Chicken poop and her behavior

[newchickenlady7]

Hello,
I have a hen whose not acting herself the last few days. I integrated 5 chicks almost a week ago with my 2 one year old hens. They don’t sleep together however, they do spend most of the daylight hours together. Things have been going well but since the tradition I’ve noticed my hen starting to act weird. She quieter than usual and the last 2 days her appetite has changed. She’s not wanting treats and isn’t as excited at the gate wanting out. Wednesday she spent close to 4 hours in a nesting box only to lay the egg outside, and hasn’t laid since. It was lighter in color, but I’d assumed the stress was causing the color change. She seemed to enjoy wet food yesterday but today only wants cucumbers. Her poop from last night looks normal-ish but wet. Which could be the wet food from yesterday. I’ve attached 2 poops (one I opened up) both a minute or so apart today. Any input would be great!

 

[Perris]

did you quarantine the new chicks? They might have brought in something that's infected your girl.

 

[newchickenlady7]

did you quarantine the new chicks? They might have brought in something that's infected your girl.

We got the chicks at 4 weeks and they are 13 weeks now. The birds haven’t interacted until almost a week ago.

 

[Perris]

and are any of the chicks off colour, or have they been during the 2 months apart? The timing of the integration and the hen's change may be coincidence, but infection from one or more of the chicks seems more likely to me.

 

[newchickenlady7]

and are any of the chicks off colour, or have they been during the 2 months apart? The timing of the integration and the hen's change may be coincidence, but infection from one or more of the chicks seems more likely to me.

Everyone seems fine other than my one hen. The only difference is the chicks have been eating the layer feed more than their chick feed so some of their poop is softer than usual, which I believe is the change in diet.

 

[Perris]

good news they all seem well, but do note it's often said on here that they shouldn't eat layer feed until they are actually laying; the extra calcium can damage their kidneys (I don't know how much they supposedly have to eat for this to be an issue). But everyone can eat chick feed, so maybe remove the layer feed while the juveniles are out?
Your hen is evidently off colour, and stress can cause all sorts of issues, usually temporary. The poops aren't particularly odd, and cucumber will cause wet poop.
Was the egg she laid outside lighter in shell colour or yolk? was the shell strong? is her vent normal?

 

[newchickenlady7]

good news they all seem well, but do note it's often said on here that they shouldn't eat layer feed until they are actually laying; the extra calcium can damage their kidneys (I don't know how much they supposedly have to eat for this to be an issue). But everyone can eat chick feed, so maybe remove the layer feed while the juveniles are out?
Your hen is evidently off colour, and stress can cause all sorts of issues, usually temporary. The poops aren't particularly odd, and cucumber will cause wet poop.
Was the egg she laid outside lighter in shell colour or yolk? was the shell strong? is her vent normal?

The chicks do have access to chicks food when they are put back in their space.

Her egg is usually brown in color but her last 2 eggs were lighter in color. A day missed between the eggs laid. I didn’t open it but her yolks are usually more yellow instead of a deep yellow when her shells are lighter in color. her back end has a little residue from her poops but nothing that would make me think I’d need to wash her up. Both larger birds had it at the bringing of intergrading but hers hasn’t gone away yet.

 

[newchickenlady7]

One additional thing is her crop didn’t seem to empty out all the way last night. Yesterday evening I could clearly see both of the big birds crops were full and my one birds didn’t empty out all the way. I can still see the bump, but it’s not as hard as yesterday. It’s contents feel firmer but not rock hard. Not sure if this is normal or not.

 

[Perris]

the crop should empty overnight; have a look at this article, it's very informative
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[newchickenlady7]

the crop should empty overnight; have a look at this article, it's very informative
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

Thank you for the article it was very helpful.
After refeeling her crop it seems to be about the size of a ping pong ball (or a tad smaller) and the material is firm like this morning. It doesn’t appear to show as much as this morning so I’m wonder if it’s gone down some. Having read that article I don’t thing it’s soup crop rather closer to an impacted crop.
I did message her crop a bit this morning while feeling around and I wonder if it helped in any way to get things working right. She seems a bit more attentive at the gate just now. Still not interest in food all that much.
If no change tonight I may give the oil trick a try and see if it changes her behavior at all.

Could an impacted crop cause weird poop and the change in behavior?