diarrhea?

[kkowa]

my week old chick has diarrhea its a normal color had has alittle bit of form to it but its really watery but other than that she is fine she's starting to fly up on thigs purches and is eating and drinking normal. should i be worried? or will it go away on its own she also has regular poop last night it was just this morning that it was their.

 

[RonC]

One out of every 8-10 poops is different than the others. They flush themselves out, it is runny and stinks. I have heard several things that won't do them any harm but might help if there is a problem. Some people add ACV(apple cider vinegar-unfiltered) to the water. Some say grit will help and they definitely need if eating any solids other than their chick starter. Sav a chick sells a probiotic that helps their digestive system or some plain yogurt would probably do the same thing.

 

[kkowa]

ok thank you

 

[catye]

I had the same problem with mine and the yogurt and grit helped alot. Also a chopped up hard boiled egg can help.

 

[aggiemae]

A diarrhea question.

We added two new chicks on Thursday so I am being cautions. I noticed that the brooder was stinky and a few of the chicks had bedding stuck th their feet. It was time to caln anyway so I did. I use a large towel in the coop and toss 3-4 cups of bedding (paper pellets and a few handfuls of shavings) over the half away from the feed and water.

As usual, I put the chicks into a paper grocery bag when I clean out the brooder.

Usually when I shake out the towel most of the poop just drops into the compost bin but this morning there were many that stayed stuck to the towel and few had actually soaked the way through.

All the chicks where born on (or around) 4/4. The get medicated chickfeed and water. There is grit the the brooder. The lowered the temp of the brooder to 75 today since they haven't been going under the light much for the past two days. Yesterday day I added a handful of cracked grains and seeds for a treat and they might have had some thinnings of spinach carrot tops and chard from the garden, which is not new.

I chose to use the medicated food 'just in case" and intend to switch to organic after this bag is gone. The two new chicks were being fed organic (non medicated food) before we got them but I was told they were immunized at the hatchery.

Now for the poopy details...

The poops are really wet and dark brown or yellowish brown and semi formed and a little sticky. The chicks do no appear to be ill. The water bottles was down to about 1 cup which is twice the water they usually drink in 24 hours.

I cleaned the coop as usual and washer everything down with vinegar water. When I took the first one from the bag to give her a once over I noticed that her feet were wet and poopy, so I cleaned them up with warm water and dried them. I looked into the bag and the bottom was smeared with wet poop. So I added a few drops of vinegar to the water and took them out one at a time and cleaned and dried all their feet.too.

They are back in the brooder and everything looks OK, but since we lost two chick without much warning of illness I want to know if I should do anything besides checking the brooder and keep them clean.

Thanks for any help.

 

[azygous]

There's always a possibility that chicks with very watery poop have something wrong going on, but if chicks are otherwise acting healthy and normal, watery poop just may be their "style".

I learned this last summer when I got four SS day-olds. Two of them had poop so watery that it was more like water than poop. I immediately thought that I was doing something wrong. I changed their water, adjusted the heat lamp, cleaned out the brooder real well, and fed them yogurt. Nothing changed.

Almost one year later, those same two SS pullets still have watery poop, are very healthy and lay every day. In fact one of them makes such a "splorting" sound when she goes that I can tell it's her without even looking.

I've never read or heard anything about watery poop being the normal "default" poop for some chickens, but it appears that my two are just such chickens. Perhaps there are more out there than we think.

 

[aggiemae]

Anygous, I am not sure if it's better to start a new thread or find an old oneabout the same issues...so thanks for responding.

I now know that it is the Marans, one of the two new chicks. I found a link of pictures of "normal" poops and it looks ok, but she is pooing a lot and it really stinks. To bad there isn't a site that discribes the smell of "normal" poop.

I think I'll clean the brooder again in the morning and seperate her for a few days.