Meat birds with reddish brown mucus in droppings

[journey11]

Does anyone know what this might be? I have 5 week old cornish rocks that are showing occasional droppings with small globs of reddish brown mucus(?). It is very thick and translucent. I have them vaccinated against cocci and have not fed medicated feed as directed. I moved them outside last Saturday and penned them on the ground and add straw bedding as it dirties. Out of 35 birds, I have found only a few droppings like this daily over the past couple of days. Occasionally there may be a runny dropping, but I've seen that before in past flocks, and in this flock from early on. The majority of droppings are normal. None of the birds look listless or droopy. I have not seen any worm segments either. All are eating well and seem to be gaining weight appropriately right now, but I am afraid this will be a problem. Should I go ahead and deworm just in case? We are getting close to processing time, but I guess I will hold them a little longer if need be. If anyone has seen this before, I appreciate any input you can give.

 

[mwdh1]

It sounds like cecal poo.
Here is a chart that really helps with poo issues
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I would say that they are at age to cut their feed so they don't get water belly or ascities
feed at 6AM and at 2 Pm and no more for the day
see if this does not help the manure problem

they are eating themselves to an eartly death
hopefully you will get some good chickens soon

this info is on brown diarrhea and some help from a friend of mine

Nathalie Ross" <[email protected]>

(1 coccidiosis
I think it might be helpful for you to know that coccidia are
very VERY hard to trace in a fecal. When I worked as a vet tech, it
was common procedure to go ahead and treat with a combination
antibiotic/antiprotazoan medication like Sulfa products (Sulmet being the most
common) based on symptom diagnosis rather than physical evidence of the
oocysts. This is less true of other parasites like roundworms and such,
but still true. Often vets recommend a routine worming program to kill
worms not found. Worms aren't always shed into the fecal matter, nor
are their eggs, but that doesn't mean they aren't up there chowing down
on your birds' food in the gut and leaving scars which make it harder
for the birds to digest feed in the future.

(2 worms
So, think about a twice a year worming program. My personal program is
to worm in the fall with Ivermectin, in the spring with either
Ivermectin or another BROAD spectrum medication like tramisol or worm-ex.
Note: I didn't mention piperazine. Piperazine is a one-worm wormer -
rounds only. You'll want to use it for your very first worming to decrease
the parasite loads (which are undetectable unless they're really very
heavy) to prevent the possibility of the bird going into anaphylactic
shock or being blocked. These two last dreadful things can happen if
there are parasites up there you don't know about, and you use a
super-wormer (like the 2 mentioned above) which kill everything all at once. So
do piperazine the first time, or with new birds with unknown histories,
then use the super-wormers from then on.

(3 gut bacteria
Anyway, back to your problem. At 7 weeks, the babies are still in the
process of getting their gut bacteria in order. See, they're born
without any bacteria at all in their gut. So they eat at day 2, and put
food in there as a food source for themselves but also for bacteria.
Basically, it's first-come-first-serve for bacteria. If the bad ones get
there first, they take over and your birds get ill. IF there are some
good but mostly bad, the same thing happens. If you give your birds
probiotics (substances containing live beneficial bacteria) your GOOD
bacteria will have the advantage. Those good bacteria crowd out the bad,
make it impossible for the bad bacteria to live in anything but minimal
numbers, and thus help your birds to stay healthy. So I always
recommend giving probiotics weekly from week 2 til point of lay. Then I move
to once a month or as needed. You can use live-culture yogurt (1
teaspoon per 8 newly hatched, moving up to 1 teaspoon per point of lay
bantam, 1 tablespoon per point of lay large fowl - no more please). You can
also use powdered livestock probiotics (Probios dispersable powder
being my absolute favorite - it's the choice of exotic bird breeders, and I
also have hookbills).

Or, you can go to the human health food store
and pick up a human supplement like "acidophilus" (Lactobacilus
acidophilus), or a combination of acidophilus and B. bifidum sold to combat
yeast infections. The latter is a particular useful thing for a poultry
hobbiest to have. The addition of b. bifidum helps combat thrush.
Thrush is essentially a yeast infection that is common to birds because of
the way their crops store feed in wet conditions. Things tend to get
fungus and yeast there, and thus the yeast infection. That infection
goes throughout the bird's system and is really a mess, so that
bifidum/acidophilus mix is the best. Try to find a non-dairy liquid, and you'll
have the ultimate probiotic.

So, there are some options. I'd tend towards those. Also, if you're
prescribed antibiotics for your birds' infection, you'll want to give
PRObiotics daily during treatment. Antibiotics are unfortunately going
to kill the good bacteria which are having such a difficult time getting
established in y our babies as it is. The antibiotics will possibly do
as much harm as good, so combat that bad effect with probiotics. Try
giving them daily for about 3 days after the last batch of medicine.

(4 E.Coli
In case your babies are said to have an infection of E. coli (most
likely case) then you can try putting some vitamin E in their feed.
Vitamin E helps fix E. coli overpopulations. You know what else helps fight
E. coli? Guess: b. bifidum. It secrets a substance that E. coli just
can't stand. See where this is going?

Nathalie Ross, Houston, TX

 

[journey11]

Quote:
Thanks! The pics were extremely helpful! The stuff in the droppings looks exactly like the two pics listed as having "shed intestinal lining". Why would they shed that? I have never noticed that before in any of my other chickens, but it says it is normal? Like I said, they are acting and looking otherwise completely normal and healthy. I forgot to mention that the reddish stuff lingers longer than it takes for the other components of the dropping to break down. I have not seen anything like the pics labeled abnormal. I am a lot less worried now! But I am going to keep a close eye on them for a few more days...

 

[journey11]

Glenda, thanks for all the info. I am going to copy that and keep for future reference!

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

did it say what caused the intestinal lining to be shed?
maybe some kinds of worms
that take a vet presacribed wormer?
keep us posted

 

[journey11]

Still seeing a lot of the reddish stuff. I've been all over the 'net and here trying to find more info and now I'm just plain frustrated--still no answers! I thought maybe it could be cocci--but from what I've read, my birds would be in really bad shape by now (or dead)?

If it's just intestinal lining, it can't be good that they are shedding so much of it? I am worried. I've got a lot of time and money in these birds. I really don't know what I should do. If they need medication, I don't even know what to give, since I can't identify the problem.

I read in another thread about dry milk powder. And I know some yougurt certainly couldn't hurt anything. Maybe try some apple cider vinegar in the water? I need a plan of action--help!!

 

[journey11]

New post with pics...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=176240

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

are these cornishX birds?
if so they are eating too much feed
feed at 6Am and 2pm and then nothing after that
get the gut on the right track

I think fro searching it may be a type of

Salmonella enteritidis fecal shedding in the chicks
or E.coli
read what I put on the first part of this and treat for E.coli