Poopy rear end

[mrwoodboat]

SO maybe this has been covered but didn't find anything under this title search...I have a RIR hen age unknown, acts normal, eating fine, but today while in with them giving them their daily treat of broccoli and bread, I noticed she had poop all over her rear with some clear discharge..I brought her in and cleaned her up, dried her off and put her in a quarantine pen for the night.
Should I give her a broad spectrum antibiotic in her water just to be safe? I lost my other RIR last month and she had the same type dirty rear before she expired....both RIR came to us about 1 1/2 yrs ago so I have no idea of their age- they were spotty layers at best so maybe it is just old age???
Thanks for any advice or help

 

[Eggcessive]

Diarrhea in chickens can be harmless when a chicken has drank a lot of water, had a caecal poop, or just too many feathers in the way, but it can also mean coccidiosis, worms, enteritis, egg yolk peritonitis, or a ton of other bad things. A picture of a normal poop or a good discription might help. Also if she is eating/drinking, and general behavior is helpful.

 

[mrwoodboat]

Her behavior seems to be normal- with 8 other chickens, not sure who's poop is who's but now that she is in quarantine I should be able to get a photo....we just recently (within the past 3 days) began to give them bread as a treat, wonder if that could be a contributing factor??

other than the other RIR who passed last month, all our birds have been in a closed environment (no new birds) and have been healthy, eating machines. So I was concerned when I saw her rear so messy....

 

[Eggcessive]

I have pretty healthy chickens, and always have a few that keep the messy rear ends. I trim off any dry poo and excess feathers, and inspect for any vent gleet periodically. Three days a week I put some chicken vitamin/probiotics mix into their water. I have heard that bread is not good to feed chickens except on the rare occasion. Here is a link to some of the normal and abnormal chicken poops: http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

 

[mrwoodboat]

I am thinking that the change in their diet is the culprit- going to stop feeding them bread and just stick to the veggies...

 

[Eggcessive]

It is best to give them 90% layer feed, then you can give 10% other things like greens, scratch, sunflower seeds, etc.

 

[mrwoodboat]

Agreed- they get 16% layer pellets in the a.m., we give them greens and stuff in the p.m.....we were given a load of bread for our animals and were adding it in with the treats (a loaf between 8 chickens, 3 turkeys, 6 pheasants and 12 quail)