SS Hamburgs

[Souffle]

Hi, I just bought three two year old SSHs and am surprised at the massisve amount of watery, revoltingly, smelly poop they produce. I've had them three days and thought maybe it was stress or too much fruit where they'd been? they do drink an awful lot of water. Are they known to be especially stinky? I've had barred rocks and brahmas, bigger but I think less poop, or at least chicken smell. I noticed I could add DE to litter, but not convinced I want to do that (further endangering bee population). Any guesses as to what might be wrong with them, or if this is normal? Thanks

 

[Kelsie2290]

I've only had hatchery Hamburgs, but they had poop like any other chicken. Sounds like something is going on with yours, could be stress and what they were eating, especially if they were getting moldy food. What color is the poop? Are they in good condition otherwise? Good weight, feathers look good? Act OK? Can you ask the people you bought them from about it? I'd put them on a restricted diet, put AVC in their water. Would consider worms as another possible cause. Not sure what you are using the DE in the litter for?

 

[mithious]

It could be cocci, or worms as the other OP said...or it could be many other things also...I would start with those two first, the cocci maybe first? as smelly runny poo's are two of the signs of it. Corid is the meds for that. They will look fluffy and hunched and lethargic also. Not all of the signs will show up though...it's hard to self diagnose! and some signs can mimic other parasites or diseases. I did lots of research on here and the internet..found tons of info here though!

Safeguard liquid for goats is a good all round wormer, 3 ml's per gallon of water...don't do both at the same time though...it's too hard on their systems...

I hope you isolated them from the rest of your birds? If you have other birds? If you do, new birds should be isolated for atleast 2-4 weeks, longer is better. If you can, a fecal test and blood test too, if you are not sure what your birds might have, would help you also.

Best of luck with it all!

 

[Veer67]

Here's a chicken poop chart: http://pluckandfeather.com/chicken-poo-chart-graphic.html

 

[Souffle]

Thank you for all of the advice and link to poop photos. Maybe itheir poop is normal after seeing the pics.they do drink more than other chickens that I've had. Theirs is dark runny poop, very powerful scent. It smelled less today but that may be the stiff wind was airing out the coop floor, plus drying it up quicker. (DE would have been to dry litter quicker, but have not tried)The birds are active and look like healthy lizards. I will contact the seller to see if they were vaccinated. I did notice they'd been eating cantaloupe right before I got them, so maybe that, the car ride, and the new environment gave them diarrhea. Is your idea of a restricted diet, just layer pellets, no human food? I saw someone on a different thread mentioned adding protein, like tuna fish yoou think? I'm glad to have the name of Corids and goat wormer if we wind up needing Meds. Is it expensive to have the poop tested? I didn't isolate my single remaining bird, mainly because I didn't think of it, and I got them to keep her company a few days after she lost her only remaining hen sister. I think the lesson I learned is to raise hens from chicks in the future. Hopefully the poo and stink will abate. This is kind of ridiculous but based on an herbal wormer I read about, I fed the girls minced garlic laced with cayenne, cinnamon, mint and turmeric. Put in some cut up grapes and yogurt to make it more palpable. They loved it, going to give them another aprox. tablespoon each a day for four days. Would prefer not to medicate as I worry about the meds. The poop worms entering the reproduction system and the eggs is revolting though. Would love to get a worm test done. That would convince me if I need to worm with Corids. Many thanks again!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/poultryprofi...natomy_and_Physiology/Chapter3_digestive.html
bottom of this link lists types of poo

They sound sick.

It isn't normal for them to have smelly diarrhea, so bad that you are aghast at it.

You can take the poo in to some vets for a test for cocci/worms (false negatives are possible on the fecal float for worms) for a small fee (ask what the fee is).

Personally if they were my chickens I'd run an antibiotic through them. Then I'd run them through a Corid course. But it is difficult because how do you know which antibiotic to give? Here is where it would be good to get a poo sample tested by a vet (just bring the poo).

*It is normal for every 8th poo or so to be smelly diarrhea - they are called caecal poos. But NOT continuous or watery diarrhea- unless it is summertime and they are drinking TONS of water or eating TONS of fruit. Even then it shouldn't be smelly.*

 

[Kelsie2290]

If your vet will do a fecal that would sure help narrow down the problems. I would just AVC and yogurt them, feed them mainly their layer food or a a higher protein starter with shell on the side if you want to up protein for now, cut out the fruit mostly, btw changing food can cause digestive upsets so that might be part of the problem. Coccidia outbreaks are not as common in older birds, but an outbreak in stressed birds is certainly possible, and additionally they may have an outbreak in a week or so if the coccidia at your place is different than the ones they had at home. Corid is for coccidia only if they have worms you would need to worm with an appropriate wormer, fecal test would help with that. If you don't know, usually they recommend starting with Wazine (piperazine) which does roundworms, and following up with Valbazen (albendazole) which does pretty much everything or Fenbendazole aka Safe-Guard, Panacur, (doesn't do tapes) in birds with an unknown history in case they have a really high worm load.

 

[Souffle]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. This morning we had 'first poop of the day' variations, some looked a little like spilt milk. The only vet who'll test chicken poop wants $30 and won't diagnose without seeing the bird. I'll consider antibiotic and wormer as the next course if after a week things don't improve. All birds act pretty normal, hamburgs are very high strung, but I think that's normal. I hope these photos are clear. I think the white threads are lining, not worms, they didn't appear to be moving. It's all so disgusting. I'd better bleach that board.

 

[Veer67]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. This morning we had 'first poop of the day' variations, some looked a little like spilt milk. The only vet who'll test chicken poop wants $30 and won't diagnose without seeing the bird. I'll consider antibiotic and wormer as the next course if after a week things don't improve. All birds act pretty normal, hamburgs are very high strung, but I think that's normal. I hope these photos are clear. I think the white threads are lining, not worms, they didn't appear to be moving. It's all so disgusting. I'd better bleach that board.

I usually see the milky watery poop when the chicks run out of water.

 

[Souffle]

They are drinking more water than I've ever seen hens drink. Supposedly, they are 1 1/2 yrs. old. Saturday and Sunday it was dark brown but equally watery.