healthy chick poop

[ghardy]

I am on day 4 with my new 8Rhode Island Red chicks and 1 Aracauna chick. They are 3 weeks old, and a friend raised them for me until 4 days ago. All look happy and healthy but I am noticing 2 types of poop. Most is what I would expect- greyish with a tinge of white at end. Some one(s) pooping a more liquid ,reddish brown poop, but I can't tell who. No one looks sick right now, no one is picked on. One seems a bit more shy than others. All have chick starter food, fresh water, grit and love ,along with a heat lamp. Anyone have info or advice for me? I am a nervous first time chick momma with a very invested 10 year old "assistant".

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

Congrats on your new baby chicks! I too am a new chick momma my chicks are 5 days old. I noticed the same kind of poop and just like you was a bit worried being new at this and not knowing what's normal and what's not. All are eating, drinking and acting healthy so I've just been keeping an eye on it. I noticed some times it looks normal (or what I think would be normal )and sometimes it looks how you described. As long as they're eating, drinking and acting healthy I think it's ok. Hopefully someone with more experience can tell us for sure lol have fun with your new chicks! I know I will

 

[jungletoy]

If you are feeding medicated chick mix it will make the poop almost a bloody brown. This means the meds are working. If you are still feeding 100% medicated chick feed I would reduce it to a 1:2 ratio (one scoop medicated to two scoops non-medicated) with regular chick feed eventually reducing the medicated to nil by week six. Continually dosing your chicks will retard their natural immunity and what you want is to enhance and foster their resillience without them being dependent on medication. Of course other bio-security vector controls must be in place to preserve this state as well (see Chicken Health for Dummies). I throw medicated into the food mix quarterly, regardless of age, to check the GI of my flock. Lots of brown/red poo and a vector may have established itself whereas a few stools tends to indicate normal variability in health and homeostasis.

Another possible consideration would be to reduce the use of commercial "Chick Grit" especially with new chicks. Sand or natural river sediment is more than adequate for any avian species. Brown or bloody stools can also be caused by tiny scrapes to the gastro intestinal tract (which can happen normally). Take the production chick grit a rub it between your hands. If after the first rub you aren't picking shards of shell or whatever they put in it out your hands your grit is probably fine. Any hunter or someone who has autopsied their birds will tell you the majority of the grit in the craw are very tiny roundish stones and few if any shard or sheared (sharp) type sediment. You're probably paying good money for a product that is free and available everywhere. For chicks I recommend a small planter pot in their environment filled with arena sand (play sand in 50lb bags at big box stores). If you put this next to your commercial chick grit I guarantee you will be buying another 50lb bag of sand before you buy another small bag of chick grit at twice the price for 1/10 of the product.

Either way your chicks are fine and healthy and will most likely be regardless of your product selection (sixty-five million trips around the sun goes along way in defeating mans feeble attempts at beating Mother Natures grand design). Enjoy the journey, chickens are fascinating intelligent creatures.

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

Thx for the great info! My 5 day old chicks are on unmediated starter. Should I be feeding medicated?

 

[jungletoy]

Anytime! You could probably get ten thousand answers which would be right to varying degrees depending on situations. I raise layers for eggs. When my plan is fully executed I will have about 500 chickens. I have different considerations for using medicated for the first few weeks. All chicks from breeders carry the breeders germs and flora with them to your farm. At $3.85 a chick it is important for me to insure my investment. Fortunately for me I live at elevation in a desert environment so microbial vectors are easly remedied by exposure to sunlight and air (the original microbial soaps). Regardless the first 72 hours in your chicks life are the most important.

I spend the first 24 hours, maybe 18 after dozing off, with the chicks. This imprints them to me as the mother and I can observe them completely. I have them delivered to the post office rather than through a feed supplier. Again I don't want to collect flora from other locations of farm people with muddy boots walking through a feed store and petting the cute chickies (my cute chickies).

Once here I clean their pipes with medicated feed for one week. I clean and sterilize the brooder area with a fine misted water/bleach(1 cap full per 2 gallons of water. Over the next few weeks I reduce the medicated (because it's expensive) and cut it with regular feed 2:1, 3:1 per week.

The electrolyte/probiotic treatment is more for shock and homeostassis of the birds on arrival. The get a beak dip or two depending on the strength of their peep when I move them from the shipping box to the brooder area. For the first 72 hours I will conduct motility (general health and welfare) checks where I roust them awake every 6 hours to make sure everyone is moving. To quote a great analogous description I read here: "like water skeeters on a pond". It is important to look, listen and feel. I have had great successs in survivability specifically managing the first 72 hours. The one caveat seems to be around week 4 when their internals are growing I may lose one to a congenital defect. It's sad, their little peeper gets weak (which is how I find them) and ususally they die within an hour or two.

I use an Ohio brooder and have a designated brooder area. This not functional for everyone but there is none better despite some of the crazy redesigns I've seen. This is by far the simplest and most effective design EVER. I use this because it is up to the chicks to determine their own heat requirements and it will support up to 250 chicks. Apart from them screwing the light bulbs out ever couple of days it works as advertised. This is caused by the vibrations their pecking and scratching once they can jump the 14" to the top of the brooder. I thought they were having wild parties and replacing one of lights with a disco ball after I locked them up for the night.

Buy a small bag of medicated and run it through them then clean their brooder really well and all your chicks should be tuned in to your local flora and be very happy productive additions to your extended family. Hope this helps!

 

[ten chicks]

You always have to be on the look out for cocci in chicks. Medicated feed does not prevent cocci,it just slows the progression down,hopefully gives you enough time to get medication. Cocci acts quickly and kills fast. I am not suggesting that your chicks have cocci,but everyone with chicks should know the symptoms. My chicks stay on medicated feed until they are old enough to switch to grower feed at 8 weeks.

 

[Judy]

Chicks can actually get overwhelmed with cocci even on medicated feed. The idea of it (this is when the medication is amprolium) is that it allows the chicks to develop a natural immunity. Amprolium inhibits the uptake of thiamine in the cocci. If they get overwhelmed and sick with cocci. The usual med is Corid, which is also amprolium, but a much higher dose.

Chicks also shed some intestinal lining as a normal part of growth, which does look reddish though not actually bloody.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/778478/sick-chicks-post-2/0_20

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...nue-acv-in-water-for-worms/0_20#post_10404090

http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.0 (graphic poop pics)

 

[showjumper_girl2002]

I didn't buy my chicks from a feed store or breeder I hatched them myself. Should I still feed medicated even though they've only been in my brooder and haven't been exposed to anything else?

 

[lauranickerson]

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that is cecal poop. My chickens do the same thing. I believe I read somewhere on BYC or some other forum that all chickens have a cecal bowel movement once about every 7 or 8 movements. This may not be exact, but something like their gland right before the vent excretes whatever it is that makes the cecal poop so shiny, dark and tar-like.

I've noticed my rabbit does it to a certain extent, too. In both animals, they tend to be much smellier, and don't seem to dry up for a few days, at least.

 

[jungletoy]

I didn't buy my chicks from a feed store or breeder I hatched them myself. Should I still feed medicated even though they've only been in my brooder and haven't been exposed to anything else?

Birds in the wild tend to not stay in any one area for long. But in a confined environment your chickens can generate refugee camp humanitarian crisis in very short time. No species has developed (naturally) coping mechanisms for this scenario. Like any gut biology, too much of any one type of flora will send you running to the bathroom. In chicks it can become toxic if not managed and even in adults in refugee camp like environments can be overwhelmed. If you run medicated for the first eight weeks and maintain a clean environment your chicks will thrive. Just remember there is a slight profit motive for feed companies and their recommendations. Cutting the medicated chick grow feed with regular chick growth feed (2:1) is equally effective and a little easier on the pocketbook. A little over a long time tends to bolster and enhance the immune response rather than overwhelm it with more meds than can be used during digestive uptake (See Avid Vitamin Users Day-Glow-Pee Effect). Most of your investment will have passed right through the chick and on to the coop floor.