment the remainder of the bag, and then gradually offer a balanced pellet or crumble feed, where each bit is all the same.
Edited to say, that milo may not be that bad according to which articles you read. It has similar protein as wheat and other grains. But whenever I used to feed wild birds, they would usually leave the milo behind. I do think that a balanced crumble or pellet is the way to go with chickens.

I think I will do this. I never realized that they will peck out their favorite things. It makes since though because I do notice they seem to fling a lot of the food on the ground.

It was just concerning to me because I have never seen many seeds like that in the poop.

Also to add they do have access to grit in a separate container at all times. & the substrate I use in their coop/run is a coarse mason sand they tend to peck at from time to time.

 

[Chickenmama_]

That looks like undigested seeds. Take a pliers and crush a few open to see what’s inside. Do any of your other chickens have that? The other 2 you lost have it? Hopefully they didn’t find something poisonous.

None of the other birds have it in their droppings including the 2 who recently passed.

 

[Perris]

EYP is not caused by diet. Birds select to eat what their instincts tell them is what they need. They fling away stuff their instincts tell them is not ideal for them. Synthetic vitamins and minerals - if that is indeed what they are rejecting - are less nutritious than real ones found in real foods.

 

[Chickenmama_]

EYP is not caused by diet. Birds select to eat what their instincts tell them is what they need. They fling away stuff their instincts tell them is not ideal for them. Synthetic vitamins and minerals - if that is indeed what they are rejecting - are less nutritious than real ones found in real foods.

Is there a certain feed you recommend?

 

[Perris]

I was only concerned about the seeds in the poop because I am now paying extra close attention to my remaining girls to ensure that they aren’t showing any symptoms. I have never noticed them in their poop in the past and they have been on this feed for close to a year now.

Egg yolk peritonitis is not caused by diet, so I would not change what you have been giving them.

You might find this page from the BHWT useful
https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-health/health-problems/egg-yolk-peritonitis/