Bloody poop & deep litter methid Q?

[ourrune]

Hi my 3 hens are 16 weeks. Im concerned for their health i found blood in poop 3 days ago. I had a couple of silkies one i know is a rooster for sure, age of 10 weeks with them in their run everday for about a week and in coop at night for a few nights until i realized he was crowing so i put them in the house. Just mentionong the silkies incase could be the cause, the silkies or silkie was pulling the hens feathers out and picking on them once that my hens finally decided to leave them alone and accept them as part of their flock. I didnt think it was too big of a deal i figured they were handling themselves once they got annoyed they would peck back.

I dusted the inside of the coop with the garden and poulty powder because there were spiders and ants and I stirred it into the bedding, bedding has been building up for about a month or month and half. i was doing deep little method until today i found flys laid maggots. I was stirring the litter myself but the last few days or so i hadnt turned it at all under their roost because i have been going through some stuff and i guess thats when they formed but flies are an ongoing problem here just never thought about them laying maggots. Now this morning i go to let out my hens and usually my speckled sussex 'peppercorn' is first out the door but she didnt come. She sat on the roost. I peeked in the window and started to talk to her and she just stared and did her "growling" her comb etc turned darker. she wanted to be left alone. Usually she loves me and runs up to me, i give them cantelope pretty often because its only thing ive found they like besides cabbage a little. I think she may be the one pooping blood but im not for sure..

I guess my questions are what am i doing wrong with the deep litter method? And what could cause her/them to poop blood other than cocci?

we get dirt from back in the woods to put inside of our run when it gets low from raking ad cleaning. Im in fl its basically sand. Not to mention they have a sand box to dust bathe in and my other two hens were eating the sand we got from a construction site why would they do that? Is that safe? Should i not bither with sandbox and dirt of run be enough for that?
Right now we keep food in the coop but not water. working on changing that when we get our nipples installed and we have food and water on outside. We only have one pvc pipe for them to all share outside and I feel like they are missing the one on the inside so i will fill up a clay saucer from time to time in the morning for them to eat out of and usually peppercorn will scratch it everywhere and then they eat.

Im sorry im writing so much but new to all this and looking for constructive criticism and advice. Id like to know where maybe i am going wrong and how to fix my issues. I plan to eventually get another feeder in there hubby keeps fixateing on only one more but we will eventually have 2 speckled sussex 1 salmon faverolle 1 silkie and 1 easter egger so i want to get them set up to be able to eat and drink at their free will without having to fight over the feeder. Right now its only the 3 of them. Their poop is very dark also which at first i thought that was because it was decaying in the pine shavings i thought it was good but now im not so sure.

Im worried its stress of roosters, dirt from god knows where hubby gets, once from woods once from construction site she was fine until we brought home dirt from woods around same time was roosters and fly problem and addition of sand box and addition of poultry dusting inside coop so i have no idea ehat it could be! I havent checked her butt yet.

Besides things like apple cider in water what should i do? Should i bring her inside to baby? She was acting funny but not sure its her bloody poop and not sure shes only one if so. I let them free range most days we have a huge slew of different bugs etc in the yard. We have an ant problem in the run right now.

Also not related but again need constructive criticism, the roost we made is 2x4s side ways, i feel like they are having trouble getting up and down from roost could this be because theyre still young,only been in coop for month or so or because they need something they can wrap their feet around to grip better? We built the purina mills coop and the nesting boxes seem too small and too high, they don't touch them. the roost takes up most of the coop, they dont go under the roost, so they dont turn the shavings there.

Okay so if anyone has read my extremely long explaination, i very greatly appreciate it!!! I def need the help. I will do whatever i can for my birdies..


One more question about mereks, does everyone vaccinate their chicks for this? The 3 girls i have are and the 2 silkies i got from a farm ,i asked he said no ,then he said well they are for mereks. i feel like he said that becuz he knew i wouldnt get them unlesd they were and that they really arent. he has a farm he sells eggs chicken meat and breeds birds to sell bunnies and pigs to eat, all sorts of stuff. didnt seem to be the best kept. I emailed them to see if they could vaccinate my chicks when they are born they said little farms and backyard flocks dont need it because its not a big thing with a high tendency to carry diseases. :/ made me feel like theyre saying their farm wasnt big enough to worry about that stuff. Answer made me feel like im right about his lieing of vaccinating the silkies. Do some people choose not to vaccinate for this? Wild birds will be migrateing here soon for the winter so i worry.

Oh i feed them growers/finisher feed what else can i give them for more nutrition and as treats? Id like to build more of a bond and know i am givinf them great nutrition right now i feel like its bare minimum

Thanks so much for any help in advanced!!!

Adding a pic of bloody poop i cleaned the whole coop and run this morning so only wxample i have right now but what ive been seeing is dark blood and poop and more of it

 

[ourrune]

I just checked poop chart and it doesnt look as bad as the cocci in that oic but could intestinal lining be shed for days? Also their poops look like broody poops :/ ? That couldnt be right? Why would they be broody they cant even lay eggs there are none around only the silkies whom which were about 6 weeks when i first tried slowly introducing them. I checked 2 out 3 burds butts and they are fine. Not sure if this is related but one of the hens are always digging a hole under the coop and putting all the feathers and things they can find arlund the run inside the hole and sitting in it. Arent they too young?

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't use the deep litter method myself since worms and harmful bacteria can grow in it, but I think that if you are going to use that, it has to be stirred daily to help the droppings dry out, and dry bedding added frequently to keep it fresh. Ammonia odors can build up pretty fast, and when that happens even after stirring, it is best to empty the littler and start over. ACV is pretty over rated in chicken keeping, and may sometimes irritate the intestines if there is coccidiosis or enteritis. I would watch how your chickens are acting, if they are alert, active, eating and drinking, and if you see more blood in the poop, treat them with Corid (amprollium.) Chickens have to be exposed to cocci to build up tolerance to it between the ages of 11-20 weeks, and most can deal with some exposure. Chickens don't require anything except their grower feed and good clean water, I will sometimes chop up some scrambled eggs or give a small amount of scratch to everyone for a treat. Just make sure that their feed makes up 90% of their diets, since they will eat practically anything such as rice, noodles, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and watermelon, but the rule is only to give small amounts occasionally.

 

[ourrune]

What is AVC? What method do you use? I am thinking we wont be able to use that method only because i hate maggots and i can see that always being a problem. I just thought it would be great for our gardening. They have been acting find other than the one incident i mentioned. How long should i wait before treating with the antibiotic do you think? Im starting to worry its my waterer since they get dirt in it often its one of those crappy ones from tractor supply and then when they eat from the pvc feeder the food falls on the ground and they eat from the ground i figured they do that all day everyday whether there is food there or ants or what not so no controlling it but injist read its bad for their food to dall on the ground :/ thank you very much for your reply

 

[snow5164]

It's acv , apple cider vinegar. I add a bit to my water containers so they don't get mold, it is good for them to get a bit of it , as it is healthy for us to have some vinegar.
I use straw in my coop with some dirt , leaves and sand . Just dirt might be too heavy , add sand and wood chips or rake your grass and put that in.
I stir up under the roost most days and sprinkle sand on top to dry the poop.
Hope this helps .

 

[ourrune]

It's acv , apple cider vinegar. I add a bit to my water containers so they don't get mold, it is good for them to get a bit of it , as it is healthy for us to have some vinegar.
I use straw in my coop with some dirt , leaves and sand . Just dirt might be too heavy , add sand and wood chips or rake your grass and put that in.
I stir up under the roost most days and sprinkle sand on top to dry the poop.
Hope this helps .

That does help i like the sand tip to dry it out.
Ive used acv before for respitory along with some herbs etc it worked great! I didnt know people gave everytime in water. Im going to go add it right now with oregano oil i want to buy some probiotics but not sure if the local kind at tractor supply is any good. The sav a chick probiotic.
Thanks!