New chickens and weird poop

[Julieschicks]

Just got home and checked on everyone. They’re all still eating and drinking and up and about. Didn’t see any more of the red poops I saw this morning, but there were a lot more of the yellowish ones like in my first picture. Maybe it’s worms?? Their last dose of Ivermectin was Feb 1 and we brought them home Feb 18.

 

[coach723]

If it turns out to be worms you may want to consider using something besides ivermectin.
There are lots of posts in regards to some parasites becoming resistant to ivermectin. Fenbendazole (Safeguard) or albendazole (Valbazen) are usually available and probably a better choice.

 

[Julieschicks]

If it turns out to be worms you may want to consider using something besides ivermectin.
There are lots of posts in regards to some parasites becoming resistant to ivermectin. Fenbendazole (Safeguard) or albendazole (Valbazen) are usually available and probably a better choice.

Good to know, thanks! The farm where I got them was using it monthly, but we haven’t done any kind of worming since we got them. Wasn’t even sure if that’s something we need to be doing preventatively or not. I may go ahead and try to pick up some Safeguard tomorrow. Hopefully our local feed store carries it. Otherwise the closest TSC is about 35min away.

 

[Eggcessive]

I use either Valbazen or SafeGuard liquid goat wormer. Both get most chicken worms, depending on the worm and the dosage.

 

[Julieschicks]

I heard back from the vet’s office and unfortunately they said they wouldn’t do it. But said I could pick up some amprolium from the feed store which might help my issue. Guess I’ll check out TSC tomorrow and see what I can get. I imagine that since none of the chickens have declined in health at all over the past 3-4 days since I first saw the foamy yellowish poop that coccidiosis probably isn’t the culprit? Wouldn’t they go downhill pretty quickly?

 

[Eggcessive]

I go by more on how the chickens look, as opposed to what poops look like. The first pics look like cecal poops, which can be normal every now and then. It is unfortunate that the vet will not do a fecal float for worms or cocci. There is a commercial lab that does them—just Google fecal test for worms. I don’t know how accurate, but it could be helpful. Coccidiosis is more common in younger pullets, but still can be a problem later if there is an immunity problem.

 

[Julieschicks]

Y’all!! I think I figured out what the problem is!! This morning while trying to identify a certain weed, I came across the information that another type of weed is toxic. And that toxic weed is growing ALL over our yard and all around the chicken coop. And the kids of course have been picking its flowers and throwing them in the run for the chickens. Even though I’ve been telling them not to until I figure out if it’s okay for them to eat. So yeah, looks like they may have eaten some of these buttercup flowers.

Now that I know they can’t have them, I’ll be sure to pull up the ones around their pen and tell the kids to absolutely not put anymore into the pen for them. On the bright side, another weed growing next to their pen turned out to be Henbit, which they can eat so I picked a few sprigs this morning for a treat for them.