Poop Question

[Calebs Acre]

Poop color is such am important part of determining if our birds are healthy or not. My problem is that I have lots of questions about poop:
1. What does "healthy" poop (I have geese, ducks and chickens) look like? Is it the same look for all three or not?

2. How much is poop color affected by the diet of the birds? If they don't get to eat grass, will it be a different color?

3. What does bird diarrhea look like?

4. What do worms in bird poop look like?

5. In general, what are the "worry colors" of poop?

6. Can "nervous poop" be different than "normal poop?"

7. Am I overthinking this poop issue?

It is so hard to do any kind of search about "poop colors"...believe me!

Nancy

 

[allaboutdemchicks]

Nancy, I'm not sure if you've seen this....it can clear up a few of your questions on the chicken's poop.

http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[Calebs Acre]

That is FANTASTIC!!! YES! I have a goose who is deadly thin and my friend wants me to give her antibiotics and treat her for cocci. I think that my mistake was putting a juvenile goose in with too many geese during mating season and they have not permitted her to get to the food and have been beating her up.

I have been seeing various colors of poop from the green to the mustardy color and was being told that the mustardy color was cocci. Then I was told they all had worms.

Everything I was reading didn't jive with this advice, so I thought I needed to see poop samples to determine for myself. Don't get me wrong, the poor little girl needs lots of care, but I think it's my mismanagement of the way I have the geese separated that is causing my problems more than anything else.

Also, I suffer from severe asthma and am often in the house for weeks at a time and my husband cares for the birds. He is very blind to any problems and likes the daily care regimine to go fast and easy. When I saw the geese close up for the first time in weeks, I saw some issues. I read further to discover that I should separate them into smaller groups during breeding season, especially.

I had hatched this particular goose from a shipped egg last year and am particularly attached to her, so I brought "Dew" (her sister is "Don't") up to the house to give her plenty of water and slowly provide her with food so she doesn't have to fight for it. I have been able to monitor her poop and it actually looks pretty good, even before I saw those photos, but they confirmed it. She is drinking and eating and I am hoping that she will come along well. Then I will put her in with a small group of Dewlaps her own age

Today, I am going to set up a large playpen area with a small pool, so she can clean up, but I am still going to keep her separated until I can observe that she is, in fact, eating and drinking normally. I'd like her to gain some weight too.

Great link! It was exactly what I needed.
Thank you!

Nancy

 

[eggchel]

Problem poop:

Symptom Possible Cause
Profuse... Enteritis; excess roughage in diet
Bloody... Cecal coccidiosis; Newcastle disease
Green... Feed intake low; bile not diluted
Sulfur yellow... Blackhead
Light yellow or yellowish-green... Fowl typhoid; fowl cholera
Foamy... Intestinal parasites (protozoa)

 

[nettie]

if you feed them anything, um, colorful, it can show in their poop as well... When my ducks get calf manna, their poop is more ornage, when they eat more greens, it's green... when they eat red peppers, it's more red... I inspect a lot of duck poop since my ducks live inside and wear diapers nearl everyday.

What we would call diarrhea isn't so in ducks... If they are drinking water, their poop can be watery-er, but that's due to also peeing at the same time. Unless it's bloody, or there are other syptoms, i would not worry about their poop too much, esp since they do it abot 200 times a day! lol

 

[Calebs Acre]

If I thought I could get my Saint Bernards to leave them alone, I would LOVE to have a goose and/or ducks in the house with diapers. Now, my HUSBAND would hate it, but they are sooo lovable. So, I guess you change diapers frequently, then?

I seem obsessed with poop, but how well do the diapers wash?

Nancy

 

[nettie]

i wash mine every time they wear them in the sink and let them air dry over night. There are lots of changings...

As with anyone interested in keeping a duck or goose in the house, i reccommend you get this book-

"Duck There's a goose in the house" by Nancy Townsend...