Chick Poo - what's normal, what's not and what to do (uh, yeah.... there's picts of poo)

[canesisters]

Hi All,

I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of discussion about chick poo and I thought that it might be a good idea to start a thread where we can sort of build a 'data base' of what 'normal' chick poo looks like. And what it looks like if it's not normal - with some advise of what to do about it.
(I guess if no one else adds on, then it wasn't as good of an idea as I thought.

)

Here's one:

Who It Is:
Wheaten Maran
about 3 weeks old
What It's Doing:
mostly active but likes to sleep under the lamp as soon as it's quiet
not gaining weight or growing much - very thin
alert and bright eyed
no signs of respiratory illness
What's Going In:
water with ACV
medicated chick starter available at all times
2 - 3X daily mash of chick starter/yogurt/scrambled egg
one of the other chicks was sneezing so they all had Solumet (sp?) in their water for a week, ending 2 days ago
What's Coming Out:
very watery
VERY SMELLY
looks like bits of undigested crumble in it (?)

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

disgusting, thats what happened to my chicken, it means it might be too hot. or it's not eating enough

 

[BeulahBreezes]

I am new to 'chicken-ing' and have not seen this kind of poop from my chicks. But I like to read these posts because they sure do help me to learn ALOT about chickens!!! I think it is a good idea to post these issues! Hope you get this problem resolved soon! Good luck! ~Beulah

 

[PeepsAreForMe]

Hi Canesisters, my chicks are a bit older, 7 weeks. I notice their poo is a lot darker when they are outside eating worms and other things. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of poo though!! I have never seen anything like your pictures though, sorry. I hope they are ok!

 

[canesisters]

Thanks Peeps. It seems that most things about this little maran are things that no one has ever seen before. LOL. She's hanging in there and doesn't seem to know that she's not 'normal' so I'm not going to tell her. As long as she keeps eating and being a bright, active little chick I'm going to keep trying too. Now that I've got a scale, I'll be better able to track her growth & weight gain - and to know if she stalls or starts to slip.

I see that there are about a half dozen threads about chick poo right now and I'm hoping that folks will post what they're going through on here so that in the future, it will be a little easier for us newbies to 1) chill out and take one step at a time, and 2) quickly find out who has been through similar circumstances and what was done to help.