chicken poop issues (photo attached)

[kle2684]

I have been posting about my Brahma for a few weeks.She was born in April of this year and is such a brut! She began losing feathers under her vent about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Then feather loss on her legs. Still eating, drinking, laying and acting fine. She has started to grow some feathers back.....slowly. I added feather fixer food in with the regular layer diet. Also have added a little scrambled egg now and then. Now, She has lost a lot of weight. Still acting great and laying. This is her poop today. It is HUGE! I put a quarter by it for size. Ideas????

 

[kle2684]

No one has any ideas!?

 

[rebrascora]

She might be thinking about going broody but just not got the full act together yet with being a pullet still. That certainly looks like a broody poop and plucking undercarriage feathers out is another broody trait. When you say she is a brut.... does she act aggressive? Are you sure that she is still laying?

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I assumed you checked her for bugs?

 

[kle2684]

I did! I'm a vet tech, so I took her to work and looked under the microscope and also at her skin. Although, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for...I didn't see anything moving at all.

 

[ladyearth]

just curious what did you look at under the microscope?
I don't see how anyone can see mites on a chicken with all their feathers and they protest and wont hold still even at nite on the roost....
I finally did weeks ago So dang tiny and fast. mostly I saw the few GRAY, lite gray, things on my hand. Fast as heck and so tiny tiny tiny. a that time when I had fairly clean,,,pine shavings in the coop....on the floor....I thought I was seeing things when I felt a few on my hand
Baby Girl was laying under the roost/ poop bd doing her nesting thing,,, acting like she was laying an egg....

 

[kle2684]

We plucked a few feathers and looked at the shafts under the scoop...mainly checking for eggs on the actual feather

 

[ladyearth]

just curious.. I read about lice nits on feather shafts. But do MITES show up on the feathers especially the shafts?
One guy mentioned to ME "skin scrapings" when I talked to him about mites. He formerly worked with fowl, he said...
thanks for explaining... My Goldie has a red bare bottom. Dont know if its from the "runs" they ar having or MITES are around again Her bottom is bare from prev FLYSTRIKE over a yea ago Her feathers never grew back in that area...
thanks for explaining

 

[kle2684]

I think...don't quote me...that it is just the eggs that show up on shafts

 

[Gypsi]

My chickens all poop pretty big except my sick one. The more they eat the more they poop