Chickens with runny poo

[deidreschultz]

I have 8 week old chickens. We just switched from medicated crumbles to adult crumbles. The guy @ the feed store said to just make the switch to new food no need to do it gradually. I give them a little plate every morning with a big spoonful of cottage cheese, couple spoonfuls of plain yogurt, little raw oatmeal, and a little fruit. Been doing this for several weeks with no problem. Noticed today Poo was runny a brown color. Everyone is eating and acting fine. Don't know if it's new food, or should I be concerned. What should I do. Also not a health ?. We bought 8 chicks supposed to be hens, but got 2 roosters. 1 is a silkie and the other is a rhode island red. Their house is 10 x 10 and the coupe is 15 x 12 will they get along or fight? The silkie seems to be very laid back, so don't if there will be an issue over who rules the roost or not. Any input on either ? would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I would say they are too young to be on layer

and yes it does make a difference to the gut of the chicken to switch

I would go back and get more starter grower and then feed it 3/4 starter grower and 1/4 layer
and keep them this way till they lay eggs

most feed store people are just that
proplr with out training or common chicken sense

why would layer be for young chickens
needless to say he may not have had the feed you normally fed
so pawned this off on you

now for the brown diarrhea

this info is on brown diarrhea and some help from a friend of mine
Nathalie Ross "threehorses"

(1 did you ever worm them?
(2 do any of them not eat or drink yet?

(3 do you see any signs of blood in the manure?
can be slightly if first day
most times they only drink not eat

(4 for coccidiosis I like amproylium best generally corid
but most feed stores don't stock it
so she mentions sulmet

Nathalie Ross"
Some thoughts on what could be wrong

(1 coccidiosis
I think it might be helpful for you to know that coccidia are
very VERY hard to trace in a fecal. When I worked as a vet tech, it
was common procedure to go ahead and treat with a combination
antibiotic/antiprotazoan medication like Sulfa products (Sulmet being the most
common) based on symptom diagnosis rather than physical evidence of the
oocysts. This is less true of other parasites like roundworms and such,
but still true. Often vets recommend a routine worming program to kill
worms not found. Worms aren't always shed into the fecal matter, nor
are their eggs, but that doesn't mean they aren't up there chowing down
on your birds' food in the gut and leaving scars which make it harder
for the birds to digest feed in the future.

(2 worms
So, think about a twice a year worming program. My personal program is
to worm in the fall with Ivermectin, in the spring with either
Ivermectin or another BROAD spectrum medication like tramisol or worm-ex.
Note: I didn't mention piperazine. Piperazine is a one-worm wormer -
rounds only. You'll want to use it for your very first worming to decrease
the parasite loads (which are undetectable unless they're really very
heavy) to prevent the possibility of the bird going into anaphylactic
shock or being blocked. These two last dreadful things can happen if
there are parasites up there you don't know about, and you use a
super-wormer (like the 2 mentioned above) which kill everything all at once. So
do piperazine the first time, or with new birds with unknown histories,
then use the super-wormers from then on.

(3 gut bacteria
At 7 weeks, the babies are still in the
process of getting their gut bacteria in order. See, they're born
without any bacteria at all in their gut. So they eat at day 2, and put
food in there as a food source for themselves but also for bacteria.
Basically, it's first-come-first-serve for bacteria. If the bad ones get
there first, they take over and your birds get ill. IF there are some
good but mostly bad, the same thing happens. If you give your birds
probiotics (substances containing live beneficial bacteria) your GOOD
bacteria will have the advantage. Those good bacteria crowd out the bad,
make it impossible for the bad bacteria to live in anything but minimal
numbers, and thus help your birds to stay healthy. So I always
recommend giving probiotics weekly from week 2 til point of lay. Then I move
to once a month or as needed. You can use live-culture yogurt (1
teaspoon per 8 newly hatched, moving up to 1 teaspoon per point of lay
bantam, 1 tablespoon per point of lay large fowl - no more please). You can
also use powdered livestock probiotics (Probios dispersable powder
being my absolute favorite - it's the choice of exotic bird breeders, and I
also have hookbills).

Or, you can go to the human health food store
and pick up a human supplement like "acidophilus" (Lactobacilus
acidophilus), or a combination of acidophilus and B. bifidum sold to combat
yeast infections. The latter is a particular useful thing for a poultry
hobbiest to have. The addition of b. bifidum helps combat thrush.
Thrush is essentially a yeast infection that is common to birds because of
the way their crops store feed in wet conditions. Things tend to get
fungus and yeast there, and thus the yeast infection. That infection
goes throughout the bird's system and is really a mess, so that
bifidum/acidophilus mix is the best. Try to find a non-dairy liquid, and you'll
have the ultimate probiotic.

So, there are some options. I'd tend towards those. Also, if you're
prescribed antibiotics for your birds' infection, you'll want to give
PRObiotics daily during treatment. Antibiotics are unfortunately going
to kill the good bacteria which are having such a difficult time getting
established in y our babies as it is. The antibiotics will possibly do
as much harm as good, so combat that bad effect with probiotics. Try
giving them daily for about 3 days after the last batch of medicine.

(4 E.Coli
In case your babies are said to have an infection of E. coli (most
likely case) then you can try putting some vitamin E in their feed.

( GLH- advises using the 1000 mg capsules and putting in a wet mash for them to eat( use one capsule per bird treating and do this twice a day for a week)
Vitamin E helps fix E. coli overpopulations. You know what else helps fight
E. coli? Guess: b. bifidum. It secrets a substance that E. coli just
can't stand. See where this is going?

email me with any questions

 

[deidreschultz]

We have not wormed them.
I gave them watermelon tonight they all ate and acted normal.
Didn't see any blood.
I do still have Duramycin-10 from the day we broght them home.
Should I give them this?
Should I go ahead and worm or wait till poos are normal?

 

[deidreschultz]

Thank you for your time and help

 

[sammi]

RULE #1...never take advice from feed store employees.
(well..almost never)..

too young for layer feed..
go back to chick feed.
then you can gradually change them to grower feed..
or when they are about 15 weeks or so..gradually switch to layer.

see if the droppings clear up..
is there a pen?
at weeks they most likely don't need wormed yet..
not definitely...just see how it goes after getting the feed straight.

the RIR roo might bully the silkie..
you'll just have to wait and see, or make a decision now..

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
<3 to this! Seriously. He gave you bad advice. I'd go back and let him know what you've learned. He'll scoff, because he might be one of the typical ones that already knows everything. But maybe it'll sink in.

Cheers to the posts above. There's your advice to follow. Good luck!