Hen with Frequent Creamy Poops

[kazhays]

Chicken Breed and Age:
Plymouth Rock hen (5 months old)

Symptoms/Behavior Exhibited:
- she is pooping very frequently (at times once every 1-2 minutes) a poo that isn't diarhhea but more of a creamy textured brown poo (flies love this kind of poo)
- her body seems to be out of poo so sometimes she opens her vent but nothing comes out

Timeline:
She has been exhibiting these symptoms (or at least I have noticed them) from approximately 5:30 pm. (It's currently 6:30 pm on the same day) My mom says she saw her drool very slightly as she ran towards food yesterday. I'm aware chickens don't have the ability to drool so I'm not sure if this is connected to the current pooping situation or not. (sour crop?)

Bleeding, Injury, or Other Trauma:
No signs at all of bleeding, injury, or other trauma in any of our birds.

Chicken's Food and Water:
She seems to be eating and drinking as normal (eating mealworms, layer food, bird seed, grass, bugs, etc.). She also seems to have normal-ish energy levels (she isn't a very active chicken in the first place so it's hard to tell when she's less active than normal).

Housing/Bedding In Use:
She lives in a small coop with newspaper as bedding and sand on the ground. She lives with one other hen, an Ameraucana hen of the same age as her.

Treatment Administered So Far:
None

Please let us know what this may be caused by or if this is just an overreaction. Thank you!

 

[Shezadandy]

Usually "drool" is just what comes up if they drink too much water.

Have you checked her crop, where all the groceries land before she grinds them up in her gizzard? It's good to check it at night (when it should be full) and again in the morning (when it should be empty).

The other possibility as she's 5 months old is maybe she's working on her first egg and some kind of sensation is causing her to strain? Has she laid her first egg yet?

As far as creamy poo - could just be the cecal poop. As they grow the poops just get bigger and nastier! Just like people, it's also possible something didn't agree with her.

Does she have access to grit?

Do keep an eye on the vent situation. If you have some preparation H (without pain relief) or hydrocortisone (spelling, sorry) cream - also without pain relief --- the "-caine" drugs used in the "pain relief" varieties are very easy for chickens to overdose on (and they die)- so we avoid them all together.

Anyhow- if she keeps straining, it could be kind of a chain reaction- slight inflammation causes her to strain, straining makes the inflammation worse and so on.

What the Preparation H or hydrocortisone cream do is take the swelling from the tissues. In any case- it will not hurt her. Just get a glop full of one or the other (and a plastic glove if you have one) and rub it on (and slightly in) the vent.

 

[Shezadandy]

Also- a good article on poop with lovely pictures, especially if you're trying to eat:

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive/

 

[kazhays]

Usually "drool" is just what comes up if they drink too much water.

Have you checked her crop, where all the groceries land before she grinds them up in her gizzard? It's good to check it at night (when it should be full) and again in the morning (when it should be empty).

The other possibility as she's 5 months old is maybe she's working on her first egg and some kind of sensation is causing her to strain? Has she laid her first egg yet?

As far as creamy poo - could just be the cecal poop. As they grow the poops just get bigger and nastier! Just like people, it's also possible something didn't agree with her.

Does she have access to grit?

Do keep an eye on the vent situation. If you have some preparation H (without pain relief) or hydrocortisone (spelling, sorry) cream - also without pain relief --- the "-caine" drugs used in the "pain relief" varieties are very easy for chickens to overdose on (and they die)- so we avoid them all together.

Anyhow- if she keeps straining, it could be kind of a chain reaction- slight inflammation causes her to strain, straining makes the inflammation worse and so on.

What the Preparation H or hydrocortisone cream do is take the swelling from the tissues. In any case- it will not hurt her. Just get a glop full of one or the other (and a plastic glove if you have one) and rub it on (and slightly in) the vent.

Thank you for the response! She has not laid her first egg but the Ameraucana that we got at the same time as her has just laid her first egg. Internet says that as Plymouth Rocks are a bigger breed they may take more time to lay their first egg.

 

[Shezadandy]

Yep- it just depends on the hen. I've seen a 17 week old hen lay an egg- and I had one that didn't give me a single egg for 10 months.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of the poop, the pullet and your housing?