Deep Dark Brick Red Poop

[rebrascora]

Animals are so clever about finding minerals that they need instinctively. There is some woodland a few miles away that we occasionally ride through and there is a certain place in the woods where one of my horses will not pass unless you allow him to eat a few mouthfuls of dirt. I had never seen a horse eat dirt before, but he is quite adamant that he needs the dirt at that particular place. And my mare and filly used to stop and dig at a certain place on the track coming in from the field every day and then lick. Eventually after this repeated action, a huge boulder started to be visible at they dug the earth away and they licked and licked at that boulder every day until there was a smooth dimple in it from the erosion of their tingues. There was obviously some mineral in it that the girlies needed and they instinctively knew where to find it, even though it was buried a couple of inches under the surface. It is fascinating isn't it.

 

[matilda19]

Curious if the poop you refer to here looks anything like the attached photo? I found that in the coop this am and also had no luck googling it. Ignore it does, did you ever find out a reason or did it turn out to be something to be concerned about? Thanks!

 

[Maeschak]

View attachment 1573335 Curious if the poop you refer to here looks anything like the attached photo? I found that in the coop this am and also had no luck googling it. Ignore it does, did you ever find out a reason or did it turn out to be something to be concerned about? Thanks!

Oddly, I was just thinking about my chickens' dark red poop just the other day and thought I should post an update for anyone having similar issues!
So yes, I did figure out why the poop was dark red and smelled weird and eventually led to my eggs smelling like seafood: my feed supplier accidentally gave me fish meal to add to my chicken feed instead of chicken mineral. Crazily, I didnt notice the fish meal smelling odd at all (meaning I had no clue I was adding fish meal to my feed and not a chicken mineral product).
And yes again, my chickens' poops did look like that. They ranged a bit in lightness to darkness but generally they were super dark deep red.
Your chicken may have gotten into a large quantity of something/anything that is super high in Omegas or supplies raw Omega ingredients. (Basically, anything that will darken a chicken's yolk, eaten in super large quantities can turn the poop red and stink weird.)
Hope this helps-

 

[matilda19]

Thanks very much for that information! Our chickens range and I’m pretty sure the neighbors give them treats often. I feel a lot less worried now, I really appreciate your response.