EE has had liquid poop for over a year????

[JedJackson]

We did try an 18% layer feed last winter (Feather Fixer), but we had more issues with loose poop and decided to go back to the 16% protein and they've done better....except for Marge, who's poop is always the same no matter what we feed her.

Does she free range? I think it's possible that she's eating something that doesn't agree with her which is causing the problem. And the undigested greens in her droppings would be my #1 suspect.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Does anyone know about digestive enzymes, which could be out of balance? I know they sell enzyme powder for animals, but I don’t know if that’s OK for chickens. Maybe enzymes are the same as probiotics, I don’t know. Years ago we had a dog with really bad food allergies and our vet recommended a product called Nzymes. The product label stated you could give it to all animals including birds and chickens, but I have been hesitant to try it for the girls. The vet said she is not fully digesting her food, hence the pieces of grass and occasional grains appearing in her poop. When I fed them cooked white and brown rice she actually pooped out the grains undigested even though they had been cooked.

my only other thought is something with her crop/gizzard hard to say what though

I think at this point, it is unlikely we will ever discover the cause unless we decide to do a necropsy after she passes away. Whatever it is, it’s not contagious and doesn’t seem to affect her overall health visibly. I had hoped that because there are so many members on backyardchickens that someone might have had a similar situation and may have been able to shed some light, but that doesn’t seem to be the case and we have exhausted all the normal avenues with our vet and gut flora treatments we have already tried. I guess she will remain a mystery, lol.

so long as she is happy and otherwise healthy i would leave her be

though i really do recommend getting a necropsy when the time comes, we can help you find a place for that

 

[urbanutah]

Does she free range? I think it's possible that she's eating something that doesn't agree with her which is causing the problem. And the undigested greens in her droppings would be my #1 suspect.

Yes, they have an automatic coop door and are free-range from sun-up to sun-down. We have 3 dine-a-chook pellet feeders placed around the yard and one in their coop. They all scratch around together, but Marge poops out undigested grass pieces, while the others, who also eat the grass all day, have perfectly normal poops. Seems like she's missing a digestive enzyme or something along those lines. We do not treat our backyard with anything, the chickens fertilize and take care of insect control for us.

 

[urbanutah]

my only other thought is something with her crop/gizzard hard to say what though

so long as she is happy and otherwise healthy i would leave her be

though i really do recommend getting a necropsy when the time comes, we can help you find a place for that

I completely agree. When the time comes I will have the necropsy done. I have the state ag's office vet info so I know where to take her to have it done. If nothing else I would have it done out of sheer curiosity since it's such an odd situation and having the necropsy done is the best possible learning tool since there doesn't seem to be any true expert chicken vets in our area. I've consulted with my African Gray's vet several times since she at least really knows birds. The vet we use for our chickens is an old-school mobile vet and he's pretty good on the chicken front, but is stumped by Marge's situation.