Chicken with chronic diarrhea

[ORP IN GA]

Hello Everyone,

I have had chickens for a long time now and I have never really had anything like this happen. I have a hen who is about 2 years old now and she has had chronic diarrhea her whole life. I bought her and 2 other Buff Orpingtons from a feed store...the chicks came from McMurray.

She does not act sick, she acts completely normal to be honest. She just has a really messy butt and chronic diarrhea.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I need to do? She eats very well..she is a BIG hen, and acts normal other than the diarrhea. All of the other chickens are fine and have no issues.

 

[chicmom]

Sometimes you just have a hen wit a dirty bottom. Maybe she could use a good worming, but if the rest of your flock has clean feathers on their behinds, that might not be the case.

It's kind of nasty looking at a dirty rear, isn't it? Is she extra fluffy back there? Maybe you could just trim some feathers out of the way....

 

[ORP IN GA]

She is not really extra fluffy back there and this is something that she has lived with her whole life. I have 4 hens but only 3 eggs per day .I am checking now to see if she is the one not laying also.

She just has really nasty poo.

 

[dawg53]

Seperate her; then give her scrambled egg and buttermilk mixed in her feed to make a mash, and let her eat that for a week.

 

[Gullygarden]

I have exactly the same problem! One out of five as you describe, and the others are fine. Mine Re one year old, and the one with diarrhea is the biggest barred rock. Did you find a solution?

 

[terryg]

Sometimes chronic diarrhea is actually something called "vent gleet" which is a yeast infection. It's hard to cure, but you can get relief with providone. I have a blog post with photos and that explains all here: http://hencam.com/henblog/2011/08/chickens-have-messy-bottoms/

 

[Gullygarden]

thank you Terry. I had read yours and come to the conclusion that what Lucy has is not vent gleet, although of course I may be wrong. She has genuine messy poop on her feathers, with no other apparent content - not grey as in your picture, and smelling only of poop. Also I've seen her pooping it out like a stream. It isn't all runny, but often enough to keep her a mess. The other 4 remain consistently fine. I wonder if she is allergic to something in the lay feed? The odd thing is that she is my largest hen, and lays the largest (and didrtiest) eggs.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Hi! I realize this thread is several months old but I am wondering if their was ever a resolution or cure for this? I have several hens with same problem. They act fine, and don't have any of the other symptoms of vent gleet, just runny poo and messy bottoms!

 

[VanCity Farm Girl]

Similarly I have a chicken who's had runny poop for about 8 months or longer now but is otherwise healthy. It just gets all stuck on her feathers, poor girl. She's also not laying, but eating, scratching, drinking fine. It started with a really severe molt (I thought she was going to die, she looked so bedraggled and sad), but she's feathered out again and happy, but for the lack of eggs and runny poop. Any other ideas?

 

[BeccaSmith]

Similarly I have a chicken who's had runny poop for about 8 months or longer now but is otherwise healthy. It just gets all stuck on her feathers, poor girl. She's also not laying, but eating, scratching, drinking fine. It started with a really severe molt (I thought she was going to die, she looked so bedraggled and sad), but she's feathered out again and happy, but for the lack of eggs and runny poop. Any other ideas?

How does her abdomen feel, is it normal or larger feeling then the other hens?