Their poop looks and smells terrible

[chickenjohn6910]

Okay so their poop looks like that, it's smells awful and the smell is getting worse it started a day ago and I don't know if this is normal looking poop but it smells so bad I can't determine if it's just that way for them to smell like that or if it's a health problems thanks for all your responses

 

[Eggcessive]

It's hard to tell what is wrong without some background on your chickens. How old, how long have you had them, have they been wormed (when and with what wormer,) are they alert or lethargic, are they eating and drinking, and what do they eat? Diarrhea can be from drinking a lot of water, a change in diet, worms, coccidiosis, enteritis, or if they have any symptoms of illness, such as a respiratory disease. Chickens with coccidiosis can have diarrhea or blood in stools. Here are some links to read about coccidiosis and enteritis:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/12/coccidiosis-what-backyard-chicken.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/101/necrotic-enteritis

 

[dawg53]

It looks like normal cecal poop and by your description, it smells like cecal poop. It is normal that about every 8 droppings are cecal poop.

 

[casportpony]

If it doesn't firm up when this heatwave passes you might wanna send a sample off to one of the four UC Davis labs and have it checked for worms, bacteria, yeast and coccidiosis. Their fees are reasonable and you can use their FedEx number to save on shipping.
http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm

-Kathy

 

[Michael Apple]

Good help from A few here. Take a look at the milling dates on your feed bags. Don't buy feed past 2 months from the mill date regardless of what others may tell you. Start using poultry vitamin-electrolyte-probiotic powder in waterers 3 times a week. Keep Corid 9.6% or 20% powder, effective wormers like Safeguard liquid suspension labeled for goats or Valbazen suspension, antibiotics like Neomycin and Amoxicillin ,which are very effective against many intestinal bacteria, on hand. Even if some expire and you never use them, you'll be glad to have them when you need them. Birds can quickly descend insickness if we don't act quickly.

 

[casportpony]

Good help from A few here. Take a look at the milling dates on your feed bags. Don't buy feed past 2 months from the mill date regardless of what others may tell you. Start using poultry vitamin-electrolyte-probiotic powder in waterers 3 times a week. Keep Corid 9.6% or 20% powder, effective wormers like Safeguard liquid suspension labeled for goats or Valbazen suspension, antibiotics like Neomycin and Amoxicillin ,which are very effective against many intestinal bacteria, on hand. Even if some expire and you never use them, you'll be glad to have them when you need them. Birds can quickly descend insickness if we don't act quickly.

I was at TSC today and was about to buy wild bird seed until I saw the date... it was bagged in February! Don't know if that matters for seed or not, but I didn't buy any.

-Kathy

 

[Michael Apple]

I was at TSC today and was about to buy wild bird seed until I saw the date... it was bagged in February! Don't know if that matters for seed or not, but I didn't buy any.

-Kathy

I wouldn't either. We have to consider the ingredients, handling of feed by the mill, the shipper, and the local supplier. Once a local place sold me feed with a big hunk of mold in it, which I didn't find until halfway through the bag and the flock was already sick. Luckily I had no mortalities, but had some birds that took a few weeks to recover. I had a bag of feed full of mites once too, which I didn't see until I got home. That is why I look at dates on each bag I purchase now. If an establishment is 20 miles away and they run a clean, orderly store that carries my product , they get my business instead of the local one.

 

[dawg53]

Quote: I've had that happen too (clumpy and moldy feed) and had to return the sack back to the feed store. Now I ask them to open the sack before I leave the store and make sure it's okay. Alot of times the products arnt rotated and I think that's what happened in my case.
The mites or weevils turn crumbles into powder, very aggravating and I have returned those sacks as well. Some folks dont mind the weevils/mites stating that their chickens eat the weevils/mites, ie extra protein. That might be true however they are eating feed containing essential minerals and vitamins needed for the strength, health and growth of the chickens. Then the insects are excreting waste into the powder. Dates are very important, but I still prefer them to open the sacks for me to take a quick eyeball inspection.

 

[Eggcessive]

I was having the weevil problem with a national co-op chain who produced a feed that I really liked. The feed was always very fresh, but the weevils appeared in the hot summer months, hatching out in the bags. This never happened in the cooler months, and there never appeared to be any problem with the feed otherwise. They recently closed their local store here, so I have switched feed again. I have opened bags of scratch grains in summer that were molded though, and sometimes you have to look really close and smell it.

 

[dawg53]

I was having the weevil problem with a national co-op chain who produced a feed that I really liked. The feed was always very fresh, but the weevils appeared in the hot summer months, hatching out in the bags. This never happened in the cooler months, and there never appeared to be any problem with the feed otherwise. They recently closed their local store here, so I have switched feed again. I have opened bags of scratch grains in summer that were molded though, and sometimes you have to look really close and smell it.

Good point. Smelling feed is a good idea and you can definitely smell moldy feed.