Constant diarrhea - completely soaking the coop bedding

[Eggcessive]

Probios powder added to the water a couple of days a week is a good one. TSC now sells a generic one that is less expensive. Many feeds now contain certain probiotics, so check your label or go online to check. A good Greek yogurt (Fage) with live cultures has good ones as well.

 

[Red Horse]

Hi Red Horse. I don't have a stand alone probiotic; do you have a particular one you could recommend? I really appreciate your recommendation of getting consistency back in their guts; make sense to me. I've been documenting the various poop issues over the past several days and will post some updates later today.

I like Probios just because I had used it in other species before chickens and had success with it, but most feed stores probably have some version of a plain poultry probiotic in the chicken section. I get it at TSC but it's all over the place online too.
The recommended dose is 1 included scoop to 1 gallon of water per day. It firmed most of my flocks poops up pretty quick when I used it so I put it in every other day for a little while till all of them seemed normal. You'll want to switch the water out every day and give the waterer a good rinse. I hope they get back to normal soon!!

 

[John Sutter123]

I would stop the cooked rice now. That was something I would just have offered for one day. Try mixing a small portion of the remaining buttermilk with the chicken feed in a small bowl. I hate most chicken feeders because they get stuck up with powder in the bottoms, and feed cannot come down unless you manually clean them out daily. I feed in flat metal pig pans from the feed store.

Thanks Eggcessive. I stopped the rice and will continue with the buttermilk. Hopefully I can take off the pinless peepers soon so they can get the food out of the feeder easier. I used to feed them out of a big pan but they raked the feed out all over the place on the floor of the run; I probably have a good 25 lbs. of feed, if not way more, spread all over the run. Then someone mentioned the potential of mold from old feed sitting around and possibly getting wet (my run's covered and pretty dry). They said eating mold can cause yeast/candida issues inside the bird. I did have one Marans with vent gleet in early February. I would love to ditch that plastic feeder and just pan feed in AM & PM. Am I possibly overthinking this?

 

[John Sutter123]

I like Probios just because I had used it in other species before chickens and had success with it, but most feed stores probably have some version of a plain poultry probiotic in the chicken section. I get it at TSC but it's all over the place online too.
The recommended dose is 1 included scoop to 1 gallon of water per day. It firmed most of my flocks poops up pretty quick when I used it so I put it in every other day for a little while till all of them seemed normal. You'll want to switch the water out every day and give the waterer a good rinse. I hope they get back to normal soon!!

Awesome and many, many thanks!! I just ordered up on Amazon.

 

[John Sutter123]

Here's a few more updates: Please see photos

-It looks like the poop (cardboard under roost) is getting a little less soaked with liquid over time.

-Sorry for all the butt photos but I'm wondering if the Black Marans is starting to get another yeast infection/vent gleet. She had it early in Feb and I used Miconazole down the beak in and in the vent to cure. This time it doesn't seem to smell as bad so maybe not vent gleet?

-She (black marans) was sick 2 days ago and didn't want to eat. I cleaned her up in a Epsom salt bath and gave a cooked egg, vitamins, electrolytes, & probiotics (rooster booster) which got her feeling much better. Do you guys think this is the beginning of vent gleet again?

IMG_1598 - shows the messy butt of one of the two Wyandottes. I just keep bathing them as needed.

Please let me know if you guys think I should just keep monitoring or if I should begin to treat for Candida Albicons/yeast or something else.

 

[John Sutter123]

Probios powder added to the water a couple of days a week is a good one. TSC now sells a generic one that is less expensive. Many feeds now contain certain probiotics, so check your label or go online to check. A good Greek yogurt (Fage) with live cultures has good ones as well.

Thank you Eggcessive. Probios will be delivered by late tomorrow. I'll use a little greek yogurt till then. The website for purina flock raiser feed doesn't give details but says " It also contains prebiotics and probiotics to support immune and digestive health.". I think I'll try the probios powder since you guys seem to have had good results with that. Thanks again for all your advice!

 

[John Sutter123]

Hi all,

Please lend me your advice on this; I'm just at my wits end and am starting to lose hope. Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Update: 03/23/23

I’ve had them on the Probios for 10 days but the poop issue is still about the same. Please take a look at the old photos (previous posts) and new photos in this post. On 3/20 one of them pooped a soft-shelled egg plus a no-shelled egg (same night, probably same chicken). Some of the poops are absolutely huge, but infrequent throughout the day! I read that this is a sign of vent gleet. The bottle cap (in the poop photo “03-22-23 - massive poops.jpg”) is same diameter as a quarter (it’s from Marans #1 who I treated for vent gleet starting 2/8/23. Their poop is starting to stink more (but not quite as bad as on 2/8/23, so I’m not sure if it’s yeast or urates) and is attracting a ton of flies to the run. I am afraid I’m going to be facing fly-strike issues in the near future (I have a “rescue fly trap” 8 feet from the coop). I included a few pics of the coop, inner run, & outside run so you guys can critique my setup if needed. 10 birds, 320 sq ft of run space (20’ X 16’).

Things seem to be getting worse instead of better and these are my main concerns:

• The poop is attracting so many flies to the uncovered run. I rake the poop into the mulch multiple times per day, but after a few hours and a bunch more diarrhea poops, the flies are back with a vengeance; way worse when it's hot outside, not so bad when it's cooler.
• With all this wet, runny poop, I am literally working in a bio-hazard zone. It is insanely labor intensive with constant raking, replacing wet and soiled cardboard & bedding inside the coop, cleaning poopy butts, cleaning roost bars, etc. I’m doing my best but am worried about getting sick myself.
• I’ve had Wyandotte #1 & #2 to the vet but the fecal float test came back fine.
• Maran’s #1 looks to me like she is on the verge of needing treatment for vent gleet (it just doesn’t stink super bad like before so I’m just not sure if I should treat).
• I had to take the pinless peepers off Wyandotte #1, and Orpington’s #1 & #2 because they had such a hard time eating from the feeder with them on. Wyandotte #1 (the queen of pecking order) lost a noticeable amount of weight, and both Orpingtons also seemed too light. Orpingtons mostly stopped feather picking but Wyandotte #1 did not; I'm going to put the peepers back on her for a while and try pan feeding in the uncovered run.
• Purina Flock Raiser 20% protein feed for all since 3/7/23. Virtually no treats except BSFL, though today, out of desperation, I hung a scrap of cauliflower up to try to prevent boredom & feather picking.
• I have never dewormed these birds. 6 birds are 11 months old, not vaxed, 4 birds are 6 months old and said to be vaccinated. I've read a lot on here about Valbazen and Safeguard being very good. My question is: should I deworm now, or get the chronic diarrhea under control first?
• Using deep liter pine shavings in Coop and completely cleaned and replaced shavings in January 2023. Using double ground log mulch for the covered run, and uncovered run. Covered run stays bone dry in winter but can get a little rain around the perimeter during rainy season in FL but still pretty darn dry. I've never completely changed out the mulch; I just rake in the poop daily and let the mulch absorb it. I pull out and sift some mulch to use as garden fertilizer when needed and throw back in the larger wood pieces which get broken down later. Photo "03-23-23 - Enclosed Run" shows the set up. Does this look ok?

 

[John Sutter123]

Update: 03/26/23

Sorry to post such a ridiculous number of poop photos but I want to give you guys a better idea of what's happening. Flies are everywhere in the run and I am losing control of proper sanitation. Please take a look at these photos and tell me what to do.

I am so distraught and worried that I may have to give up my flock; I'm doing such a disservice to these poor birds. Please help me.

My recent observations and questions:
1) Marans #2 & Orpington #1 are regurgitating their food. Crops seem fine in AM & PM. I noticed this a week ago and usually see it happen when they filling their crop before they go to roost at night.

2) Should I de-worm them all? I just bought safeguard at the feed store. I remember reading that foaming poop may mean worms.

3) Should I bring a combined (all birds) stool sample to vet? I don't know if he'll test it but I'll ask.

4) Over the past 5 days, at least 3 of the 6 older birds are showing signs of irritability. They are maliciously going after the younger (6 months) birds. Pinless peepers are going back on 2 of them today.

5) Marans #2 appears to have a bloated belly (the picture makes it look worse than it looks in real life but it's still bloated).

6) Every morning I remove the cardboard from under the roost and set it in a pile outside. The diarrhea is so bad that it soaks all the way through.

 

[John Sutter123]

Hi All,

BYC Project Manager helped me with this so I'm going to try my hand at tagging some of you for some possible advice; hopefully I do this correctly.

@Eggcessive
@azygous
@dawg53

If you guys have time, please glance over some of the history and past photos.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to the vet with some fecal samples.

- He wants me to take individual samples from each bird (10) so that he can determine which bird is sick and with what. If you take a look at the at today's photos you'll see that there may be a bunch of cross contamination on that cardboard. I hope he doesn't plan on charging me for 10 different tests.​

​

- In my mind, it would make more sense to just scoop together all the droppings on the sheet of cardboard, mix them up, and do the test to determine if any of the birds are sick. Then, start narrowing it down bird by bird, or just treat the entire flock (e.g. de-wormer meds, Corid, etc.). 8 out of 10 have chronic diarrhea/loose stools.​

Here's my questions:

1) What makes more sense? Individual samples or one mixed sample?

2) He plans to do these two tests:

a) Gram's Stain - will this pick up Candida Albicons/Yeast?​

b) Fecal Exam - comprehensive - will this pick up all gastrointestinal parasites?​

3) Are there any other poop tests you might recommend?

4) With this liquid poop situation, should I be hyper-vigilant about biosecurity?

If you have any other suggestions or questions, please let me know.

My sincere thank you to all of you for helping my flock become healthy again.

John

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for all of the issues with your birds. Can you get a sample from some of the ones with possible vent gleet? My vet charges a fortune for fecal floats, around $45, so I would be tempted to take 1 or 2 combined droppings in a ziplock bag to the vet. It could rule out coccidiosis and worms. A gram stain should show fungus ( yeast, candida) or bacteria. For worming, I like Valbazen 0.08 ml per pound or 0.5 ml for. 4-6 pound hen. Give it orally once and repeat in 10 days. SafeGuard liquid goat wormer is also good, and dosage is 0.25 ml per pound for 5 consecutive days.

If you suspect vent gleet, you can treat with Medistatin (nystatin) powder in a little water fed daily, or Monistat (miconazole) cream 1/2 inch given orally twice a day. That cream also can be applied to the raw vent area.

Hopefully, the higher protein feed will help stop the feather eating. Once they learn that bad habit, it can be hard to get rid of. Are they getting outside to free range? That can help with vent pecking and feather eating, stress, and boredom. It is good that you stopped the extra treats and I found that fermented feed made loose poops worse, so good that that was stopped. I hope things get easier for you.