Misc. problems, could they be related?

[mommabird]

We have 5 white leghorns that are just over a year old and 5 newer chicks that are just about 16 weeks old. We recently (about 2 -3 weeks ago) combined them. I was told to just put starter feed in the coop feeder because it wouldn't bother the older hens and it was more important for the younger girls to get what they needed.

Well, over the past week or two I have noticed the following things with our leghorns:

• we were getting 4 - 5 eggs pretty consistantly, now only getting about 3 a day and they seem to be thinner and more mishapen
• two of our leghorn girls have developed pretty yucky vent areas. I've tried cleaning them up but it doesn't seem to help much. They appear healthy otherwise and don't seem to be experiencing discomfort. I'm assuming this could just be from runny poo?
• Every once in a while I see white, watery poo (only about 3 times though, it's just something I've never seen before), I ready up and found that this could be from drinking too much water - it was rather hot here for a few days around the time this happened.

I'm wondering though, could all these things be related to the food? If so, will switching back to my regular layer food fix the problems? If I switch to the layer food now, are the younger girls old enough that this will be ok for them?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ten chicks]

We have 5 white leghorns that are just over a year old and 5 newer chicks that are just about 16 weeks old. We recently (about 2 -3 weeks ago) combined them. I was told to just put starter feed in the coop feeder because it wouldn't bother the older hens and it was more important for the younger girls to get what they needed.

Well, over the past week or two I have noticed the following things with our leghorns:

• we were getting 4 - 5 eggs pretty consistantly, now only getting about 3 a day and they seem to be thinner and more mishapen
• two of our leghorn girls have developed pretty yucky vent areas. I've tried cleaning them up but it doesn't seem to help much. They appear healthy otherwise and don't seem to be experiencing discomfort. I'm assuming this could just be from runny poo?
• Every once in a while I see white, watery poo (only about 3 times though, it's just something I've never seen before), I ready up and found that this could be from drinking too much water - it was rather hot here for a few days around the time this happened.

I'm wondering though, could all these things be related to the food? If so, will switching back to my regular layer food fix the problems? If I switch to the layer food now, are the younger girls old enough that this will be ok for them?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sounds like vent gleet.

 

[Eggcessive]

You do not want your young pullets eating layer feed because it has 3 times the calcium in it, and they can develop kidney ailments and failure at some point. Watery poop is from drinking too much water, not a problem. Messy bottoms can mean they have feathers down around the vent catching poo that keeps building up (I have a few of those girls.) If there is a messy butt with feather loss, red skin with white or yellow patches it would probably be vent gleet ( a yeast infection.) I just trim off those poopy feathers back there and it cleans thing s up enough to check it out.

 

[mommabird]

Thanks everyone. I've tried cleaning them up again and removed a few of the feathers around the vent that were particularly "crusty". I will see how things go. So far everyone still seems healthy, no out of the ordinary behavior, etc. So hopefully this wil help.