How often do chickens shed their intestinal lining? When is it ok and not ok?

[Saraschickens]

Hello to all,
I need help. I've been noticing my chickens shedding their intestinal lining. I'm so confused on all of this. I have 72 chickens (12 of them are 1 & half years old, and the rest are about 6 months old). I see about 6-10 intestinal lining poops per day, and it's been happening for almost 3 weeks now (that I've been watching, I don't know how long before that.). Nobody is looking or acting sick at all. As far as I think I understand, with coccidiosis there would be sick and dying birds and blood in the stool (especially by now), but I see people say if there's intestinal lining they have coccidiosis. I also see them say that shedding intestinal lining is "normal" if it's "occasional" but not if it's "often". But what is occasional, and what is often? I also saw that if they're shedding their lining, it's always a problem and needs to be addressed. I've used: (all at different times) apple cider vinegar in their water (1 TBSP per gal.), I've treated them with probiotics in their water (not at the same time as any ACV or natural antibiotics (ie: oregano, etc.), I've tried cycling through adding garlic, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, red crushed peppers, thyme, & sage into their food (a couple tsp to a heavy TBSP of each, depending). I put a 1/4 cup of diatomaceous earth per every 2 pounds of food for deworming several days ago. I've hit them hard for days with the oregano, cinnamon and garlic. I keep the floor, foods & waters clean daily. At the moment, thier ratio of food is 2 scoops Ace Hi lay mash, 1 scoop Don Robertos (seeds & grains), 1/4 cup oyster shell or egg shells, & about 1 TBSP each of cinnamon, turmeric, & crushed red peppers. They get marigold flowers and fresh weeds daily, I give them hanging cabbages often, almost daily (sometimes green, sometimes purple cabbage) , plus black soldier fly larva, sometimes duck weed, and sometimes kitchen scraps. They get new shavings for bedding often. I'm not able to let them out as much as they should be. They get about 2-4 hours each day (give or take from that). Unfortunately, I have a bobcat that eats them if I leave them out. Aside from neighborhood dogs, hawks, cats & owls (I live against a mountain). I have too many per coop/cage/run at the moment (I know, definitely not ideal!). My bantams have 4.2 square feet per bird, and my standards have 5.7 square feet per bird, when confined (that includes the coop and run, which are combined). There is also a lot of areas they can get up onto in the coops/runs so they don't have to be on the ground. We're working on getting electronic chicken doors so they can have more free time, and we're working on a larger, safe run area for them. I know! I got carried away on chickens this year! I'm working on it! I have 1 rooster and 18 females in the standards. And 49 in the bantams (38 hens and 11 roosters). I know, the ratios are super off, but they all get along really well. The remaining are 2 roosters & 2 hens that stay outside free roaming permanently. The intestinal lining poops are in both coops. When they are out, they get into the plout, plum and nectarine trees and eat some leaves. I'm not sure if that could be causing any issues. I'd like to add that I've had chickens since 2008 (before that if you include my parents house), and I'm not new to chickens. My standards are easter eggers, which I'm new to since last year. My bantams are silkies, polish, cochins, d'uccles and houdans. I've always done silkies and cochins for the last 16 years, but am new to the polish, d'uccles and houdans this year. Thank you so much in advance for any help or insight anyone can provide me with! Thank you, thank you!

 

[Debbie292d]

First things first...welcome to BYC!!

You're doing wonderful with your chickens. But I can understand the concern when their poop starts looking different.

Here is a good thread about the different poops. And another here, with links to more.

 

[Saraschickens]

First things first...welcome to BYC!!

You're doing wonderful with your chickens. But I can understand the concern when their poop starts looking different.

Here is a good thread about the different poops. And another here, with links to more.

Thank you! I've been to Backyardchickens many times looking for information! There's so many wonderfully knowledgeable and kind people here! Today I finally made the leap and joined the crew! Lol!
Thank you so much for replying to me! Those were very informative links!
I'm still wondering though... how "often" is "normal" and when is it "too often" for shedding intestinal lining? Is 6-10 shed linings per day out of 68 birds "normal"?
Also, how fast does coccidiosis kill birds or make them look sick? If I'm seeing this for about 3 weeks now (just that I've been paying attention to it), would that alone let me know it's not coccidiosis? I bought Corid right away because I got worried, but then I didn't treat them because I came to the conclusion that I felt like it was intestinal lining shedding and not coccidiosis.
I saw someone on BYC mention that if they're shedding their lining At All though, that it's because they have a problem that needs addressing. But I see often that people say "oh, it's shed lining, no cause for concern". So I'm just trying to get a grip on what's normal, and when I should really take action. I've been trying so many natural remedies, trying to address any kind of digestive issues, and cover all my bases.
They are all 6 months or older, not babies. I notice coccidiosis is most likely in chicks, and the majority of threads on coccidiosis seem to usually refer to young(er) chicks.
Seeing as how no one is acting or looking sick (after 3 weeks) makes me wonder if everyone is just fine and they don't have anything else to worry about either, like enteritis or anything. There are no aviary vets near me, and the only one I've found is over an hour away and cost $75 just to Look at the bird, and not to do anything!
Thank you again! I'm hoping someone can enlighten me! Thank you to all in advance!

 

[Certified Chicken Lover]

What are yalls thoughts on this?
@azygous @Eggcessive @nuthatched @dawg53 @Wyorp Rock

 

[coach723]

It's probably not coccidiosis, by now you would be seeing sick birds. Some intestinal shed can be normal, that is usually occasional. When you see it consistently, or there is a lot of it in a dropping, then it's good to pay attention and make sure nothing else is going on. How they are acting is also important, no signs of illness or going off food or water. It's basically irritation of some kind in the digestive tract, that can mean parasites, coccidiosis and other internal parasites like roundworm are common causes. It could also be dietary and transient, if they are finding and eating something different, which is more likely in free ranging birds than in always cooped birds. If you have a vet that can do a fecal test for you (not usually too expensive and you can take a mixed sample from several suspicious fresh droppings to get a broader look), that can help. They will look for the common parasites. Or if you have never wormed, or it's been awhile, you could just do that and see if it clears up. Roundworm in particular is fairly common and easy for them to pick up in the environment, and most of the time you will never see a worm in droppings, they live and die inside the bird. Safeguard liquid goat wormer or Valbazen are both fairly easy to get and effective for most parasites except tapeworm and coccidia. Both are dosed orally, directly to the bird.

 

[Debbie292d]

Seeing as how no one is acting or looking sick (after 3 weeks) makes me wonder if everyone is just fine

You got it! @coach723 cleared up all the other things for you.

For future thought: you said your vet is an hour away and charges $75 for the office visit. Maybe just call them and ask what they'd charge to do a fecal float that you'd just drop off. I think that would be a cheaper, quicker idea than hauling your chickens there.

 

[Saraschickens]

It's probably not coccidiosis, by now you would be seeing sick birds. Some intestinal shed can be normal, that is usually occasional. When you see it consistently, or there is a lot of it in a dropping, then it's good to pay attention and make sure nothing else is going on. How they are acting is also important, no signs of illness or going off food or water. It's basically irritation of some kind in the digestive tract, that can mean parasites, coccidiosis and other internal parasites like roundworm are common causes. It could also be dietary and transient, if they are finding and eating something different, which is more likely in free ranging birds than in always cooped birds. If you have a vet that can do a fecal test for you (not usually too expensive and you can take a mixed sample from several suspicious fresh droppings to get a broader look), that can help. They will look for the common parasites. Or if you have never wormed, or it's been awhile, you could just do that and see if it clears up. Roundworm in particular is fairly common and easy for them to pick up in the environment, and most of the time you will never see a worm in droppings, they live and die inside the bird. Safeguard liquid goat wormer or Valbazen are both fairly easy to get and effective for most parasites except tapeworm and coccidia. Both are dosed orally, directly to the bird.

Thank you so much! All such very good info! Everyone is eating and drinking the same, as far as I see. I'll keep watching closely. I actually finally saw an improvement in the poops as of today! Their poops had also been a bit loose leading up to this, and I had a suspicion that I might have their food ratio wrong. I always used to feed only lay mash to my layers in the past (they still always got weeds, bugs, duckweed, kitchen scraps,...) but I never used to use the Don Robertos (grains & seeds). Previous of this poop excursion, I was feeding a half and half lay mash & Don Robertos thinking I was doing a good thing. Plus adding some black oil Sunflower seeds as well. But now I'm thinking it was throwing their diet off. Plus I give lots of marigold flowers and weeds daily (ones I know are safe), and I think with all of it, they were getting a lot of weird looking poops. Plus eating tree leaves and whatever else they find while they're out roaming. Back when I started with chickens I didn't have You Tube or even Google. Now, there's so much information out there and help to be gotten. I love being able to just ask! What a blessing!
I've never looked so closely at poop before! But now it's my daily habit and task! Lol!! My husband thinks I'm nuts!
I did see worms in one poop in August and treated every single bird with Ivermectin. I treated on August 30 and again on September 9, and I didn't see any worms after that. I heard as a preventive for worms, that I could add the diatomaceous earth to their feed once a month. I've now done that twice since September.
Thank you again so much! It's so helpful for troubleshooting!

 

[Saraschickens]

You got it! @coach723 cleared up all the other things for you.

For future thought: you said your vet is an hour away and charges $75 for the office visit. Maybe just call them and ask what they'd charge to do a fecal float that you'd just drop off. I think that would be a cheaper, quicker idea than hauling your chickens there.

 

[Saraschickens]

Thank you for the suggestion! We're super tight on $ right now, but that's a very valid idea that definitely might be worth looking into. Especially if I can't get this figured out. But I saw some promising progress today... so we'll see! Thanks!

 

[Saraschickens]

Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I'm still hoping someone might have an exact answer on how often is normal on a shed lining. It's very hard to find this answer searching on Google.
What is often, or not to worry about for a chicken? Once a week, couple times a week, once a month, few times a year...? I've also heard it's never ok or "normal" as well. So I'm just trying to understand if it's even something I should be concerned about, or if everything is fine and I'm just over reacting. Thank you so much in advance!