Odd poop picture

[My1stChickens]

This was on the roost and belongs to one of four pullets just over 5 months old. They are all active, eating, etc so have no idea which one left this. I've seen enough wormy poop pictures to think the little reddish brown things are not worms-- but what's going on here? What's all that dense light yellow stuff? And it appears there's some clear more liquid stuff as well? And of course, what are those darker pieces?

What should I do besides be observant?

Tagging @Eggcessive @dawg53 @Wyorp Rock @Bawkbok because they've been so helpful to me on other matters.

 

[Bawkbok]

That does look icky. Since you have no idea who is creating that mess, I would suggest using Corid (Amprolium) which is a coccidiostat to treat Coccidiosis. It is mild enough to treat everyone and cannot hurt. The bottle can be purchased at TSC or probably Amazon. I would start this immediately. The dosage is on the bottle but it is 2 teaspoons per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Do not provide vitamins or electrolytes, probiotics during treatment. Only this in their water. I would back off all other food stuffs and provide only their feed while on the treatment. You should see improvement in a couple of days but finish the treatment.
Coccidia is in the environment and in the soil so this is nothing you have done or not done.
Let us know how they are doing once treatment has started and certainly if any other new symptoms arise.
The experts you have tagged (I'm not an expert) will provide additional advice as needed. This is what I would do if it were my flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

It looks like very soft mushy orangey brown poop surrounded by yellow urates (bile colored urates ) which normally are white. There may be some reproductive disorder going on or something affecting the liver. How are all of the pullets acting now? Are they all eating, drinking, and active? Do any have their tails down? Does one have an enlarged lower belly?

 

[My1stChickens]

That does look icky. Since you have no idea who is creating that mess, I would suggest using Corid (Amprolium) which is a coccidiostat to treat Coccidiosis. It is mild enough to treat everyone and cannot hurt. The bottle can be purchased at TSC or probably Amazon. I would start this immediately. The dosage is on the bottle but it is 2 teaspoons per gallon of water for 5-7 days. Do not provide vitamins or electrolytes, probiotics during treatment. Only this in their water. I would back off all other food stuffs and provide only their feed while on the treatment. You should see improvement in a couple of days but finish the treatment.
Coccidia is in the environment and in the soil so this is nothing you have done or not done.
Let us know how they are doing once treatment has started and certainly if any other new symptoms arise.
The experts you have tagged (I'm not an expert) will provide additional advice as needed. This is what I would do if it were my flock.

thanks for your reply. I'm familiar with Corid protocol-- and actually these very pullets were treated about 2 months ago. The "solids" in this poop don't look like blood to me, they are more brown? But the yellow part is sure odd. I walked out to the pen and gave treats just to see how they were doing-- super active, running for treats. Eating well, vigorous. I'm writing this idea down but may just wait til one of the other experts weigh in.

 

[My1stChickens]

It looks like very soft mushy orangey brown poop surrounded by yellow urates (bile colored urates ) which normally are white. There may be some reproductive disorder going on or something affecting the liver. How are all of the pullets acting now? Are they all eating, drinking, and active? Do any have their tails down? Does one have an enlarged lower belly?

They are eating enthusiastically. I will have to watch to make sure they are all drinking. All very perky, no one is puffed up, no tails down.

I will go out and see if I can see an enlarged belly. If I'm not sure, I can pick them up to examine individually after dark. I think I know which one was at that location when I placed them on the roost, but don't know if this poop was made later--it was nippy and windy so I did not let them out til about 10am. At that time they were all up, alert, and ran outside when I opened the door. So nothing out of normal parameters.

Ugh. I'll check bellies and watch closely. What could affect the liver???

 

[My1stChickens]

They are eating Kalmback Chick Reserve (17% protein). They don't like meal worms. If it's cold, I give a little scratch or a mix with sunflower seeds. They enjoy grapes as a treat. (posting this because I think sometimes liver can be affected by high protein diets) They are not yet laying.

 

[Eggcessive]

When we see that chaulky yellow in the dropping we usually suspect either a reproductive disorder or something that might be causing ascites or water belly. I would just keep a close eye on the flock to see if any other symptoms show up. Are any laying yet? They don’t need scratch to keep warm. The 17% layer feed has all they need. You can safely even feed them 20% protein all flock feed without worrying about too much protein. Scratch grains has about 7% protein and dilutes the nutrition of the feed. You can feed an occasional treat. I prefer a little scrambled egg, but if you use scratch just give a small bit once or twice a week.

 

[My1stChickens]

When we see that chaulky yellow in the dropping we usually suspect either a reproductive disorder or something that might be causing ascites or water belly. I would just keep a close eye on the flock to see if any other symptoms show up. Are any laying yet? They don’t need scratch to keep warm. The 17% layer feed has all they need. You can safely even feed them 20% protein all flock feed without worrying about too much protein. Scratch grains has about 7% protein and dilutes the nutrition of the feed. You can feed an occasional treat. I prefer a little scrambled egg, but if you use scratch just give a small bit once or twice a week.

Oh @Eggcessive, thank you. When you mentioned liver, repro disorders or water belly I got so worried. Irrationally so, I'm the first to admit. The last couple days I've been SO happy with how they are doing-- with a minor worry that Baldy has not regained weight as quickly as I would prefer. So I went out to the run to observe. They were actively chickening. Pecking around in the dirty, but when they saw me they assumed the dive bombing position and ran over to me. Then remembered they are not tame yet, so resumed pecking and such. All tails up. All bright. Saw them ALL eat from the feeder. I took a picture of each, as well as a brief video to document. I also checked around their run, looking for any yellow poop. Did not find any, found lots of normal poop with white urates. Nothing odd-- but that's not to say it couldn't have been there but soaked in or got stomped on.

I let them into the coop and caught each one. Their crops are not as big as the older girls, but no one had a poopy butt, or a squishy crop, or a bulging belly. All were good weight for size, but Baldy is still a bit lighter. I SEE her eating. She and the easter egger have always been smaller, but in the last 7-10 days the blue hen and the Barnvelder have just "blossomed". They all ate more once they had fresh feed in the coop. I had changed their water, so it's fresh.

None of them are laying yet. (so probably no repro disorders?) They will be six months at the end of this month/January. The last two weeks, combs have definitely been getting brighter.

I put some more BluKote on Baldy and tried to get the side of her face as well. Really it just looks like bare skin at this point. No sign of feathers, but I'm sure it's too soon for that.

I put them on the roost when I was done, and darned if they did not decide to hop up to the TOP rail! So I took the lawnchair away. Roosting only from now on. I went back after dark with my red light to see what order they're in, in case I see any odd poop in the morning and want to narrow down whose it is.

Thank you for the confirmation that 17% or even 20% is okay. I will scramble them a bit of eggs for in the morning and make that the only treat they get for a bit. (they did have grapes today but I did not give scratch or seeds). They tend to eat the chunky bits out of the Kalmbach and leave the crumbles. I want them to eat so I end up giving more of the "good stuff". I will try to be tougher about making them eat the crumbles. (My bigger girls are the same and the 10 year old is the worst-- last winter I thought I was going to lose her, she was just wasting away so that's when I started getting a sunflower seed mix to entice her to eat.)

Again, thank you. I'm always observant, but will be even more so, while fervently hoping that poop was a one off!

 

[My1stChickens]

I think maybe it was a "one off" thing. I saw only normal poop under the roost the next night, but since it was harder to examine on shavings I moved the shavings and put down PDZ powder-- so easy to see, easy to clean. This morning, all's well. Yesterday there was one big nasty cecal poop outside, but well, that's chickens right? They are all very bright and active, eating well. Will continue to observe closely but so far, liking what I see.

 

[Bawkbok]

That's good news. Could have been as simple as something she ate roaming about - you may never know what caused it. Happy to hear she is better.

PDZ is the best product just this side of sliced bread!