- Sep 13, 2014
- 29
- 3
- 74
Hello BYC,
I'm worried about the chickens in my flock. I have a multi-age flock of mostly heritage breed chickens. Nothing ailed them all winter until the week we lost two chickens - one to an attack and one to flystrike due to the diarrhea on her feathers. That chicken was always one of my sickliest birds and I hoped the case was an isolated incident. That night I cut all the poopy feathers off the chickens' rumps. Over a month later, however, the poopy feathers have returned and the entire flock appears to be suffering from diarrea. A wekk and a half ago, a seemingly healthy chicken dropped dead. Her feathers were shining, she was plump, and nothing seemed to have ailed her before the incident. She was only three years old. Then, today I found one of yearling chickens, an energetic yearling Columbian Rock named Kimber standing by the water dish, wings drooping, eyes half-closed, in a partial crouch with her head nodding up and down. She proved to be rather difficult to catch, but upon capture she collapsed weakly in my arms. Her crop was empty and when I released her she ejected an almost clear yellowish liquid with a tiny bit of green poop. She wasn't interested in eating. The salty smell of her diarrhea smells familiar to me from other sick chickens...
Now, at around the same time that I noticed the diarrhea (excepting the case a month ago) we made two dietary changes with the chickens. We introduced apple cider vinegar to their water and starting giving them leftover goat whey from cheese-making. I heard that whey can give chicks diarrhea. In overconsumption, could it give adult chickens diarrhea too? Enough to kill them? I noticed that Kimber was standing by the water. Could that be a sign of dehydration? I'm going to remove the whey for a few days to observe them and see if the situation goes away.
Do you have any suggestions or ideas on how to treat Kimber and take care of the rest of the flock? They are a small flock of 27 backyard chickens. The poop is removed from their coop twice a week, but I admit we are sometimes a bit too relaxed on the biosecurity front. It is possible that diseases could have been brought over from another flock, though the last time we had an "oops" moment was a few months ago.
Is it whey, apple-cider vinegar, or an outside disease? Are the rest of my flock in danger?
Thank you!
I'm worried about the chickens in my flock. I have a multi-age flock of mostly heritage breed chickens. Nothing ailed them all winter until the week we lost two chickens - one to an attack and one to flystrike due to the diarrhea on her feathers. That chicken was always one of my sickliest birds and I hoped the case was an isolated incident. That night I cut all the poopy feathers off the chickens' rumps. Over a month later, however, the poopy feathers have returned and the entire flock appears to be suffering from diarrea. A wekk and a half ago, a seemingly healthy chicken dropped dead. Her feathers were shining, she was plump, and nothing seemed to have ailed her before the incident. She was only three years old. Then, today I found one of yearling chickens, an energetic yearling Columbian Rock named Kimber standing by the water dish, wings drooping, eyes half-closed, in a partial crouch with her head nodding up and down. She proved to be rather difficult to catch, but upon capture she collapsed weakly in my arms. Her crop was empty and when I released her she ejected an almost clear yellowish liquid with a tiny bit of green poop. She wasn't interested in eating. The salty smell of her diarrhea smells familiar to me from other sick chickens...
Now, at around the same time that I noticed the diarrhea (excepting the case a month ago) we made two dietary changes with the chickens. We introduced apple cider vinegar to their water and starting giving them leftover goat whey from cheese-making. I heard that whey can give chicks diarrhea. In overconsumption, could it give adult chickens diarrhea too? Enough to kill them? I noticed that Kimber was standing by the water. Could that be a sign of dehydration? I'm going to remove the whey for a few days to observe them and see if the situation goes away.
Do you have any suggestions or ideas on how to treat Kimber and take care of the rest of the flock? They are a small flock of 27 backyard chickens. The poop is removed from their coop twice a week, but I admit we are sometimes a bit too relaxed on the biosecurity front. It is possible that diseases could have been brought over from another flock, though the last time we had an "oops" moment was a few months ago.
Is it whey, apple-cider vinegar, or an outside disease? Are the rest of my flock in danger?
Thank you!
