one chick with weird poop (sorry, gross question)

[smnytx]

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.

 

[smnytx]

I have no idea why this posted twice - I am sure I only hit the button once! Sorry!

 

[seminolewind]

Don't worry about sterility, just clean, meaning rinse out every day, and soap and water wash every few days. If you sterilize the water, they will turn around and eat dirt or something not the cleanest. Soap and water is just fine

 

[jimnjay]

It might be that the gut flora is just upset. You can mix some yogurt with the crumbles and for a once a day for a few days and see if that does not help. Are you feeding medicated chicken starter? It contains a Cocci inhibitor that may also help