I have three chicks, just a little over two weeks old - RIR, BR, and EE (sold as Araucana). Two of them put out what seems to me (who knows NOTHING about chicken poop) like normal stool: smooth brown "toothpaste" textured. Then I have one girl, the Araucana, whose poops are like a small collection of lumps. They hang together (I don't think this is diarrhea), but they are often in a watery pool. This sounds gross, but I've noticed it about three times now. Could she have an intestinal bug of some kind? I could probably take a picture if I didn't describe it well enough... and now I'm a little freaked out, because I just read in my Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens how I was supposed to sterilize the waterer daily (I simply take out the litter and rinse it). The bird in question is growing well, and they are all feathering out at the same rate. My runt is actually the BR, whose poops seem fine.
I have no idea but I am wondering about the water dish thing now too. I only just rinse mine out two to three times a day. my chicks are 15 days old now.
It's really amazing that with the 16 chickens I have, and they all eat the same stuff, that there are so many different poops from them!! I've seen what you have described, and wait till you get the black goopy one.... anyway, I wouldn't worry. not unless you know it's diarrhea. When they were chicks, I did sterilize their waterers once a day. Just for a few weeks. Heck, the chickens "in the wild" drink from where ever. Some times us new mommies worry too much. You'll find lots of opinions on the site, but do what you feel is right. If the chicks are pooping in their waterers, then you'll need to sterilize more often. Just use common sense.
hi! my little girls (1 ee, 2 red stars, 1 rir) will be 2 weeks old on monday, and i've been seeing the same thing - and from my ee! after lots of searching here (some good threads on "watery poop"), i've decided that the main thing that watery poop seems to be a symptom of is coccidia and since i feed medicated feed i don't think that's it... i've decided to MAKE myself relax and go as much by her behavior (eating drinking pooping sleeping eating eating flying peeping eating pooping pooping pooping peeping sleeping - all with gusto!!!) as anything else. i do have some vitamin/electrolyte/probiotic powder for their water, so i'm not too worried about her getting dehydrated. do you have something like that? as long as she's feeling okay, my main worry now is when she poops on me!!! (those toothpaste-like ones just pop out and fall off, NOT so with the watery poops!) i'm gonna keep my eye on your thread now to see what everyone has to say - good luck with your little girl! my little ee is my favorite already!!!
My husband always says "do you know what that white stuff on the chicken poop is?" "Chicken poop" ha ha ha ha Always gets a rise out of the kids.
Thanks for all the answers. I think my girls have a relatively sanitary home (considering they walk in poop all day). I don't want to "over sterilize" things - I think they won't develop good immunity that way. It's hard to find the right balance, but you're right - birds in nature drink from any old place! I don't think it's the watery stuff that bugs me, but the lumpiness of the poop (it's like it's a bunch of segments instead of one solid pile). It's good to know that this has been seen before. My chicks are also on medicated starter, so things are probably alright. Otherwise, other than being a big sissy, the pullet in question seems perfectly normal. She's definitely my "high strung" one. The BR is tiny but tough, and the RIR runs the place - absolutely fearless (and huge). I'll try not to be a worrywart!
I know this is a pretty old post, but I was looking for some info regarding the black goopy/tar-like droppings, and noticed that some of the responses here make out like that's normal? I am pretty sure that only one of my chickens, around 9-10 weeks old has this, and the others all have very "nice" greenish and white solid droppings. I'm also pretty sure that now one of my ducks is having some of this. Is this a sign of coccidiosis? or something normal that comes and goes? and just a note, its seems like I run back and forth with diarrhea and such from my BR Cockerel and SLW Cockerel, but the two RIR hens seem to just keep on ticking with no problems that I can find whatsoever. I've heard that RIR's are especially hardy and tough, or maybe I've just been lucky?
I don' t know if this will help, but my chicks pooped all sorts of wierd looking stuff and have been fine so far...