Poop question

[cocopop]

That is a good preventative routine and very helpful Thanks!

 

[MichelleSinNC]

I'm still confused......is what I'm seeing normal or are my chickens sick? They're not quite four weeks old and haven't been outside yet. We change their bedding every other day (or more often as they like to spill their water). The food they're eating is just the basic starter food from tractor supply. They just stopped being under a heat lamp but won't be outside for another month or so since they're not fully feathered yet.
Do I need to do something different? Change their food? Add dirt? My chickens are primarily pets so I want them to be healthy for a long time.
Some of them have 'normal' poop but some of them it's very watery and reddish colored.
Michelle

 

[MichelleSinNC]

Can you ask TSC what kind of feed they feed, medicated or non-medicated?

If they were on medicated they need to eat that ... If they were vaccinated against coccidiosis they need non-medicated. Please update when you know

We bought the starter food from tractor supply which is what they were eating. I doubt they were vaccinated...I know we haven't vaxed them.
Michelle

 

[MountainOrchard]

I'm still confused......is what I'm seeing normal or are my chickens sick? They're not quite four weeks old and haven't been outside yet. We change their bedding every other day (or more often as they like to spill their water). The food they're eating is just the basic starter food from tractor supply. They just stopped being under a heat lamp but won't be outside for another month or so since they're not fully feathered yet.
Do I need to do something different? Change their food? Add dirt? My chickens are primarily pets so I want them to be healthy for a long time.
Some of them have 'normal' poop but some of them it's very watery and reddish colored.
Michelle

It sounds normal to me. I've noticed my chicks will have mostly firm poops but every third or fourth one is runny. I'm guessing that's because all their waste comes out in their poop and so sometimes they just have more liquid to expel. In any case, they seem fine.

 

[YardBirdMom]

We bought the starter food from tractor supply which is what they were eating. I doubt they were vaccinated...I know we haven't vaxed them.
Michelle

Does the bag your feed came in show ”medicated”? If it doesn't I would buy one that does and start feeding that.
Then I would expose them to some dirt after a few days of eating the medicated feed.

From page 1: "The bug that causes Coccidiosis lives in the ground. Your chicks are going to be exposed to it whenever they are exposed to the ground, not before.

A general life cycle of that bug is that the chick eats an oocyst (consider an oocyst an egg) when it pecks the ground and the egg hatches inside the chick. It attaches to the chicks gut lining and reproduces more oocysts. Those oocysts pass onto the ground and develop for a couple of days if the ground is wet and contains poop. The chick eats more and the numbers grow until they are out of hand.
It’s not a problem for the chick to have a few of these bugs in its guts. They actually need some so they can develop immunity. If they have a continuous supply of those oocyst for about three weeks, they will develop an immunity. It’s when the numbers get out of hand that the chicks can get sick or even die".

This simply means the medicated helps protect them, without it they do not have any protection and once you put them on the dirt and expose them they are likely to get sick. THIS is my understanding of what I've read on this site thus far.

Other than that it sounds like your chicks are like mine and doing everything normally

 

[Ridgerunner]

This simply means the medicated helps protect them, without it they do not have any protection and once you put them on the dirt and expose them they are likely to get sick. THIS is my understanding of what I've read on this site thus far.

No, not likely to get sick. Mother Nature made them stronger than that. The bug that causes Coccidiosis thrives in wet conditions. If the brooder, coop, or run are not wet, there is very little risk.

 

[YardBirdMom]

No, not likely to get sick. Mother Nature made them stronger than that. The bug that causes Coccidiosis thrives in wet conditions. If the brooder, coop, or run are not wet, there is very little risk.

Thank you for the correction