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mrstootsie

mrstootsie

Hatching
5 Years
Oct 30, 2014
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Hello... Please help.

Chicks are 17 weeks old. Outside. Eating layers pellet.

Road island red. Light sussex and maran

Problem 1- there is blood (lots of) in poop. Its all over their nesting box. All chicks behaving the same.

Problem 2- the road island feathers look bleached?? She had patches of bleached looking areas all over her sides?

Problem 3- the maran was born with only 2 toes. Limps quite badly on left leg. Is ususally quite happy. However started to not go in at night. Just huddle at side of coup. She is also half the size of the other two. Am i being cruel, will she be uncomfortable?

Please any advice will be greatly appreciated, never kept chickens before, thankyou x
 
mrstootsie said:
Hello... Please help.

Chicks are 17 weeks old. Outside. Eating layers pellet.

Road island red. Light sussex and maran

Problem 1- there is blood (lots of) in poop. Its all over their nesting box. All chicks behaving the same.

Problem 2- the road island feathers look bleached?? She had patches of bleached looking areas all over her sides?

Problem 3- the maran was born with only 2 toes. Limps quite badly on left leg. Is ususally quite happy. However started to not go in at night. Just huddle at side of coup. She is also half the size of the other two. Am i being cruel, will she be uncomfortable?

Please any advice will be greatly appreciated, never kept chickens before, thankyou x
Click to expand...


Hey there I am new to chickens but have been learning a bit on here. I was having problems with one of my pullets which I am treating. 1 blood in poop can be cocci, which is not good. Are they eating well and drinking water.? Have you wormed them? I recently gave my pullet some safegaurd which treats worms. And was treating cocci with corid(amprolium). Stuff does cost but worth to have just in case.

As for feathers I do not know. Again I am new and these are things that were told to me by very helpful people. If you go on my page there is a thread corid amprolium and there was a lot of discussin of different simptoms. Hope they get better.
 
There is a lot of people who are way more experience who I am sure will tell you. But one of my chickens who I believe is a rooster was born without a toe on a foot I'm sure on both jot sure but doesn't like to walk much. He lays quite a bit, but I pick him up put him in the yard and he walks back and runs sometimes. But he does come out and goes in the coop on his own. It's weird. Hope they all get better soon and welcome to BYC if new.
 
Blood in stools points to cocci. There is a medication called sulmet that you put in their water for 5 days to get rid of it. Don't eat the eggs for a week after treatment. Feather color is genetic. What you have to look for is any change in crop color, which can indicate illness. You can tell if your limping chicken is in pain by panting, listlessness, or not eating/drinking. hope this helps... :)
 
welcome-byc.gif
Glad you joined us!

I'm sorry about the problems with your flock.
hugs.gif
Blood in the droppings is usually a sign of Coccidiosis, which is a serious protozoan infection of the digestive tract. Fortunately, Coccidiosis can be treated with a medication known as Corid, and mortality is pretty low if it is caught early enough.

A photo of your "bleached" hen would help us understand what you're dealing with. It is pretty common for hens to be varying colors, and fade out in the sun.

Lots of chickens can learn to live with only a few toes (or even no toes). Your two-toed bird should be fine as long as it doesn't get picked on by the others.

For more answers, I would post in the Emergencies section of the forums: Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


Sorry about all your issues. Definitely get something with Amprolium in it at the feed store for the blood in the poop. They have Coccidiosis. Don't wait on this as it can kill them fast.

As for the one with two toes, she will learn to adapt over time and will probably do well. But if she is not going inside the coop at night, she IS being bullied. So you need to go out side at night and get her locked in. Make sure you have enough room in your coop and she has a place on the roost bar. Roosting time can be pretty brutal with all the birds fighting for a spot. So since she has a bigger disadvantage with that foot, make sure she gets on the bar somewhere. Get everybody on and turn out the lights. They normally won't come down when it is dark and the lights are out. You may need to do this for quite sometime until she gets better with this foot.

Good luck with your flock and get some Corid or something with Amprolium in your birds today.
 
Hi MrsTootsie,

Definitely sounds like coccidiosis with the blood in the manure. It's fairly common amongst newer poultry flocks, so don't panic. Cocci is caused by a bacteria that generally develops from moldy feed or bedding. I'm going to ask a few clarifying questions, so you can hopefully determine how the birds developed the infection:

1- What type of feeders and waterers are you using? Both the feeders and the waterers should be adjusted to be at the height of the average birds back. Birds have to tilt their heads back to swallow food and water, so the less movement they have to do, the less feed and water that ends up on the ground. Eating feed off the ground is a big reason for cocci.

2- In your shelters, do you have bedding or just grass? If you have bedding, there's a good chance it's the source of the bacteria. Beddings like straw, hay, and wood shavings are great for insulation, but they tend to promote bacterial growth when wet. If you are running nipple waterers, check out the bedding under those. If you see any instances where the chickens are digging holes in order to dust bathe (typically under the waterer where a spout is missing), that's probably a source of the bacteria.

You can treat cocci naturally as well. If the birds are really ill, I would treat with the vaccines mentioned above and use these tips for the future if you ever start to suspect it's happening again. Give the birds as much milk (preferably raw, but that depends on the state) as they can consume in 1 hour. You can repeat this daily. That will help to promote gut health. Copper sulfate in the water will help as well. Feed at the rate of 1 oz/ 5 gallons of water for 3 days only as the sole water source.

The bleached looking feathers points towards a methionine deficiency. Were they normal colored in the beginning and have been slowing bleaching? If so, chances are its a deficiency. We see that pretty frequently in methionine deficiency cases. If you can call the feed company and ask what methionine level they are getting in their products, it might be worth your time.

Hope that helps!
 

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