Green diarrhea

[orchardflock]

About a week ago I started letting out our 2 month old chicks out during the day with the big hens. They were confined to chicken tractor in the same yard for about a month prior, and we watched carefully. Things seemed to be going okay, until yesterday morning we discovered one of them (an easter egger) has green diarrhea. She's also moving more slowly and her tail is very droopy. We confined her back in the chicken tractor and gave her probiotics, electrolytes, tea made with St John's wort, oregano, Echinacea, garlic and cayenne. We are also giving her fermented chick feed. She's eating, drinking and walking around some. There was lots of green diarrhea over night though and she's still looking very droopy this morning.

Any other ideas of things I can try? There are no chicken friendly vets locally. I just really don't want it to spread to the rest of our birds. We have 10 other pullets plus a rooster in the yard, and a neighboring flock of bantams that are about to go to the fair. The bantams were all tested by a traveling vet a week ago and given a clean bill of health.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of the chick and poop?
What type of foods are you feeding?

Green poop can be an indication of not eating (starvation), infection and sometimes Cocci or worms.
Any chance she ate anything moldy or rotten?

From your description, it's hard to know, but if the chicks are just now getting on ground that the adults have been living on, then she may have Cocci. Symptoms include lethargy, having an unkempt ruffled appearance, diarrhea with mucous or blood and loss of balance. Treatment is with Corid which is found in the cattle section of feed stores.

Do your best to keep her hydrated. If you have some poultry vitamins add those to her water. Once you see that she is drinking, offer wet chick starter or a little chopped egg or tuna.

Keep us posted.

 

[orchardflock]

Okay, I went out to get some pictures, and now I'm concerned it is Cocci. I actually almost bought some Corid at the feed store yesterday, but it was $21, and I thought maybe the problem was just that the bigger hens had been keeping her away from the feed and water. I'm now worried it looks like there might be some blood in one of the other chick's poop.

In the first picture she was sleeping before I woke her up to take her picture. You can see her eating the fermented chick starter with one of the other Easter egger chicks shortly after. The yellow liquid is water with Chick Boost in it. Warning: the poop pictures are not for those with queasy stomachs! I made them smaller to avoid any accidental viewings.

 

[Sara Ranch]

My experience -

* green poop is from eating a lot of greens
* my chickens get the runs if they are stressed (were just adopted, integrated into a new flock, had to take a bath, or are in the coop too long in the morning.)

* the red looking stuff appears to be skin cells (tummy/intestine lining). I have had chickens pass that if they are on the wrong feed. For example, I adopted some chickens and was told they were 4 weeks old. I accepted what I was told. Fed them started feed. Problem didn't get better after a week. I suspected that the chickens were older, so I switched their feed to adult feed. Problem resolved. For example, I have some young ones that sneak in and eat the grown up feed and the grown ups will sometimes eat the started feed. When this happens, they have watery stools and often pass red lining.

It's easily recoverable. Baby chicks have to go through the learning process of what they can eat and how much of it they can eat.

 

[orchardflock]

Hmm, interesting! Thank you! We are actually trying to use up the last of the chick feed before switching everyone over to grower feed with oyster shell on the side. We got them on May 26th as 2 day old chicks. I'm thinking maybe we just need to give them a few more weeks to get bigger before trying to integrate them again. They are pretty little next to our full grown hens!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I see a lot of vegetation - do they have a source of some type of grit or a bare place of ground where they can find small rock suitable?

There is one poop that's questionable - looks like a little blood. The other is most likely intestinal shedding.

From her stance in the photos, she obviously does not feel well - check her crop to see that it's emptying overnight.

Hope she gets better.

 

[rebrascora]

I don't see anything to cause concern in the last poop photo. In my experience they go through a phase of shedding a bit of intestinal lining and it is nothing to worry about. Dark red bloody poop is what you need to be really concerned about.

Green poop is often an indication of the digestive tract shutting down, sometimes because there is nothing going through it....this can be due to not eating (perhaps the bird is sick or being bullied from the feeder) or a blockage/impaction which is preventing food travelling through the digestive tract. Birds that have access to lush grass that is longer than a couple of inches can gorge themselves and end up with an impacted crop or worse, an impacted gizzard. I suspect this may be the case with your girl. As has been suggested, check her crop at night and then first thing in the morning before she has access to food. If it is going down, that suggests she is not impacted...huge relief! The green may just be from the lush grass but she is clearly unwell, so I would start probiotics to improve gut bacteria.

Also monitor how much she is eating....chickens will pretend to eat, so that other chickens don't realise they are sick and pick on them. I've seen an ill chicken peck at and pick up and drop the same pellet or grain numerous times but not ingest it, so watch closely. I would probably bring her into the house so that you can monitor her more closely and also keep her warm. Sick chickens are unable to keep themselves warm and will benefit from supplementary heat source. She may also benefit from a warm bath as her vent area may be soiled and fly strike is a probability at this time of year.
I am a little concerned about the additive in the water being used with a metal waterer. It may be OK, but if it is slightly acidic, it will rot the waterer and may also dissolve the metal oxides into the water. Best just to use plain water in a metal container or use a plastic container for the supplement.

Good luck with her and let us know how you get on.

 

[Sara Ranch]

It's recommended that chicks stay on starter feed until they are about 18 weeks old. Some do well on layer feed a little earlier. Some don't. I usually mix the two when they are age to start transitioning on feed.

I have several guys who should be on grown up food, but they really like the starter feed and inhale it every chance they get. Their poop is fine. I also let them free range all day. So they are getting bugs as well as plants and little food.

 

[orchardflock]

Thank you! Unfortunately, it's very clear this morning that she has an impacted crop. I'm about to do some research, but any tips of what to do about this are greatly appreciate it.

She's alive, and eating a bit and drinking, but very lethargic.

 

[rebrascora]

Remove access to food and only supply water ideally with a vitamin supplement or a very runny gravy made with her regular feed soaked in water. No solid or lumpy food. Then start massaging her crop.... think of treating it like a stress ball. Start gentle but firm, from the bottom upwards. Aim for 5 mins the first time and extend it towards 10 mins on subsequent sessions. I try to do it about 4 times a day. Confine her so that she cannot access anything fibrous (hay, grass etc) and just offer water and liquid food. It may be best to put her on a puppy pad or similar as her poops will be quite liquid for a while and she might try to eat shavings. If you are not seeing any progress after a couple of days, you might want to try Dulcolax. @TwoCrows has an excellent article on Crop issues that will help you to understand and treat it, which I will endeavour to find and post a link....here we go.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...d-sour-crops-prevention-and-treatments.67194/