Diarrhea... thoughts?

[melzie]

Hi all,

Long-ish story, so I'll cut to facts and hope for some solid advice:

We raised 15 meat birds, and slowly culled 2 per week until all were eaten. Towards the end, the last 3 weeks these birds were seemingly sick (no, we didn't get sick eating them). Their poop was a watery green slop. It smelled SO awful. We moved their run and pen once per day and hosed down and turned the soil before moving them back the next day each time (so as to "clean" the soil beneath them). About half of them still ended up with foot infections/sores anyhow. The sores were no more than 1/10" deep - not sure if this matters.

We fed the innards (except intestines) to our layers. We have 8 layers that are about 2 years old.

Cut to last 2 months: layers started exhibiting same diarrhea symptoms that the meat birds had (about a month after all meat birds were culled). VERY SMELLY. Pungent, acidic, green or straight up water.

I live in the Bay Area of California, the weather in the past 2 months ranges from 38* overnight lows to 70* day high (avg is about 55* daily). I feed them mostly Modesto Organic Layer Formula, and supplement with organic produce I get from our local market, and they get the occasional raw steak or fish too.

Birds recently molted, all new feathers are in. Laying has significantly slowed from an average of 5-6/per week per bird to about 3 or 4 per day for all 8 layers.

All 8 had that mucky butt, stuck to the feathers diarrhea for a while. Now, all but one is better. The one who is still sick has been sick for about 1 month straight. She eats and drinks and I think she might even lay. She has a mildy discolored crown (less vibrantly red than her other counterparts of the same breed). There's no worms or anything visible in her poop. It's almost completely clear or white or green - depending on the day I guess.

Advice: Should I separate her, place her in a dark spot to slow any egg production, and give her a different feed and enhanced water? I need to make sure I get this thing cured as we have 6 new layers moving in this week to the same run. Any help or advice is welcome

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you take some poop samples to your vet or send some off to your state lab for testing?

 

[micstrachan]

Hi there. I am in the Bay Area, too. Whereabouts are you? Adobe will do a fecal float, but they send it out, so it’s obnoxiously expensive. You could probably take a sample to any regular (not necessarily avian) for a float test. My girls are thriving on the Modesto Mills grower, but I am horrified at the mill dates when I read posts from chicken keepers in other parts of the country. Regardless, their poop is great when only on feed, but can get a bit sloppy when they free range for long periods. We are so spoiled with our warm weather, and now with the rain, there is potential for lots of growth of mold and bacteria. I find a little probiotic helps with runny poop, or even a cooked oatmeal or cooked white rice treat (haven’t done either of these in awhile). Sorry about the long, not necessarily totally relevant response, but I’m wondering if your flock could be digging in something growing mold or bacteria.