Strange poop. Quite solid poop, plus additional water.

[mvdct]

Hi BYC,

I'd really value your thoughts.

In our small flock, we have a black rock chicken.

She is about 18 months old. She seems healthy and active. She enjoys her food. She is laying. Healthwise many things are good. But during the night, she sometimes does some crazy poop.
She will produce some normally formed, if slightly damp, poop. But alongside these she will also seem to produce liquid. The coop is on a slope, and this liquid will literally pool in one corner. It is hard to tell if the liquid comes out at the same time as the normal poop, or out by itself.
But every so often, when we clean out the coop, we will find normal poop and a pool of liquid. We have had chickens with Diarrhoea before, and this seems quite different to that.

Take a look at these photos.
01 - Her overnight poop. Generally normal.
02 - The liquid which appears in the corner.
03 - A wider angle shot showing both the poop and the liquid*.
(*Just a note, we use scrape boards rather than softer bedding in this area of the coop... and so the stains in the picture have built up over time, but you do get a sense of some of the liquid trails that have happened).

What do you think is going on?
Grateful in advance for all your thoughts.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to know what is causing this. What does she normally eat? Do you feed treats? I would be tempted to take some fresh droppings in a ziplock bag to your vet if they will agree to do a fecal float test (call ahead.) If not, I would worm her with Flubenvet or Panacur. Do you use probiotics or does your feed have them?

 

[mvdct]

Thanks for the quick response @Eggcessive. Great questions.

> What does she normally eat?
Normal pellets. And she free ranges, so things in the garden that the other 2 girls also have access to.

> Do you feed treats?
In the evening, they tend to get a small number of oats, and some Vermex daily (https://verm-x.com/products/verm-x-daily-plus-for-poultry), sometimes mixed into yoghurt (for good bacteria), sometimes plain.

> I would be tempted to take some fresh droppings in a ziplock bag to your vet if they will agree to do a fecal float test (call ahead.)
We thought the same and sent one off to chickenvet last Thursday. (https://www.chickenvet.co.uk/faeces-sampling-kit). Awaiting results

> If not, I would worm her with Flubenvet or Panacur.
We wormed them all about 6 weeks ago. In the past, she has had visible worms in her poop. Not currently.

> Do you use probiotics or does your feed have them?
Nothing in the feed. As noted above, sometimes we mix yoghurt into their evening treats.

Thanks again.

 

[mvdct]

Hi all,

Just wanted to report back on this issue from last year.

So we sent off some of her poop to the chicken vet and it came back with signs of "Capillaria" eggs. (image 00).

We started a weeks course of Flubenvet pellets (image 02) and repeated again one month later as per the instructions.

Things seemed a little more sorted. The chicken then got attacked by a fox, so the focus on her poop changed to getting her back to health. However, she is now healthy and happy and has started laying again. But also, the poops with additional water have started again (image 01).

What is more in (what we think are) the poops of one our other girls, yet more worms. See images 03 and 04.

So we've just started another course of Flubenvet.

My questions to you all.

1. Does this regularity of getting worms seem normal?
2. Any idea what type of worms the ones in the recent pics are (images 3 and 4)?
3. Do you have any tips for keeping worms at bay in any other ways? Damerow mentions wormwood, i.e. plants that contain thujone (found in sage, tansy, tarragon oregano). Does anyone have any reports back on the success or otherwise of that strategy?

Thanks all.

 

[Sequel]

I can’t help you identify these but one of our most respected members happens to live in Bristol! @Shadrach will probably know your local creepy crawlies! Good luck!

 

[mvdct]

Thank you @Sequel.
I look forward to @Shadrach or anyone else's input.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello mvdct.
I have some comments which may shed some light on this but I'm just about to leave for the allotments and chickens.
I'll be back this evening and I'll post then.

 

[Shadrach]

First congratulations on providing clear in focus pictures of the chicken shit and an account of what you've done so far.

Your hen has got worms, but I think they are cecal worms not ordinary round worm found in the gut. Despite the length of time we've been disecting and examining chickens the role of the ceca is still a bit of a mystery.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...eca-a-review/51369E48D21FFF8D15E6BC5F16585CBE

It's the links to studies that are rather more instructive than the abstract I've linked to.
With the amount of wet weather we've had this winter worm pick up by chickens is likely to be high, so yes, I think ongoing problems with worms normal. Given you free range the hens opportunities to pick up the various parasites that plague them is higher than that for chickens contained in a coop and run.

I would forget about the Haygates worming pellets and do as your vet report suggests and buy Flubendazole powder pre mix.
Here is an article on how to work out the correct dosage.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/flubendazole-worming-dosages.75090/

I would make the dosage double the recommended. It's quite safe to do this. There is a factor of ten safety margin with Flubendazole.

One really needs to dose each bird individually. The easiest way I've found of doing this is to make a paste by adding a little water to the powder and mix it well. You can do one bird at a time, or make a batch for how many birds you are trying to treat. Make small (5mm) cubes out of a slice of semi stale bread and soak the cubes of bread in the water and powder mixture. Feed the cubes of bread to the hens. Most will happily eat them. Provided you use up all the mixture and each hen gets the same number of pieces of bread they'll get the right dosage.
The problem with worming by pellets with free rangers is they'll eat some pellets but not usually enough to get the right dose.

 

[mvdct]

Thank you @Shadrach.
Incredibly useful.
I'll try this and report back.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not seeing any worms in the droppings above. I will tag @dawg53 for another opinion. I do see small lines of intestinal mucus and shed, and larger ones in another picture. But I could be wrong, and not a vet. Capillary worms are not usually seen easily, and the eggs, not at all without a microscope.

It would be good to check them again with your vet for the capillary worms as your vet recommended. Keep all of the bedding stirred and as dry as possible. I use sand in my run where I can remove droppings every day.