black runny poop

[chick-lit]

I have four new hens one of them has very runny poo sometimes it is brown but this morning it was black this doesn't happen all the time she sometimes has normal poo. They free range during the day and seem very healthy also they eat very good and the waddles and combs are nice and red. she I be worried or is this sometimes normal with hens. I have been giving them some plain yogurt she I try something else???

 

[PunkinPeep]

Unless it looks black like dried blood, i wouldn't really be concerned, especially not if it only happened once. I assume that black means the same thing in chickens that it does in human - that it sat in there a little long.

Also, here is a pictoral of different poos your chicken might have.
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
**warning gross chicken poop pictures**

The range of normals poo is really wide. I generally don't worry about it unless i see blood, specifically in young chicks, or if i see worms. Other than that, i use the poo as a clue if i have already determined that a chicken doesn't seem to feel good. Then the poo might give me some clue as to what is wrong or at least if she is eating, etc.

 

[purpletree23]

I think what you are observing is cecal poop. It happens approx every 10 times the chicken poops. It comes from the chickens cecum (part of the digestive tract) and can range from black to brown to foamy and amells really bad. Nothing to worry about unless her poops are that way one after another.

 

[Alice Peck]

How can you tell with many chickens if they are having too many of these poos?

 

[wekiva bird]

Blueberrys make poop look black sometime.

 

[Alice Peck]

I didn't know that thank you I've been giving frozen fruit for the heat