Help! Foul smelling diarreah?

[SarahInAlaska]

Two of my hens didn't lay today and I just went to check in in them and smelled the worst smell and saw a fresh mess of diarreah. What do I do? Should I be worried?

 

[missnu01]

Every 8 to 10 poops is super gross...are all your chickens roosting at night? There aren't any missing that could possibly be sitting on a nest of "unlaid" eggs, because broody hens take super gross poops as well...
The diarrhea, was it like water with poo in it, or did it look like super gross poo scented chocolate pudding...the smelly pudding poops are normal, especially in the night for some reason...Sometimes a watery poop isn't bad either unless you see it happening consistently, when it isn't super hot outside..

 

[SarahInAlaska]

No, no chance of hidden poops. All 5 are in the garage until I finish my coop tomorrow and I can get the frost bitten combs cleared up in the three new girls I just got. It's just "pudding" consistency and rank as all get out. The two that didn't lay I've only had three days. They laid the first two days and they are only 10 months so I'm not expecting 100% from them but the poop just caught me off guard, lol. I'm glad to hear it can be normal (I guess) lol

 

[SarahInAlaska]

* hidden eggs, oops

 

[missnu01]

If it was the pudding poop* it's totally normal.

Here is the most awesome poop explainer...chickens have a huge range of normal poops just like anything else I guess, but more often so the cycles all happen in a day sometimes...

But yeah what you saw and the smell is totally normal...Sometimes in the mornings when I go in the coop one of the chickens will let one of those go and you just about have to run for the door..and I have an 18x20 foot coop...They do smell really bad though..
They smell like commercial chicken farms..I used to drive by one on the way to work in SC, and man oh man, that is the smell...I don't notice any smell to the normal poops. They save all the smell for the pudding poops*.

*not to be confused with pudding pops (which are delicious)