Runny Poo?

[clafisher]

Hi! I have 6 bantam hens (3 brahmas, 2 cochins, 1 d'uccle) that are about 4 months old. Recently I have seen some of them have runny poo and I am wondering if this is a major concern. They eat Dumor Poultry Grower/Finisher and have grit available to them. I feed them blueberries, strawberries, and kale as treats pretty often. Is there anything I need to change about their diet to make them healthier? Any advice is appreciated as I am new to chickens.

 

[PirateGirl]

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

Look up chicken poop chart online and you will find lots of pics of what's normal and what's not. There's a wide range of normal, and hopefully it's nothing to worry about. Keep an eye on their behavior. Sometimes lots of veggies/fruit makes it more watery too. You could try cutting out all treats for a week and see if the poop changes. No one would be offended if you upload a photo and I'm sure someone on here could help you figure out if it's normal or not.

 

[jthornton]

Despite all the ads ( I use reader view to make them go away) the Chicken Chick has a good write up on chicken poop.

JT

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos of the poop?
Putting your general location in your profile helps us help you.

Look at your nutritional analysis of the Dumor Poultry Grower/Finisher - the one I see is 15%protein. I'm not a nutritionist, but imho, that protein content is too low. At 4months your girls are still growing, so it would be better to feed a higher protein (18-20%) like chick starter or flock raiser. When they begin laying eggs, if you choose to switch to layer that's o.k. or you can continue with an all flock (flock raiser) formula all their life, just provide oyster shell free choice for calcium.

The blueberries, strawberries, kale, etc. are wonderful things to give chickens, but keep in mind with 15%protein, whatever you give in addition to their normal feed dilutes the protein content. With a higher protein they can afford to have the treats. Make sense?

Runny poop - can be from a number of things - drinking a lot of water, strawberries/blueberries (watery fruits/veggies) are all some common causes. Sometimes what we think may be runny poop is actually cecal poop - a chicken poops a loose pudding-like stinky poop (cecal poop) about 1 out of every 8-10 "normal" poops. Take a look at the links provided by the previous posters - very good information.

If you have photos of your pullets - we would love to see them too.

Despite all the ads ( I use reader view to make them go away) the Chicken Chick has a good write up on chicken poop.
JT

@jthornton have you ever tried ghostery with firefox? Seems to work very well for me in blocking ads on most sites. I see a lot of people complain about ads - when I turn off ghostery - oh.my.goodness it's like bog down the computer and ad city

 

[jthornton]

@jthornton have you ever tried ghostery with firefox? Seems to work very well for me in blocking ads on most sites. I see a lot of people complain about ads - when I turn off ghostery - oh.my.goodness it's like bog down the computer and ad city

I just added ghostery and still had to use reader view to kill all of her ads. I do like ghostery, thanks for that tip.

JT

 

[aart]

all of her ads

..and she has a sh!t-ton of ads!