Poop is little green balls?

[debbeautiful]

Hi all!
I have a 14 year old bantam, Smoky, who I have in the house over the winter because she can no longer regulate her body temperature (along with another old chicken friend with advanced gout :/

Last week Smoky started doing poorly, and I thought maybe she had ingested some of her newspaper bedding. For a week, her poops became the size of a sparrow’s poops, and sometimes had a little blood in them. Then two days ago, she pooped the poop-of-green-balls in the picture, and now all of her poops are still smaller than normal, a little more green (bile), still made of the green balls, but she seems to be getting better.

Any ideas why she is pooping green balls?

Thanks in advance!
Debbie

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

14years old, she's a grand old girl!
Do you have photos of her?

The blood is a concern. Is it possible to take a sample of her poop to your vet to have a fecal float to see if worms and/or Coccidiosis are part of the problem?

Is her crop emptying overnight?
Does she have grit available?

I'd work on hydration, electrolytes and vitamins may be helpful for a few days.
Try offering her wet mushy feed to see if her poop begins to look better.

 

[debbeautiful]

Here’s a pic of her from two weeks ago (she’s asleep right now

Her crop is only emptying about half way overnight- her digestion has definitely slowed down since she started acting poorly, but it has not come to a full stop. She does have access to food, water, and grit. I switched her to some oatmeal after she started feeling bad because she is super excited about eating it and it breaks down easily (even though I know it’s not the most healthy food for them long term).

I’ll call my vet (who is not a poultry vet, sadly) and will ask if they could still do a fecal float for me. In all my years of chickens, I’ve never had one do poops like this. Thanks much!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What a sweetie!

If her crop's not emptying, then I'd address that symptom. Does it feel hard, soft, doughy, etc.? With it not emptying that may be one reason why the poop looks like that.

Let me ask you, did the poop start looking like that after you started giving her oatmeal?
If so, then I'd cut it back and see if she will eat wet mash (feed) or even a bit of white cooked rice with buttermilk.

The blood in the poop, I wonder if it's due to Enteritis, but so hard to know. Hopefully the vet can run a fecal float and give you more info. I have seen poops like that in photos (in the ER forums here on BYC), but my brain is not recalling what was causing it, for some reason crop issues and enteritis keeps coming to mind but I could be wrong on that - I answer so many posts, sometimes it gets jumbled.

Access her crop in the morning, if it's not emptied, the article will help you determine the right course of action. These methods in the article are what I use with my own hens too.
I always start with Coconut oil and use whatever else is needed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/