Hen drinking excessively & watery stools

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I have a Orpington x Sussex mix pullet hatched 3/18. For months she has had watery stools. She has no symptoms of being unwell at all. She started laying a month ago and has been gifting me a perfect, healthy little egg every day. So this tells me she is getting enough nutrition. She has been wormed and given Corrid in the past. It was during the Corrid treatment (about a month ago) that I started observing her water consumption and realized how much she is drinking. When they are let out in the morning, the other hens go for food and she goes to the water. When the other hens are done eating, they pop by the waterer, she’s still drinking away. The other hens jump up on their roost after eating to preen and await being let out to free-range. She’s still gulping down water! Her crop is empty in the morning, but during the day and before bed it feels like a water balloon. There is food in there, but it’s mostly water.

This has been going on for most of her life. I’ve never seen her have a stool that wasn’t watery. It’s not weather related. She’s not being bullied. I truly don’t believe she’s ill (normal behavior, normal comb, normal weight, normal crop functioning, stellar egg-laying). But I wonder if it could be a sign of an illness that’s yet to rear its head? Or could it be behavioral? Can chickens have compulsive behaviors? Maybe once she starts drinking she can’t stop until something interrupts the cycle?

Pics show her and her puddles.

 

[AidKD]

The watery poop is a direct result of her excessive water intake. Have you tried moving her away from the water and over to the food? I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about, and if its been going on for quite some time now I also don't think it's some sort of underlying disease.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

The watery poop is a direct result of her excessive water intake. Have you tried moving her away from the water and over to the food? I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about, and if it’s been going on for quite some time now I also don't think it's some sort of underlying disease.

Thanks for your response. That’s sort of what I was thinking, but wanted another opinion. If she had a sickness, I think there would be more symptoms or she would have deteriorated by now.

I have moved her away from the water when she’s going crazy with drinking. And she’ll usually wander away and do other things but then she comes back. Especially in the morning.

The biggest issue is trying to keep their coop clean. Her coop has 4 chickens and it’s harder to keep up with cleaning than the coop with 14 birds!

 

[AidKD]

Thanks for your response. That’s sort of what I was thinking, but wanted another opinion. If she had a sickness, I think there would be more symptoms or she would have deteriorated by now.

I have moved her away from the water when she’s going crazy with drinking. And she’ll usually wander away and do other things but then she comes back. Especially in the morning.

The biggest issue is trying to keep their coop clean. Her coop has 4 chickens and it’s harder to keep up with cleaning than the coop with 14 birds!

I suppose it's just a behavioral thing! I've never heard of a chicken doing that before, very weird. I wonder why?

 

[Debbie292d]

I have a Orpington x Sussex mix pullet hatched 3/18. For months she has had watery stools. She has no symptoms of being unwell at all. She started laying a month ago and has been gifting me a perfect, healthy little egg every day. So this tells me she is getting enough nutrition. She has been wormed and given Corrid in the past. It was during the Corrid treatment (about a month ago) that I started observing her water consumption and realized how much she is drinking. When they are let out in the morning, the other hens go for food and she goes to the water. When the other hens are done eating, they pop by the waterer, she’s still drinking away. The other hens jump up on their roost after eating to preen and await being let out to free-range. She’s still gulping down water! Her crop is empty in the morning, but during the day and before bed it feels like a water balloon. There is food in there, but it’s mostly water.

This has been going on for most of her life. I’ve never seen her have a stool that wasn’t watery. It’s not weather related. She’s not being bullied. I truly don’t believe she’s ill (normal behavior, normal comb, normal weight, normal crop functioning, stellar egg-laying). But I wonder if it could be a sign of an illness that’s yet to rear its head? Or could it be behavioral? Can chickens have compulsive behaviors? Maybe once she starts drinking she can’t stop until something interrupts the cycle?

Pics show her and her puddles.

I suspect a kidney disorder, only because your hen's acting abnormal to drink that much water. Her symptoms are the exact same as one of my rescued macaw parrots. I had to put a kitty litter box under where he poops, as there's no way I can keep his cage clean with as much water as he poops. He drinks double what the other one does. He's been doing this for a while now. I'm waiting to hear back from three vets I've emailed to see if someone can see him and properly diagnose it. Online parrot "vets" agree it's a kidney disorder of some kind. If I ever find out for sure, I'll let you know.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks for your response. That’s sort of what I was thinking, but wanted another opinion. If she had a sickness, I think there would be more symptoms or she would have deteriorated by now.

I have moved her away from the water when she’s going crazy with drinking. And she’ll usually wander away and do other things but then she comes back. Especially in the morning.

The biggest issue is trying to keep their coop clean. Her coop has 4 chickens and it’s harder to keep up with cleaning than the coop with 14 birds!

Maybe try horse bedding pellets. She'd make sawdust fast, but at least it's no mess or smell.

 

[Debbie292d]

The watery poop is a direct result of her excessive water intake. Have you tried moving her away from the water and over to the food? I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about, and if its been going on for quite some time now I also don't think it's some sort of underlying disease.

You have a point that if it's been going on so long like this, it's probably not anything wrong, or you'd not think this hen, nor my parrot, could live several months acting just fine other than drinking a huge volume of water on a daily basis. Yet, there has to be a reason for it.

 

[AidKD]

You have a point that if it's been going on so long like this, it's probably not anything wrong, or you'd not think this hen, nor my parrot, could live several months acting just fine other than drinking a huge volume of water on a daily basis. Yet, there has to be a reason for it.

That's what kinda what I think, there has to be a reason! Would you update when the results on your parrot come in? It's very strange to me. Maybe it does have something to do with the kidneys.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Maybe try horse bedding pellets. She'd make sawdust fast, but at least it's no mess or smell.

I just started converting them over to pine pellets recently, and I do think it’s better.

 

[Mebrou]

How’s your girl doing? Mine (almost 12 weeks) is the exact same! I have a thread going because I thought she might be sick or impacted. She’s perfectly fine with the exception of the excessive water intake. Exactly as you described yours. I do almost wonder if the excessive drinking has caused her crop to stretch a bit and perhaps become pendulous, or just stretched. I’m still watching and assessing. Hopefully she’ll never need a bra. It seems to hang a bit lower than all the others at this point, but I’m not too surprised considering the amount of water she intakes throughout the day. She’s an absolute ballon by the time she’s ready to roost lol.