- Dec 5, 2010
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Now this is a little odd.
I have a very healthy looking leghorn cockerel about 11 months old. So far he's been brilliant.
But in the last couple of days I've seen green urates. They're almost turquoise, some of them; others are pea green. He has no other symptoms of anything, no nasal discharge, is eating reasonably well (he's one of these roosters who prefer watching hens eat to eating himself), and has a lovely bright shiny red comb and shiny white feathers.
However the green urates are worrying me. I've read that this can be hepatic in origin (liver damage) and may be caused by psittacosis. However I can't see how he can have psittacosis as there's no cough/sneeze or any kind of nasal discharge, nor has he ever shown respiratory symptoms or diarrhea. His droppings are very well formed and tidy apart from the bright colour. Indeed none of the rest of the flock has ever had any respiratory disease, nor have I brought in any new birds.
He is penned all the time, has no access to poisons of any sort, and the rest of the flock's droppings are fine.
Can I ask, has anyone here ever seen bright green urates before? Was it transient or did it persist? And did you locate a cause?
Many thanks for any ideas on this puzzle,
Erica
Edited to add: I'll just make it clear, the remainder of the droppings are normal, a dark greenish/grey (greenish because he gets his share of beetroot tops and spinach and grass). It's only the urate colour I'm concerned about.
I have a very healthy looking leghorn cockerel about 11 months old. So far he's been brilliant.
But in the last couple of days I've seen green urates. They're almost turquoise, some of them; others are pea green. He has no other symptoms of anything, no nasal discharge, is eating reasonably well (he's one of these roosters who prefer watching hens eat to eating himself), and has a lovely bright shiny red comb and shiny white feathers.
However the green urates are worrying me. I've read that this can be hepatic in origin (liver damage) and may be caused by psittacosis. However I can't see how he can have psittacosis as there's no cough/sneeze or any kind of nasal discharge, nor has he ever shown respiratory symptoms or diarrhea. His droppings are very well formed and tidy apart from the bright colour. Indeed none of the rest of the flock has ever had any respiratory disease, nor have I brought in any new birds.
He is penned all the time, has no access to poisons of any sort, and the rest of the flock's droppings are fine.
Can I ask, has anyone here ever seen bright green urates before? Was it transient or did it persist? And did you locate a cause?
Many thanks for any ideas on this puzzle,
Erica
Edited to add: I'll just make it clear, the remainder of the droppings are normal, a dark greenish/grey (greenish because he gets his share of beetroot tops and spinach and grass). It's only the urate colour I'm concerned about.
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