New layer now super poopy?

[Svyetii]

Okay, here’s another one: I have an EE that just started laying five days ago. Her eggs are still very small. All but two have been pretty poopy, and one had what looked like dried blood on the outside. In looking her over today, I noticed she had quite a bit of poop caked on her butt. Outside of that, she’s behaving perfectly normal. We did switch the chickens to a chick/grower feed because one of our hens now has four chicks intermingled with the flock (though I supplement with veggies, bugs, egg shells/oyster shells and they free range all day). Could it just be the food? Maybe I should add some probiotics or electrolytes to their water? Should I try and clean her up, or is this just her getting used to laying and I should let it be? I’ve not had this happen with any of my other hens, so figured I’d get another opinion.

Thanks!

 

[aart]

Doesn't look that poopy.
Have you seen her pooping very soft or liquidy poops?
Not unusual for poop to get on eggs, some birds just do that.
Blood on outside of eggs is not to unusual either, especially with new layers.

 

[Svyetii]

That’s reassuring. I haven’t noticed any unusual poops and she is behaving perfectly normal, so hopefully all is well. Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd give it some time. It is possible the switch in diet affected her. As a new layer, it sometimes takes a while for her to get the kinks out of her laying system. I generally give then two weeks before I look for anything going on.

Sometimes having an overload of roundworms can cause them to have messy poop. I'd look at her poop and see if you can see any roundworms. (Do an internet search to see what they look like.) Usually if her worm load is that high you can see evidence in the poop. Or you can talk to a vet about a fecal float but if the others are OK I would not worry about this too much. Just something to check out. If one has worms they all do.

I don't know how many hens I've had over the years. Out of all of them I had one that always laid a bit of poop on her egg. The poop and eggs come out of the same opening, the vent, but the plumbing is set up so the eggs are supposed to be separated from the poop. The egg laying plumbing sticks out a short distance when laying to protect the egg. My one hen had messed up plumbing. Extremely rare but with living chickens you don't get guarantees. I seriously doubt this has anything to do with it, this is that rare, but I'll mention it.

In some way I hate to post this, it will probably cause you to worry more than you should. Odds are it is something she'll grow out of. Good luck!