HELP! Hen with Sporadic Diarrhea!

[CalBickieMomma]

Hello chicken friends!

I have a hen I adopted from a friend back in early July, and for the past two weeks or so, she's had sporadic diarrhea. First, her poop was runny and dark in color (dark greenish brown, almost black). Then, five to seven days later, it seemed to clear up and her poop appeared more normal. But when I was out in the coop today it was full on liquid - like pure water squirting out (sorry about the description, but I want to be as accurate as possible).

I wasn't too worried at first, because I didn't find any parasites in her poop, and at night she seems to have normal poop (she sleeps on top of her little roost/coop box instead of on the wooden bar inside, so I can easily see her droppings). Also, she seems to be fine other than the strange, runny poo. She's laying normally, she isn't lethargic or acting out of the ordinary. The only thing I do notice is she has a few tattered feathers near her head (which I attribute to being with a rooster or more dominant hen before she came to me). I did notice one mite on her back end a week ago (the hen in the compartment before her had them but I treated her and the area and after a week or so, they were gone), but nothing close to an infestation. I dusted her and didn't see any mites a few days later.

Anyway, does anyone have any idea what this might be? She does have one of those metal mini troughs she drinks out of, and before that I had a metal bucket in there (both I got from a farm supply store). The other chickens have used these before without any problems. Could she be more sensitive to the metal? We've also had hot weather of late (between 70 and 80 degrees - I know, not super hot but that is hot for our part of the country and fall is always roasting here).

This hen is in a side compartment that I created within the coop/run area back when I had too many roosters, so she's around the other chickens and everyone else seems to be fine. She gets the same scraps they do and the same food.

If anyone has any ideas what's going on, I'd appreciate some feedback. Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Behavior trumps the odd poop. As long as she's behaving normally, try not to worry. She could have a bacterial intestinal thing, but she could lick it on her own as long as she's strong.

Hot weather does encourage chickens to take in much more water than they normally would. This can cause the "squirts".

There's also the outside possibility that runny poop is her default pooping style. I have an eight year old hen that has had watery poop since I got her as a two day old chick. It's mainly because she's a compulsive water drinker and always has been. She's never been sick a day in her very long life.

If you are using metal containers, you do know not to add ACV to the water as it will leach toxic substances out of the metal.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

Behavior trumps the odd poop. As long as she's behaving normally, try not to worry. She could have a bacterial intestinal thing, but she could lick it on her own as long as she's strong.

Hot weather does encourage chickens to take in much more water than they normally would. This can cause the "squirts".

There's also the outside possibility that runny poop is her default pooping style. I have an eight year old hen that has had watery poop since I got her as a two day old chick. It's mainly because she's a compulsive water drinker and always has been. She's never been sick a day in her very long life.

If you are using metal containers, you do know not to add ACV to the water as it will leach toxic substances out of the metal.

Thanks for the reassurance! I haven’t been worrying too much, but thought I’d check here just in case .

Haven’t been adding ACV to the water, but been researching it and like all the benefits. I also read that it will corrode metal so before I start giving them ACV I’ll switch to plastic.

Thanks again!