Please can someone take a look at my chickens poop?

[Haunted55]

i have acv so thanks for the tip ill do that tomorrow and sardines!wow never would have thought of that. am i right in thinking im looking for a tin of? ive never bought sardines but sure ive heard of them being tinned! sorry to be such a thicky!lol my excuse is im vegan and dont know where in the shop to look for sardine! lol

If you go for the tin, be sure it doesn't have salt added. Very important.

 

[shell3]

right yes i did know about the salt, thank you xx
is the sardine for iron? just wondering if spinnach of something would do the same?? i know it prob sounds really daft but im not sure i can stomach watching her eat fish! especially if it has its little eyes and such

lol
if she really needs it and spinnach wont do it then ill do it but just trying to research alternatives, thank you very much for the advice thou im very grateful xxx

 

[Haunted55]

right yes i did know about the salt, thank you xx
is the sardine for iron? just wondering if spinnach of something would do the same?? i know it prob sounds really daft but im not sure i can stomach watching her eat fish! especially if it has its little eyes and such

lol
if she really needs it and spinnach wont do it then ill do it but just trying to research alternatives, thank you very much for the advice thou im very grateful xxx

Chickens need animal protein and it's been pretty much removed from their diets by the feed companies. I swear it's one of the reasons people have so much trouble with their animals today. As for the eyes...a tin of sardines doesn't have them. They're all ready to go, lol. Spinach has a decent iron content but it will take longer to get her levels up with that route. It's not as readily available from the plant as it takes more for her system to break it down for usable iron. If it really bothers you, buy a can of minced clams, in water and then all you'd have to do is open, drain and let her have at them. And no, you don't sound daft. One thing though...chickens as well as most other birds need the protein from meat every once in a while. Free ranging they eat bugs, worms and will even take frogs in they can get them. I had to save a little mole from mine last summer, the brats! The point here is this, we as humans can make and live our own choices. Chickens on the other hand are hardwired to eat period and they need the variety of proteins to stay healthy and whole.

 

[shell3]

I must admit my layer pellets are vegetarian approved, didnt do that on purpose but thats just what my local pet store sells.
i went to another nearby town a few days ago to get them some treats and they have lots of different brands of chicken food, id only just got a big bag of pellets so i didnt really look at the options there but maybe some of them have animal protein? id just question them having cow meat or something in their food because its not something they would naturally eat in the wild or free ranging. mine do eat the worms and bugs outside and ive started giving dried mealworms about 4 months ago when bombie got ill and lost weight, i researched food to maintain her weight, got some supplements to add to the mash from the vets, protein and vit and minerals. then she started moulting and i read on here about protein and mealworms. i went to the pet store and they had live ones and live insects but i couldnt handle that so i went for a bag of dried mealworms instead and its become their favourite treat! i get a chicken eating insects, that seems natural behaviour but its the type of animal protein in the feeds that id question. i know some people feed cooked chicken to chickens even but i couldnt do that!
at the moment she has mashed pellets with the moulting supplement mixed in and a few mealworms mixed in the mash too to encourage her to eat plenty. then every few days i add a splash of the vits and minerals supplement and a teaspoon of mixed spices, ginger cinnemon and garlic, which is meant to prevent the sour crop from coming back (or help prevent it anyway) shes gained loads of weight back and is doing great now appart from this bleeding bussiness! im going to try and look for the clams today and failing that ill get the sardines, in a tin if i can find without salt of fresh if not. i dont have a weak stomach really so its not a squeemish thing but its just the thought of giving it to her, im not explaining myself well here! idk i guess i like the idea of vegetarian chickens, but mine arnt vegetarian anyway! my dog has vege food but meat treats! the cats obviously eat meat, and its chicken meat too

the same theyve always had! thou it is in biscuit form.
so really i guess what im saying is i dont know why im making such a fuss about a little fish!! there that did it ive reasoned with myself and im off to shops for fish!lol might get a cabbage too, why not, they like cabbage!
thank you for your patience with me! and good advice, sometimes i just need telling! lol

 

[Haunted55]

I must admit my layer pellets are vegetarian approved, didnt do that on purpose but thats just what my local pet store sells.
i went to another nearby town a few days ago to get them some treats and they have lots of different brands of chicken food, id only just got a big bag of pellets so i didnt really look at the options there but maybe some of them have animal protein? id just question them having cow meat or something in their food because its not something they would naturally eat in the wild or free ranging. mine do eat the worms and bugs outside and ive started giving dried mealworms about 4 months ago when bombie got ill and lost weight, i researched food to maintain her weight, got some supplements to add to the mash from the vets, protein and vit and minerals. then she started moulting and i read on here about protein and mealworms. i went to the pet store and they had live ones and live insects but i couldnt handle that so i went for a bag of dried mealworms instead and its become their favourite treat! i get a chicken eating insects, that seems natural behaviour but its the type of animal protein in the feeds that id question. i know some people feed cooked chicken to chickens even but i couldnt do that!
at the moment she has mashed pellets with the moulting supplement mixed in and a few mealworms mixed in the mash too to encourage her to eat plenty. then every few days i add a splash of the vits and minerals supplement and a teaspoon of mixed spices, ginger cinnemon and garlic, which is meant to prevent the sour crop from coming back (or help prevent it anyway) shes gained loads of weight back and is doing great now appart from this bleeding bussiness! im going to try and look for the clams today and failing that ill get the sardines, in a tin if i can find without salt of fresh if not. i dont have a weak stomach really so its not a squeemish thing but its just the thought of giving it to her, im not explaining myself well here! idk i guess i like the idea of vegetarian chickens, but mine arnt vegetarian anyway! my dog has vege food but meat treats! the cats obviously eat meat, and its chicken meat too

the same theyve always had! thou it is in biscuit form.
so really i guess what im saying is i dont know why im making such a fuss about a little fish!! there that did it ive reasoned with myself and im off to shops for fish!lol might get a cabbage too, why not, they like cabbage!
thank you for your patience with me! and good advice, sometimes i just need telling! lol

I have to 'talk' things out as well, so I get it believe me, lol. Another thing I wish I'd remembered before.....cat food. Either canned or dry. I would suggest a fish based formular, not chicken. You could end up causing more trouble feeding them chicken based foods as there are some diseases of poultry that are not killed by the cooking process.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I usually end up talking things out on threads too, and as I type and get this wonderful outside perspective of BYC everything falls into place, as it never would have from my own line of thinking. The Beauty of BYC.

I totally understand how Shell you wanted your Chooks on your same food beliefs and with their foraging for bugs making up the difference and the mealies, etc.... Sometimes, and I know this for me: these animals keep you humble and you've gotta think outside the box, so to speak. I thought my birds would be mostly vegetable/grain based in their food when I first started until I saw them get a hold of a good sized leopard frog while free ranging. It took them about 10 seconds to dispatch and gulp it down without blinking an eye. These birdies are omnivorous for sure, in their most natural state. My birds love their clover and frogs!

 

[casportpony]

Mine also like lizards, snakes, rats and mice. They go nuts for the little pinkies.

 

[shell3]

Oh no!

cant believe the things you guys chickens have eaten!

in my little fantasy world mine wouldnt do that! lol reality thou would be very different im sure! my next door neighbour has frogs in her pond and ive had to rescue tons of them from the cats! they make the most excruitiating sound! like a screaming newborn baby! lucky they do really cos ive managed to save them all before they were harmed! usually they are behind a flower pot screaming while a cat tried to get a paw round! they couldnt get in my chicken run thou, its a fort! nothing in ,nothing out! lol has to be, were so close to roads and all neighbours have dogs and cats plus we get a lot of foxes! id love to be able to free range them but we just dont have the space or safety we just had to build the biggest run for them that we could!
i couldnt find minced clams or sardines that wernt mixed with tomato sauce and salt! so ive gone with the wet cat food, only fishy ones i could find are tuna or cod and haddock, ive gven them the cod and haddock one this morning, they ate a little bit but didnt seem that impressed! ive left it out there and hope they go back to it later. her poop is still the same, i freaked this morning when i went out and saw the newspaper under the roost, it was red! bright red, then i realised the reverse page of the paper was covered with red print!

i must pay more attention to what i put down! lol
now my other hens have done a couple of goey ones and im regretting the lettuce i gave them! like i dont have hard enough clean up these days! oh well.
she seems quite well thou so im hoping this blood is going to stop very soon and that the fish cat food will replenish her a bit. ive put the acv in the water too. and she'll get her third day of antibiotic today, i know shes feeling better as the meds are much harder to administor than they used to be! i got antibiotic shaken into my eye, fell off the log i was sitting on and worst of all one of my other chickens pecked me in the eye! so desperate they were to get what she was getting that when a big splash of the meds hit my eye my other hen thought, ill have that! lol never mind no harm done .
im constantly warmed by how lovely you all are on this site and love hearing what your chickens get up to! thank you xx

 

[casportpony]

Tesco should have clams:
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=275687514

 

[casportpony]

Asda, too.
http://groceries.asda.com/asda-esto...e=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=319826