Another watery poop question.....with a twist

[RubyLady]

We were given a lovely mannered rescue hen about 2 1/2 weeks ago. She seemed in very good health but dehydrated. Her poo was just long and full of grass strands as that was all she'd had to eat for many days. She stays outside on the carport during the day so she can walk around. We bring her cage in at night so she's safe.

She was doing exceptionally well, no signs of illness, and we were going to move her to the pen next to our flock of 13 hens where she could be seen and still separated because she has seen them in the yard and is just so lonely and sweet that we also didn't want her to get depressed. She sticks by my side anytime I go out there or come and go to and from work. She hangs out on a table just outside our dining room window so she can see us. She's definitely friendly and lonely. I can pick her up or pet her easily.

Just before we were going to move her, she started having diarrhea - ONLY during the day on the carport. Overnight her poos are COMPLETELY normal. I clean them out of the cage in the morning and they're perfect brown balls/lumps with white caps. Her first poo on the concrete will be somewhat wetter and then it's diarrhea all day.

She's been wormed, she's had antibiotics in case of kidney infection. Yet it persists. But only in the day.

Could this actually just be stress from being lonely and depressed and otherwise she's likely fine?

Suggestions? Please consider her poo is entirely NORMAL inside the house all night long. Not a hint of diarrhea. And it only started after a couple of weeks. Once she stopped pooing grass after the first two days, all her poos were normal.

PLEASE, don't just look at the photo and yell "Corid". Please read the entire post and offer something for this specific set of circumstances.

 

[DemeterAD9]

I don't know what would cause the night/day difference but I would like to note the grass in poo part. Normally a chicken can digest all sorts of plant matter and even small animal bones if they have a gizzard full of grit. Have you offered grit to her yet?

I don't know if lack of grit will cause the watery poo but it is something to consider.

 

[RubyLady]

I don't know what would cause the night/day difference but I would like to note the grass in poo part. Normally a chicken can digest all sorts of plant matter and even small animal bones if they have a gizzard full of grit. Have you offered grit to her yet?

I don't know if lack of grit will cause the watery poo but it is something to consider.

Oh, yes, she started getting grit as soon as she came to us. And the grass has passed, her crop is fine. The grass poos only lasted a couple of days as she passed all she had eaten before she came to us. Then poos were completely normal for two weeks. Just before we were to move her next to the flock, the watery poos started and only during the day. So weird. That's why I wonder if she is just stressed now knowing she's separated completely for another "endless" day. I have to work also and am not always around to keep her company. So she's alone most of the day.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Then stress would make sense. I think it would be okay to just wait a week and see if she gets into a routine where she is comfortable, then see if her daytime poops return to normal.

 

[RubyLady]

Then stress would make sense. I think it would be okay to just wait a week and see if she gets into a routine where she is comfortable, then see if her daytime poops return to normal.

Thank you. We'll likely wait until next week, but I feel bad that she's so lonely. :-( And that alone might be causing the daytime diarrhea. I hate to be potentially causing the problem that is solvable if she's not actually ill. Poor dear. She is a very sweet hen. Young-ish. Maybe a year old or maybe a bit younger.

 

[Perris]

Could she be overheating during the day under the carport? Does the concrete get hot?

 

[RubyLady]

Could she be overheating during the day under the carport? Does the concrete get hot?

That's a good question, but it happened to be our cooler days. It was rather cold in the mornings and very nice during the day. There's actual roof over it, not metal. The weather heated up yesterday again but by that time we had decided to move her to the pen next to theirs and she had plenty of water and shade as well as perches, dirt, leaves, etc.

 

[Perris]

does she still have diarrhoea?

 

[RubyLady]

does she still have diarrhoea?

She did yesterday just once, but we decided it was idiopathic (cause unknown) and put her in the pen next to theirs. last night she slept in the same pen in her cage (she tried to get into the coop to roost with them) and this morning she's free-ranging with them. So we're just letting her get along with them. Whatever it is, it won't kill them if they catch it. I'll treat them if they get something. In the meantime, she's SO happy to be with the flock and get out into the yard and follow them around. But I haven't seen any evidence of diarrhea where she's been all morning.

 

[Perris]