Normal cecal poop vs indication of a problem

[SusanD]

I am noticing an increase in what looks like cecal poop from my three chickens (same color and texture as the examples from the chart). I am also finding what looks like regular poop,. They are acting normal, as best I can tell (I am very new to chickens). Is this a cause for concern?

Thanks,

Susan

 

[azygous]

By increase, do you mean increase in frequency of occurrence or increase of quantity?

If its the latter, you are going to see a prodigious amount of poop of both kinds as your chicks grow, doubling in size each week.

As long as there are normal urates and they outnumber the cecal, you have no cause for concern. If all of the poop is brown and liquid, then you might be looking at a bacterial infection.

 

[SusanD]

Hi, I am seeing a lot of normal urates also (the vast majority), so I think they're probably ok. thanks for your reply.

Susan

 

[SusanD]

HI,

I had a couple of followup questions. I was wondering if what I was seeing could be stress poop (good stress, I hope - These are the same chickens that will come running, if they see me or my parents outside the run) or to the time of day? I noticed that it seems to happen mostly when I'm in the run or sitting in a chair outside watching them and not at all during the day while I'm at work or overnight.

Also, I was wondering if anyone might know of a good lab in Oregon for fecal testing (and for telling you what, if anything, to do about the results). I think I would like to do that just for curiousity's sake. The local poultry vet will not do this without seeing them, which my parents are not willing to do. I tried contacting the state lab. They were a little unsure what I wanted, but perhaps that's because I wasn't quite sure what to tell them.

Thanks,
Susan

 

[azygous]

Do you have a Dept of Agriculture office? Look under state agencies and federal agencies.

If you have a university nearby, they usually have a university agricultural extension office. They do lab testing for farmers. It's a lot cheaper than having a vet do it.

You ask for poultry flock sample stool testing. When I did it, I took some cotton balls and wiped each one through random stool samples I found in the morning on the poop boards under the perches. I did samples of both urates and cecal. You don't have to do one for each bird, a general sampling is enough unless you suspect a chicken is sick.

Ask them to test for parasites and harmful bacteria like e-coli and salmonella.

 

[SusanD]

Thanks for the help. I will check with the OSU extension service and see what they might have to offer.