Chickens swallowed keys HELP!!

[BigBlueHen53]

Is that a habit or sport there in the UK, to Look at Poop?

We do it here in the US too ... can tell a lot about the health of our chix by examining the poo. There's a whole article about it here somewhere, by @Chickenchick11, I believe. Somebody please correct me if I am wrong!

 

[Dottypotty]

I think the first two pictures look like a cecal pooh. They are quite normal but stink real bad. Not sure about the last one. Have they been wormed recently?

All wormed etc. It's just the red mess in the hens poop who swollowed they keys which is worrying me, its only her producing this weird poop.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think @casportpony is the poop specialist here.

The smell is a bit worrisome to me. Personally, I don't find most chicken poop except broody feces to be that offensive to the olfactory sensors.

 

[featherhead007]

Hey,.. I'm full of poop too!!

 

[Willowspirit]

Perhaps your vet isn't familiar with chicken anatomy. My bet is that they are lodged in the gizzard.
When food is swallowed, it is stored in the crop temporarily while it is moistened and then passes through the esophagus to the proventriculus (true stomach) where stomach acids and digestive enzymes are added. From there it goes to the gizzard (mechanical stomach) where it is ground up. The gizzard is basically a bird's teeth. Small, sharp insoluble stones (grit) are consumed and lodge in the gizzard where the muscles contract and grind up the other ingredients making the nutrients more accessible to the absorption sites along walls of the intestines. Eventually the acidic environment will wear away at the stones and the remnants pass at which time the chickens have to consume more stones to replace their (teeth). Your keys are now grit and they too will eventually pass but not as a whole key.

I have butchered meat chickens that had swallowed nails and broken glass which had become imbedded in the gizzard. No blood was ever evident in the feces. I can't imagine blood being present in your bird's feces. A key just isn't sharp enough to penetrate the tough lining of the gizzard. I think the birds I raise now are much smarter. Part of their terrain was once a dump and they continually turn up glass and metals. I've never found anything like that in their gizzards and I go out every week or two with a bucket and collect any shiny or rusty debris.

There is also no way for the keys to be in the egg. The reproductive tract and the digestive tract are two completely separate systems until they reach the cloaca. By that time, the egg is complete and the shell completely formed in the uterus. You can't push a key into an egg shell at that point.

You may want to review the following information and enlighten your vet about chicken anatomy.
https://www.uspoultry.org/education.../Lesson11/PoultryAnatomyandPhysiologyPres.pdf

I use padlocks on most of my chicken doors. Not to keep people out but for raccoons so I leave a key in each lock whether open or closed.

We use tiny padlocks that have combination locks. My hubby knows I would lose all of the keys.

 

[casportpony]

The poop pictures look like foamy cecal poop, and when I see foamy cecal poops in my flock it usually means coccidiosis or histomoniasis, though some people here on BYC have reported that foamy cecal poops = worms. Histomoniasis is rare in chickens, so if mine I would treat for coccidiosis with amprolium (Corid, Amprol, Ampro-Med, etc, a sulfa drug, or Baycox, and I would also treat for worms with fenbendazole (Safeguard) or albendazole (Valbazen).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We use tiny padlocks that have combination locks. My hubby knows I would lose all of the keys.

I buy padlocks in 6 and 8 packs all keyed the same. Each one comes with one or two keys. You can keep one key in the lock at all times unless you are worried about two legged predators. The extra keys can all be stored in one safe place. If for some reason a key is lost (they don't just fall out), you can have spares made from those in the other locks.
I lose things too but if the keys stay in the lock, you won't lose them.
A combination lock would drive me bananas if I had to open up to 9 every morning.
A padlock (with the key left in it) and a hasp is about the easiest thing one can have.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Hey,.. I'm full of poop too!!

We're ALL full of crap.

 

[Willowspirit]

I buy padlocks in 6 and 8 packs all keyed the same. Each one comes with one or two keys. You can keep one key in the lock at all times unless you are worried about two legged predators. The extra keys can all be stored in one safe place. If for some reason a key is lost (they don't just fall out), you can have spares made from those in the other locks.
I lose things too but if the keys stay in the lock, you won't lose them.
A combination lock would drive me bananas if I had to open up to 9 every morning.
A padlock (with the key left in it) and a hasp is about the easiest thing one can have.

we preset the combos so you only have to move one wheel one space and it opens.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

her poop is now yellow(bright yellow )

what i mean about it looks stringey, also the smell is horrific its so strong it hits your nose straight away.

All wormed etc. It's just the red mess in the hens poop who swollowed they keys which is worrying me, its only her producing this weird poop.

The poop pictures look like foamy cecal poop, and when I see foamy cecal poops in my flock it usually means coccidiosis or histomoniasis, though some people here on BYC have reported that foamy cecal poops = worms. Histomoniasis is rare in chickens, so if mine I would treat for coccidiosis with amprolium (Corid, Amprol, Ampro-Med, etc, a sulfa drug, or Baycox, and I would also treat for worms with fenbendazole (Safeguard) or albendazole (Valbazen).

My thoughts align with @casportpony
@Dottypotty you had mentioned that you wormed your chickens - when was that and what did you use?