Hens With Loose Droppings

[CarlaRiggs]

I've one, perhaps two hens (3 years old) with sometimes loose droppings. Instead of a firmer dropping with white top, it's a bit loose with the white top. In the morning, the poop is fine. I clean the coop out each morning, and the droppings are healthy appearing. But in the afternoon, they become loose. Sometimes really sloppy... They are backyard hens, and eat a lot of grass besides their regular Layeena and a few treats. No pesticides or other chemicals have been used anywhere in the yard for years.
The grass doesn't seem to be well digested in the droppings, so I'm assuming the food is just coming through the intestines too quickly.
I've a third hen who is having trouble getting around because of her arthritic legs. She doesn't eat nearly the amount of grass/feed the other two do. Her 'fertilizer' is fine.

I generally give the hens 1/3 cup of raw oatmeal, with a little water soaked into it when I put them into their run in the evening. They also have spaghetti, veggies, raisins, crickets and other goodies. Sometimes in the oatmeal, I stir in a fresh, raw egg. Nothing that's really junk, like doughnuts.

So... any ideas? I'd really like to get back to nice looking chicken fertilizer instead of this sloppy stuff!

Thanks!

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

You should treat them for worms, if they range around. Wazine 17 works fine for me. My hens do that also when they have worms. Don't consume the eggs while they are on the treatment. After they were dosed day 1, empty out the waterer, put fresh clean water in (no wormer) and 10 days later worm them again. Then after day 10, give them fresh water.

Hope this helped!

 

[juniper8209]

I guess tis the season for icky poos!

I have some Wazine 17 I picked up at the feed store, but I've never administered it.

The directions on the bottle say to use 2fl. oz in 2 gallons of water for every 100 birds. Here's my question...I have nowhere NEAR 100 birds...I may have 13 and that's pushing it. My waterer holds 2 gallons. Can I still just put 2 oz. of the wormer in with 2 gallons of water and then empty it after a day as you said? Or is that dosage too high?

Lil confused.

 

[Kaitie09]

I just wazined my flock of 20 and did 1 gallon with one ounce. It has been over a week and they have shown no side effects from it, so I'm assuming it is safe.

I'm horrible with math, so I had no idea how to scale it down for them.

 

[kgardiner]

I also just gave my hens Waizne as wormer. I used 1 oz for 1 gal and gave it to 13 birds. They didnt drink the whole gallon but I'm assuming they got the prscribed dose. One question - after using the wormer, will you see dead worms in their poop? Or are they small enough to miss? Also, about disposing of the eggs - the bottle says dont use on egg producing chickens but with no length of time. I read and heard numerous different things.. Thanks

 

[juniper8209]

Awesome! After reading this, I just put 2oz in their 2 gallon waterer. Also, I was reading that you can use 4ml/gal of the injectible Ivermectin to squirt in their water about 10 days after the Wazine treatment if you suspect other types of worms. I may do that depending on what the poos look like on day 10. I've had chickens for almost 5 years and have never had to deworm till now. May be a good idea just to be on the safe side.

As far as seeing the worms, Wazine does only roundworms, and those I know you can see once they've left the body dead. I used to work at an animal shelter, and after deworming puppies with pyrantel, the next morning, there would be just piles of them. They look like cooked spaghetti noodles.

I'm assuming it would be the same for chickens since it's the same kind of worm. Maybe a bit shorter than what I've seen since chickens are smaller than dogs? I dunno.

My concern would be that if the chickens see the worms in the poo that they'll turn around and eat them like they would with any other kind of earthworm or grub, starting the cycle all over again. Ugh, so gross!

And from the threads I've read here, I think you'll need to throw out the eggs for two weeks. I think I've seen mentioned that you can incubate these eggs and try to hatch them out if you hate the idea of throwing them away, but I could be mistaken.

 

[kgardiner]

Ugh, well I wormed with Wazine a couple days ago and have yet to see any worms pass.. I hope I didnt worm them for nothing.. I had a couple with runny yellowish poop and one was losing weight so I figured I needed to worm them. Strange unless possibly its different worms? I guess I'll follow up with Ivermectin or Flubenvet on the 10th day? That should assure there are no worms at all correct? Sometimes the sheer volume of information on here is overwhelming.. Thanks for any help - I had chickens as a kid but don't ever remember worming, although that was in the Northeast and I'm in Florida now.. Nice weather breeds harmful things I guess

 

[mzcreoletomatoe]

HELLO EVERYONE I AM A NEW CHICKEN MOMA ON THE SCENE..... I HAVE A 3 YEAR OLD RR SHE TODAY AND YESTERDAY SHE HAVE BEEN DROPPING LOOSE DROPPINGS I HAVE DID ANY WORMING ON ANY OF MY CHICKENS (SCARED) WHAT TO DO SHE NOT ACTING WEIRD OR NOTHING LAYING AN EGG A DAY AND Y DO I HAVE TO DISCARD THE EGGS WHEN I GIVE THEM THE WEIZINE IT FOR THE WHOLE 10 DAY I DISCARD EGGS?? HOPE MY QUESTIONS ARE CLEAR BECAUSE I AM A NERVOUS WRECK BYC FAMILY HELPPPPPP!!!!!!~

 

[CarlaRiggs]

After several years of chickens, I can say that they won't always produce the same type of fertilizer. It depends upon what they eat, how much and how fast. During the hot summer, the hens get more melon. Then they produce loose droppings. If they have fresh blueberries in the morning, their fertilizer is dark blue in the afternoon. If the chicken is eating well, and interacting normally with the flock, I'd.just wait two or three days.The suggested meds are powerful and probably kill the good bacteria in the gut. I'd keep an eye out for trouble, but generally the chickens are doing what's natural.