Hen with diarrhea

[animallover505]

my hen has diarrhea, but it looks normal, just sloppy. She is otherwise healthy, lays an egg every day. So..., what's going on?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Here's the infamous poop chart. As you can see, there is a very wide range of "normal." And if it doesn't fall into the normal category, perhaps you will be able to come closer to what might be wrong.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[thasista]

I have never seen that poop chart. Its really good!

 

[casportpony]

With all due respect, I have had necropsies done on birds that had poop that would have been considered "normal" on that link, but the birds that died, died from coccidiosis. If your bird has the occasional odd looking poop, I wouldn't worry, but if it has changed and is runny, bloody or a different color all_of_the_time, you probably have a problem.

 

[ChiChiLady]

What about smell? I occationally notice a punget smell that does not smell like normal chicken poop. I am thinking of starting to use some apple cider vinager regularly in there water. the birds all look and act fine, they are young between 10 months and 7 months old. should I be concernd about odd smelling poop?

 

[casportpony]

Coccidiosis often has a horrible smell, so yes, I would be concerned. ACV can't hurt, and if they are eating/drinking normally and NOT losing weight, I just watch them. However, if they aren't eating/drinking normally, I take more drastic measures.

 

[casportpony]

I am a firm believer in weighing birds (see avatar), you might want to get a baseline weight on them. Any weight loss is a sign that something is wrong.

 

[casportpony]

It's also important to de-worm your birds with a wormer like Safeguard (Fenbendazole) or Valbazen (albendazole). I do this whenever I see one that looks a little off.

 

[casportpony]

FYI, Wazine (piperazine) only treats roundworms.

 

[dawg53]

What about smell? I occationally notice a punget smell that does not smell like normal chicken poop. I am thinking of starting to use some apple cider vinager regularly in there water. the birds all look and act fine, they are young between 10 months and 7 months old. should I be concernd about odd smelling poop?

If your birds are eating/drinking normally, laying eggs, acting like a chicken should...then nothing is wrong. Smelly poop is cecal poop, normal about every 8-10 droppings. If it's constant, then there's a problem.