Does cecal poop have some kind of territorial significance?

[Molly77]

I have 7 5-week-old buff orpingtons currently residing in my home office/now chick brooder. They are huge, feathered, and bored and need to go live outside, but my coop and run aren't as locked down as they need to be, and I have to wait for help to do a couple of final security things. I am determined to lose NOBODY to predators!

Here's my question: I notice that when the pullets get out into my upstairs hallway (wood floor, thankfully), they immediately throw down a bunch of nasty gooey poops and track them everywhere literally as fast as they can. Same thing when I change out the puppy pads that are on the floor around the brooder. A disproportionate amount of cecal poop appears instantly on the new pads. Does this poop have some kind of significance for chickens socially?

 

[Acre4Me]

Cecal poops stink!! They are prey animals, so any change is stressful. No, not marking or for territory.

When we jumped into chickens without having a coop completed, we ended up carting them out to the run (fenced with a low fence and no roof) to be chickens outdoors during the day, and back inside the garage at night. I have about a week MAX that I can stand chickens in the house, ideally only 3-days. We’ve raised hundreds of chickens, and they are very fusty and stinky. If possible can you give them an outdoor pen for daytime? Cover it with plastic garden netting. Temporary /portable fence can Work if stray dogs aren’t a concern.

 

[Molly77]

Thank you for this response! My 10'x20' run is completely enclosed (incl the top) by chicken wire/cattle panel, the bottom 2' has hardware cloth apron going underground a foot and out a couple of feet, but the gate to the run has about 1.5" space to squeeze through all around it that I have no real way to seal up. I bought a 48" high Premier One electric poultry net that will surround the whole coop and run, but it isn't set up yet. I am afraid of little weasels and stoats coming in the run via the gate cracks if the chickens are in there during the day. Am I just being way crazy here? I am new to both this property and keeping chickens, so I don't know what predators are around me, but I'm very rural and next to a forest so I anticipate that every predator existent is coming for my chickens.

I'm scared to waste all the energy I've put into these babies by being over-eager to get them out of the house before I have completed the supermax prison for them in the yard. Also, I fallen in love with them and would be totally crushed if anyone got hurt or killed due to my impatience. Maybe I need a reality check, I've watched too many YT videos of determined predators getting at chickens.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yes, a forest can be a concern -often many predators. A water source can be additional predators (like mink), but you will learn the area as you are there. The electric fence will help. When we had a chain link fence -there was a gap. We were concerned about chicks getting out. So we bought flexible garden netting (the sturdy green kind with two heavy edges), we opened the gate all the way, attached the fencing on the inside of the fence with multiple zip ties and then closed the gate. This kept them in very well.

I’m not sure what a stoat is, but maybe you are UK. If so, I’m pretty sure you do not have raccoons or bears to be worried about, so that is a good thing! Raccoons are crafty, intelligent, and murderous so if those are not a concern for you it’s a good thing! Bears are large and very strong and can do great structural damage (and require a strong electric fence to deter).

Good luck!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

the gate to the run has about 1.5" space to squeeze through all around it that I have no real way to seal up.

Could you please post a photo of the gate showing the gap and the materials. There may be an easy way to seal that gap.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As far as the original question about cecals, it seems that even chickens realize they smell (and could alert/attract predators) and are therefore more likely to drop them away from their home, whether that's the brooder or a coop or a tree. So they drop more of them when allowed to roam away from home base.