Bloody (?) Poop and Irregular Egg in Hen [PICTURES]

[fervis]

Hello,

I have a hen named Yang and I suspect she may be sick. She has been laying eggs for quite a while now - I think almost a year. Her eggs started out pretty healthy, but lately, they changed. And it doesn't look too good.



The egg is spotted and it has different colors. Are the spots dried blood? Is it normal for hens to lay eggs like these? She laid at least two to three other eggs like this, so I'm getting pretty worried...



This is her poop, taken just a few minutes ago. It's very watery and it looks like it's tinted with red... after she pooped this out, she pooped again, and it was just as watery. But there was no red tint that time. A little while ago, when my parents first told me that she was having watery poo, I researched a bit and saw that a lot of people recommended oyster shells. So we got that, and they said it was a bit better. But as you can see, it's not really... stopping it.

I'm afraid she might have cocci. I'm very new to raising chickens, so I had to search for a while before I understood what cocci was (or at least most of it). However, when I looked through poop from chickens who had cocci, it didn't look like Yang's poop at all.

But, she is acting a bit lethargic, according to my dad. To me, it looks like she's just moving a bit more smoothly/slowly than the others, but she still acts the same. Before she started laying those eggs, she always runs up to me and lets me pet her. She still does that now, as fast as ever. I'm afraid this is just a cover up, though, since I read that birds usually hid their illnesses...



This is her. She's also losing a bit of her tail feathers... there's only one or two big feathers now.

I also have a video.

And, uh, that noise in the background, in case you heard it, wasn't a chicken. It was my dad.

Apologies for the media... I just want to be as thorough as possible. Any help would be much appreciated, so please, if you have any tips or advice at all, post them. Thank you in advance.

 

[dawg53]

I recommend that you take a fresh fecal sample to a vet to be looked at under a microscope. They'll be able to tell you if there's an overload of cocci on the slide and/or worm oocysts.

 

[fervis]

Thanks, I was thinking of doing that. But we never went to a vet before. Does any vet do, even if they don't work with chickens specifically? And how much does it usually cost, at least over where you live?

 

[dawg53]

Just put a fresh fecal sample in a ziplock bag and take it to the vets office and tell them you want it checked for cocci and worm oocysts. Dont call them and tell them it's for a chicken...they'll tell you they dont do chickens etc....It cost me $13 to get a sample looked at. Of course it'll vary depending where you live.
Dont forget to ask them if there were ALOT of cocci on the microscopic slide. If so, you'll have to pick up some corid at a feed store. It's normal to have a some cocci oocysts on the slide, but if the slide is loaded with cocci, there's the problem. If worm oocysts are present also, you can pick up safeguard liquid goat wormer or valbazen liquid cattle/sheep wormer at a feed store and worm Yang and the rest of your birds as well.

 

[fervis]

Alrighty, thank you. This is any poop, right? Even if it's normal or watery?

And while I'm bombarding this thread with questions, do you have any idea on the egg?

Pardon me for asking so many questions, but I do appreciate the help so far.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have had some strange eggs like that before. That one looks like 2 eggs combined, which happens. I have several that lay spotted eggs, which I love. Some, if you wash them, the spots will come off just like if you scrub a dark brown Marans egg. You may enjoy this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[fervis]

I did enjoy the article! Thanks for for the link! It was a fun and informative read.