Bloody Stool

[bakhbakhchicken123]

I have two 9 week old silkie chickens and today when I took them out of their coop, I noticed that one of their poop looked orange-red kind of mucus-y and stringy. I attached a photo of what it looks like after I toyed with it a little. I'm worried they might have or worms in their stomach or coccidiosis. They are free-range so they often play, dig, eat worms in the garden from morning to around 7:30 at night before they are cooped up again. This is the first I am noticing a change in the poop. They also do eat plums and fruit sometimes so maybe thats why theres a change in color? When I first got the chickens they were similar in size, but now one is slightly larger than the other. However, they are still very active. Please let me know what you think...I saw some articles that mentioned that bloody stool could just be shedding of the intestinal covering so I'm praying that is what I am seeing..

 

[coach723]

That looks like intestinal shed to me, but there appears to be a lot of it. Having said that, having it happen occasionally, it could be nothing to worry about. If you are seeing a lot of it, then due to the ages of the chicks, I would treat for Coccidiosis. You may want to pick up some Corid and have it on hand, in case things turn worse, so you can start treatment quickly. How they act is equally important. Along with runny, mucousy, or sometimes bloody droppings, lethargy and not eating and drinking well are symptoms. If they ate a lot of fruit, that could be a cause also of runny droppings, as well as drinking a lot of water due to hot temperatures. If you have a vet that will do a fecal test for you, they can look for a coccidia count and any other parasite that might be there, then you would know for sure. If this is a one time thing, then I would just keep an eye on them. If you see a lot of droppings that look like this, or if you see any lethargy or any of them look 'off' at all, I would go ahead and treat. Corid is very safe and won't do any harm.