Newest additions are 12 weeks old-- poop review please?

[My1stChickens]

A month ago I added four littles-- they were wild/feral and a bit rough, due to overcrowding and lack of handling at the feed store. They've been in quarantine, eating Klambach chick starter and now Chick House reserve, with protein snacks to help restore feathers. Today marks the end of four weeks quarantine, and they have grown, eaten well and have much better feathers. However... (and therein lies the rub) it seems like this group has a lot of cecal poop. They are in a 12x12 stall, and they have more cecal poop than the last group that quarantined in this stall. I also see some reddish but not bloody stuff, which I believe is normal shedding of intestinal lining. Finally, these are the first chickens I've had that produce elongated turds... otherwise normal but just elongated, brown poops.

I'm going to attach some photos just for an expert review. I am not sure I have any blood that would indicate coccidiosis but would appreciate experts doing a double check. Hoping to hear from @dawg53 @Wyorp Rock

While they've come a ways, they are JUST finally starting to think about roosting, but only during the day. At night they want to sleep in their dust bath on the floor. And they still seem SO little compared to the big girls that I'm not quite ready to try to integrate.

Please weigh in on the poops..... and let me know if I need to do anything or just stop worrying. Thanks so much!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They've been in quarantine, eating Klambach chick starter and now Chick House reserve, with protein snacks to help restore feathers. Today marks the end of four weeks quarantine

How old are they?

It does look mainly like intestinal shedding, but I do see some mucous and stringy urates.
Since they are new to the property (I assume since you've had them quarantined), I'd treat for Coccidiosis.
Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.


If older than 6weeks, then I'd consider worming too.
Safeguard 10% Liquid Goat Dewormer or Equine Paste dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

 

[My1stChickens]

How old are they?

It does look mainly like intestinal shedding, but I do see some mucous and stringy urates.
Since they are new to the property (I assume since you've had them quarantined), I'd treat for Coccidiosis.
Liquid Corid dose is 2tsp or Powdered Corid Dose is 1 1/2tsp per gallon of water given for 5-7 days as the only source of drinking water.
Do not add any extra vitamins/electrolytes that contain B1(Thiamine) to food or water during the course of treatment.


If older than 6weeks, then I'd consider worming too.
Safeguard 10% Liquid Goat Dewormer or Equine Paste dose is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once a day for 5 days in a row.
---OR---
Valbazen dose is 0.08ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeated in 10 days.

Thank you @Wyorp Rock. I suspected it would not be a bad idea to do a round of Corid. They have been quarantined for four weeks, but are still pretty feral. I've only managed to catch ONE, one time, in the dark. I had already decided that until I can handle them a little, and they roost at night, to hold off on adding them to the older girls.

Not sure I can worm them but maybe I will experiment to see if they will gobble up bread. I could bring some small panels into the stall, and just let one at a time eat bread with wormer. I'll have to catch them to weigh them too-- I've never had littles act to skittish and feral but I'll just have to figure it out. I'll start Corid today. If I can weigh the biggest and the smallest, I can estimate the other two for deworming. After all I have a giant lifetime supply bottle of Valbazen! And the other pullets I dewormed with it based on your advice REALLY gained weight and grew up the deworming even though I never saw any worms in the poop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you @Wyorp Rock. I suspected it would not be a bad idea to do a round of Corid. They have been quarantined for four weeks, but are still pretty feral. I've only managed to catch ONE, one time, in the dark. I had already decided that until I can handle them a little, and they roost at night, to hold off on adding them to the older girls.

Not sure I can worm them but maybe I will experiment to see if they will gobble up bread. I could bring some small panels into the stall, and just let one at a time eat bread with wormer. I'll have to catch them to weigh them too-- I've never had littles act to skittish and feral but I'll just have to figure it out. I'll start Corid today. If I can weigh the biggest and the smallest, I can estimate the other two for deworming. After all I have a giant lifetime supply bottle of Valbazen! And the other pullets I dewormed with it based on your advice REALLY gained weight and grew up the deworming even though I never saw any worms in the poop.

Well, at least the Corid goes in the water.

Good luck with the deworming, but I think you've got this!

 

[My1stChickens]

Well, at least the Corid goes in the water.

Good luck with the deworming, but I think you've got this!

Wow, I think I started Corid just in time! I started midday yesterday and by afternoon I had two largest cecal type poos but they were pale yellow! I searched this site and learned that can be a sign of coccidiosis. Then this morning, there was a LARGE (like 6" long by 3" wide) smear on the roost that looked like extra loose but normal caramel colored cecal poo-- that kinda freaked me out. Watched the littles for a while, they did not dig into the fresh food I brought which is unusual but one of them was totally terrorizing the others-- chasing and pecking. I brought some grass clippings and that distracted them all, and they settled down.

I "think" both the yellow cecal and the big messy smear are both confirmations that Corid was in order....right?

They're eating pretty good, maybe not quite as much as usual or maybe that's my being worried. But all are active, none are hunched up and puffy or lethargic. Today my LED red light head lamp arrives, which should enable me to catch them at night to weigh them for wormer dose calculations. @Wyorp Rock - should I wait til Corid has been completed to deworm? I know Corid can be a little hard on them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wow, I think I started Corid just in time! I started midday yesterday and by afternoon I had two largest cecal type poos but they were pale yellow! I searched this site and learned that can be a sign of coccidiosis. Then this morning, there was a LARGE (like 6" long by 3" wide) smear on the roost that looked like extra loose but normal caramel colored cecal poo-- that kinda freaked me out. Watched the littles for a while, they did not dig into the fresh food I brought which is unusual but one of them was totally terrorizing the others-- chasing and pecking. I brought some grass clippings and that distracted them all, and they settled down.

I "think" both the yellow cecal and the big messy smear are both confirmations that Corid was in order....right?

They're eating pretty good, maybe not quite as much as usual or maybe that's my being worried. But all are active, none are hunched up and puffy or lethargic. Today my LED red light head lamp arrives, which should enable me to catch them at night to weigh them for wormer dose calculations. @Wyorp Rock - should I wait til Corid has been completed to deworm? I know Corid can be a little hard on them.

Glad you started the Corid.
Possible the color of the poop could indicate Coccidiosis. Sounds like poop is starting to look a bit more normal. Cecal poop can be a variety of colors/textures at times.

Corid (Amprolium) is fairly mild, so you can deworm at the same time if you wish or if you decide to wait and deworm after you finish the Corid, that is probably o.k. too.

If you have one bird that is trying to dominate the feed station, add another station this seems to help quite a bit. I usually keep at least 2 stations for each flock, this way a bully can't control both LOL

 

[My1stChickens]

Today is day 6 of the Corid. They are eating well and the last 2-3 days there's been mostly good poop. I looked it up and 1-2 cecal poops per day per pullet would be considered normal... so between what I find, and what they step in and make disappear seems to be normal. I do notice that they tend to make small (ie pea sized) cecal poops during and after I feed them- maybe a nervous thing, they really have not warmed up to me yet. I found one larger, lighter cecal poop today- sort of a like pale mustard color, but most of the cecal poo is more caramel and brown in color. Probably 70% of the poop is normal. (sometimes very small, but normal, often with urates)

I know Corid is normally 5-7 days, so tomorrow finishes 7 days. They are active, eating well, good energy levels, very talkative with enthusiastic chirping. @Wyorp Rock I'm assuming it's not right to continue past 7 days? Better to stop, go for a week of vitamin water and then assess whether they need another round of Corid at 2 tsp/gallon?
(I'm still working out how to catch them to worm. They were not a huge fan of bread, and I ordered a red light headlamp thinking I could catch them after dark that way. Nope, they still saw me, and fled each time I got close. After multiple tries I did catch one, and held her a bit to show her being caught was not actually fatal. I guess the next thing is to get little fence panels and herd them into a cage. Then catch each on in the cage?)

Edited to update: this afternoon found 3 more cecal poops- one with urates at one end, one that was passed with some normal green poop, one just plain cecal sort of reddish brown. Not bloody. Also found about 5 more normal poops.

At any rate, @Wyorp Rock please guide me on what to do after the 7th day of Corid. I'm thinking vitamin water for a week while monitoring behavior and poop. I do have that other Corid medication if needed, or could do another round of Corid, but I'm hopeful that restoring vitamins might be all they need.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I wouldn't go past the 7days with the Corid.

You can now switch to fresh plain water and give vitamins a couple of times a week if you wish.

Sounds like the poop is improving and they are settling in, eating/drinking/active!