Is it worms, coccidiosis, stress, or something else?

[Lilyandpeabody]

Hello everyone. I would love to get some opinions on what is going on with my small flock. They haven't been acting quite normal lately and I'm trying to figure out how to achieve chicken harmony.

Backstory, lots of detail and far too many variables to diagnose certainly:

TLDR: Flock seems unhappy, pecking, bullying, sometimes runny poop, some red tissue in night droppings occasionally but very little and not frequent, some chickens appear to be not feeling well.

Three months ago a few of the hens went broody. Two months ago, right about when they eggs were to hatch, one of the hens went a little homicidal (she's always been the slightly odd one). After the one hen broke open several viable eggs (about day 19 in development), she then went for a fresh hatch. We made the decision to quickly section off the loft of the coop to make it inaccessible to all but the one remaining calm, non-murdery hen and the hatching chicks. We set the remaining flock up for a few nights in the bottom section of the coop while we waited for a small coop to arrive (ordered for the mom and two chicks).

The rest of the flock hated life for 4 days. Everyone seemed stressed. The small coop arrives, we separate the groups, reopen the loft, and hope everyone returns to normal. The chickens seemed to get a bit happier, but not like they once were. Everyone started pecking feathers from themselves as well as each other. Cliques formed, bullies emerged. This has gone on for 6 to 8 weeks.

About three days ago we noticed that one chicken (our super outgoing barred rock lady) was a bit withdrawn from the group, not interested in coming to see us, falling asleep while standing up, and at times having a slightly hunched posture. I gave everyone an electrolyte water mix and watched them for a bit. The barred rock perked up and seemed normal. The following day the barred rock looked like she wasn't feeling well again, as well as another hen (our black copper maran). Throughout the day they both went back and forth to seeming totally fine, and then slightly sickly again. The black copper maran has gone a full day seeming like her regular self at this point, the barred rock still goes back and forth.

At this time I also discovered that the loft in their coop was infested with red ants. We did a full coop clean out and added food grade diatomaceous earth as well as poured diatomaceous earth down the ant hills that have come up around the coop. 36 hours later we are still seeing some ants, but there is a huge improvement. I have looked in the coop and on the chickens for mites, but I haven't found any.

To add some stress to the situation, the previously broody chicken with murdering tendencies appears to be going broody again. She is also the main bully. I have also noticed a bit of weight loss in two of the hens, one being the barred rock. She has not laid an egg for two days, but I could but feel a bound egg when I checked last night. Also note worthy, up until 3 days ago we were getting 6 eggs, regularly, now we are getting 2 to 3 eggs.

To sum up a whole lot of detail, I can't tell what is upsetting my flock. Is it just stress, weather changes, internal parasites, coccidiosis, something else? It has been consistently hot for the last couple of weeks (ranging 82-92F). We have recently put misters over their yard to help with the heat. Did this add too much moisture and eggs from the ant infestation hatched and they now have parasites? I have called around and can't find anyone near me to do a fecal float test. I picked up a bottle of corid, but after doing some research might want to deworm them first since that is more gentle.

I would love to hear any input, best methods, things to look for, etc. I'll leave you all with a few poop pictures from this morning, sorry! I can't tell if I'm seeing a rosey hue or not. I also can't tell if I'm seeing worm segments or eggs.

Quick facts:
7 hens
1 rooster
6'x9' coop w/ loft, boxes, 2 roosting bars
10'x20' run attached to coop
*Run has plenty of items to explore or jump up on, including 2 small coops, a dust bath station, food, water, misting system when needed

Purina Layer Crumble w/oyster
Treats in moderation (seed, dried fruit, dried mealworm mix)
Fresh water and water w/ electrolytes

We removes poop and soiled bedding (straw from the coop daily)
Full loft clean and downstairs poop scrape every 3-4 days

 

[coach723]

Poops look pretty normal, not seeing anything concerning there. Where are you located, generally, in the world? You probably need to give them more space, can you enlarge the run? Or allow them to free range for part of the day? Size dimensions are usually given as minimum starting points and the behavior of the birds themselves is a much better indication of if it's adequate or not. What works for one group may not work for another with different personalities and temperaments. One very dominant bird can change everything. And keeping a roo usually requires more space as well. 7 hens is at the very bottom of what I would say is enough for a roo, usually 10-12 is the average recommendation, and of course that is also very dependent on the birds themselves as well. Some roo's will really overbreed that many hens and beat them up and stress them out. I think stress is probably the biggest issue and that is likely coming from multiple places right now. Hot temps, small space with a bully hen and a rooster. You can try isolating the bully hen away from the flock, where she can't see or hear them, for a week or two, and then slowly reintroduce to see if it resets the pecking order (makes her the newby and bottom bird). Sometimes that will work, sometimes it does not. You probably need to increase the number of feeders and waterers you have out, that way dominant birds can't guard them all and the others will have more chances to get to them. More is always better. For the ants, I HATE fire ants. Especially in the run where I can't use anything that the chickens can eat. I have used orange oil poured on the mounds at night, gets that mound but sometimes they pop up nearby. You can also use a piece of black plastic that extends out from the mound at least a foot each way, lay it over the mound and hold the edges down with bricks, the sun will heat it up and after 24-48 hours the nest will be empty. They will leave or be cooked. They usually don't pop back up nearby with that. I gave up on misters personally, they were always getting clogged with minerals (I have well water), and making a muddy mess in the run. I just run a hose on trickle so it puddles in a shady spot and have shallow pans (stainless steel puppy pans work great, you can also use hog pans but they rust eventually) in the shade full of water for them to stand in. Less mess.

 

[Lilyandpeabody]

Poops look pretty normal, not seeing anything concerning there. Where are you located, generally, in the world? You probably need to give them more space, can you enlarge the run? Or allow them to free range for part of the day? Size dimensions are usually given as minimum starting points and the behavior of the birds themselves is a much better indication of if it's adequate or not. What works for one group may not work for another with different personalities and temperaments. One very dominant bird can change everything. And keeping a roo usually requires more space as well. 7 hens is at the very bottom of what I would say is enough for a roo, usually 10-12 is the average recommendation, and of course that is also very dependent on the birds themselves as well. Some roo's will really overbreed that many hens and beat them up and stress them out. I think stress is probably the biggest issue and that is likely coming from multiple places right now. Hot temps, small space with a bully hen and a rooster. You can try isolating the bully hen away from the flock, where she can't see or hear them, for a week or two, and then slowly reintroduce to see if it resets the pecking order (makes her the newby and bottom bird). Sometimes that will work, sometimes it does not. You probably need to increase the number of feeders and waterers you have out, that way dominant birds can't guard them all and the others will have more chances to get to them. More is always better. For the ants, I HATE fire ants. Especially in the run where I can't use anything that the chickens can eat. I have used orange oil poured on the mounds at night, gets that mound but sometimes they pop up nearby. You can also use a piece of black plastic that extends out from the mound at least a foot each way, lay it over the mound and hold the edges down with bricks, the sun will heat it up and after 24-48 hours the nest will be empty. They will leave or be cooked. They usually don't pop back up nearby with that. I gave up on misters personally, they were always getting clogged with minerals (I have well water), and making a muddy mess in the run. I just run a hose on trickle so it puddles in a shady spot and have shallow pans (stainless steel puppy pans work great, you can also use hog pans but they rust eventually) in the shade full of water for them to stand in. Less mess.

Thank you so much for your reply. I am in southern California, so lots of summer heat and predators. I'd love to let them free range but we've had too many coyotes and bobcats in the area that I'm too afraid to risk it. I can enlarge their space a bit by adding an addition to their run, but I only have about 5'x20' more in that area, so it would pretty much just widen their run space by 5 feet along the length. I had honestly though that 250+ sq ft of space would be good for 8 birds, but it seems I have some large personalities in the group. I will have to try your plastic tarp trick for the fire ants. I hate to kill them but at some point they could take down my whole flock. I will definitely be trying your tip on isolating the bully hen for a bit to reestablish the pecking order, such a good idea. I didn't see her as turning into the bully of the group. She had a rough start in life with a difficult hatch, leg braces, and an enormous amount of hands on care. I thought I was raising a sweetheart but she's turned out to be a total velociraptor.

Question for you. The two chicks that hatched are now 8-9 weeks old. I sent them to live with my sisters flock until my flock settled down a bit (they've been gone roughly 6 weeks). I can have her keep them, or I can introduce them back into our flock. Would you think it would be better to avoid the stress of reintroduction and just work on the happiness of my 8, or to reintroduce them to eventually have a better balance with 9 hens and 1 rooster?

Thank you again for your help.

 

[coach723]

Whether to bring them back or not is entirely up to you. It's really mostly dependent on space really. There is always a rough period when integrating new birds into a flock, and they will be considered new birds at that point. It's usually fairly short lived if they have enough space. I would reintroduce them with the look but don't touch method, on separate sides of fencing or wire until the older birds are no longer posturing at them etc. when everyone is just kind of ignoring each other, then try them together for supervised periods to make sure all goes well. When there is a rooster in the mix, better safe than sorry, so slowly is better. I have sometimes just used temporary fencing inside one section of my run to do that, just depends on your set up. It's always very hard to integrate single birds into a flock, they have no buddies, so always best to do at least two.