Tiny egg/diarrhea

[Megber13]

Today, my hens turn 1. They have been laying consistently since Sept. In the past week, one of the easter eggers, Blanche, has had watery stool off and on, and I discovered this morning that someone laid a very small egg. Their normal size is that of a quail (theyve always been roughly a third of the size of my buff orp). They all are fed Nutrena soy free pellets and have gotten about a handful of scratch per week. I add apple cider vinegar in the water about once a week also. They have had a routine change with the weather being warmer, they are out in their yard all day. They all seem to be fine save for all of them missing feathers around their necks. No one but Blanche seems to be experiencing this gastric upset. They have never been wormed, vaccinated, or medicated.
Thank you

 

[Saveria]

Can you post a picture? That would help.

 

[Megber13]

The flooring is weathered cement, hope the poo is discernible. It is grainy sometimes, always brown and white but lots of extra liquid. My buff orp has similar issues when she eats certain grains so I do minimize those offerings. Last summer they had almost daily access to fruit and veg scraps and had no upset.
What about the tiny egg? Is there a possibility there was a problem with the egg and it caused diarrhea?
They have access to coarse grit sand/dirt for dust bathing, their food contains probiotics. I did have a dracena plant that was inadvertently left in their vicinity, the leaves are typically not considered to be harmful, but maybe had a rough time making it through her GI if she did indeed consume some?

 

[Saveria]

So one or two watery poos don't concern me, and usually can come from normal stress, diet, or environment changes (like it being really hot outside). If you are seeing it consistently it probably means something is going on.

Does she have any other symptoms? I read that if there is nothing else obvious that watery poop can mean internal parasites or an infection, but I would think you would see other signs if those are bad enough to cause a change in droppings.

The egg size changes do happen for a couple of reasons, including diet and where they are in their laying cycle (like if they start up again after a break you are likely to see smaller eggs). Variation is natural, but when it is a theme (like seeing tiny eggs for more than a week from a hen that I know usually lays bigger ones), that is what I start to worry.

Are you saying that your easter egger normally lays quail sized eggs? Maybe I mis-read that? That doesn't sound normal, so she might have something funky going on with her reproductive system already if that is true.

I will sometimes take a hen inside in a dog crate if I am actively concerned about her, then I can watch her real close for other symptoms, and know that the droppings that look questionable are hers alone. You can also get some safeguard, since that has such a low toxicity, it wouldn't hurt her to see if a dewormer can get her poos normal again. Let me know if you want to take that route, I can get you more info.

 

[Megber13]

So one or two watery poos don't concern me, and usually can come from normal stress, diet, or environment changes (like it being really hot outside). If you are seeing it consistently it probably means something is going on.

Does she have any other symptoms? I read that if there is nothing else obvious that watery poop can mean internal parasites or an infection, but I would think you would see other signs if those are bad enough to cause a change in droppings.

The egg size changes do happen for a couple of reasons, including diet and where they are in their laying cycle (like if they start up again after a break you are likely to see smaller eggs). Variation is natural, but when it is a theme (like seeing tiny eggs for more than a week from a hen that I know usually lays bigger ones), that is what I start to worry.

Are you saying that your easter egger normally lays quail sized eggs? Maybe I mis-read that? That doesn't sound normal, so she might have something funky going on with her reproductive system already if that is true.

I will sometimes take a hen inside in a dog crate if I am actively concerned about her, then I can watch her real close for other symptoms, and know that the droppings that look questionable are hers alone. You can also get some safeguard, since that has such a low toxicity, it wouldn't hurt her to see if a dewormer can get her poos normal again. Let me know if you want to take that route, I can get you more info.

They have had the routine change as far as when and where they can lay eggs. I have coop in the garage and outside, I kept them inside overnight, or if the weather was bad, and over the winter. So now that it is nice again, they go outside in their yard but it seems to coincide with Blanche's issues. So either she picked up something outside or she is stressing over the change in routine. They seemed to adjust to this routine in the fall pretty well but it was probably more of a gradual transition.
The egg size has always been relative to their sizes. My buff orp is big and lays big eggs every other day normally. The three smaller ones are actually quail sized birds, they never got very big. I had all four as 2 day old chicks so the conditions were the same for all four. But they laid smaller eggs, just not tiny eggs (the one I found was maybe sparrow size, so it was not formed correctly for sure).
Anyways, they are back in the garage so I can see what to do about this problem. They are definitely happy in there, but I know they should be outside often. Maybe a deworming would not hurt, everything else seems to need wormed regularly too.

 

[Megber13]

They have had the routine change as far as when and where they can lay eggs. I have coop in the garage and outside, I kept them inside overnight, or if the weather was bad, and over the winter. So now that it is nice again, they go outside in their yard but it seems to coincide with Blanche's issues. So either she picked up something outside or she is stressing over the change in routine. They seemed to adjust to this routine in the fall pretty well but it was probably more of a gradual transition.
The egg size has always been relative to their sizes. My buff orp is big and lays big eggs every other day normally. The three smaller ones are actually quail sized birds, they never got very big. I had all four as 2 day old chicks so the conditions were the same for all four. But they laid smaller eggs, just not tiny eggs (the one I found was maybe sparrow size, so it was not formed correctly for sure).
Anyways, they are back in the garage so I can see what to do about this problem. They are definitely happy in there, but I know they should be outside often. Maybe a deworming would not hurt, everything else seems to need wormed regularly too.

Also, all four have missing necks feathers for several weeks. Could they be moulting and need extra protein?

 

[Saveria]

If you can post any photos, that would be great, of the neck feathers and the regular eggs vs. the smaller eggs. A tiny egg during molt sounds like it makes sense. Have they every molted before? They usually do it in the fall, but spring molts can happen.

Did the tiny egg have a yolk or not? The section in this article describes about "fairy eggs" as they are sometimes called. They aren't really eggs, but just some encapsulated material that their bodies mistook for a yolk.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I don't like to do routine deworming, because I don't want to contribute to resistance. I would trust your intuition, though, if you think it may help her I would go for it.

She doesn't seem unwell, though, right? No puffed up in the corner, and is eating and drinking normally? I usually wait and see if my hens will fight off whatever is going on, and as long as they seem normal I only intervene if it is clear they need my help. Others don't, but that is my approach.

 

[Megber13]

If you can post any photos, that would be great, of the neck feathers and the regular eggs vs. the smaller eggs. A tiny egg during molt sounds like it makes sense. Have they every molted before? They usually do it in the fall, but spring molts can happen.

Did the tiny egg have a yolk or not? The section in this article describes about "fairy eggs" as they are sometimes called. They aren't really eggs, but just some encapsulated material that their bodies mistook for a yolk.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I don't like to do routine deworming, because I don't want to contribute to resistance. I would trust your intuition, though, if you think it may help her I would go for it.

She doesn't seem unwell, though, right? No puffed up in the corner, and is eating and drinking normally? I usually wait and see if my hens will fight off whatever is going on, and as long as they seem normal I only intervene if it is clear they need my help. Others don't, but that is my approach.

I will try to get a pic of the necks. I havent found many loose feathers around (as if the fell out) but I know they do eat them.
I have found more broken eggs lately, so maybe it is just Blanche with some side effects of molting. Someone is breaking them when they sit on them, which doesnt happen if the shells are good (meaning I dont think someone is trying to break or peck the eggs since Im still getting my average 2 per day of intact eggs). Blanche's are a little lighter shade, so I think hers are the ones breaking, and the tiny one too. They all have free access to crushed oyster shells, I dont know why Blanche would be deficient.
Large Marge is my biggest, she has a sort of downy ring around her neck now, the other three little ones arent consistent. Sometimes it seems like the feathers are growing back, but they never really do.
They are still all acting normally and are happy, verbal, eating. My instinct is not that anyone is *sick*, I feel more that it is easily normal side effect of something Im not experienced with.

 

[Megber13]

First pic is Blanche's first poo of the day coming out of her coop. She had a cecal poo that looked totally normal about a minute later, and laid a perfectly good egg in the next few hours, but lots of those wet poops still. The next is Marge's missing neck feathers (she is camera shy), then Blanche and Tina with missing neck feathers also.

 

[Saveria]

Some of those look like it could be a molt. Did they have one in the fall?

If it is not molting, it could be a couple other things. When they lose feathers in that particular spot it could be feather picking which can happen if they aren't getting the right nutrients or from boredom/anxiety. They also may respond to being overcrowded by feather picking.

You should probably check for lice or mites just to make sure they aren't playing a part. You part the feathers on their neck (what is left of them ), under their wings and around their vent. The most common lice eggs will look like white clumps at the base of feathers, and small white bugs with long abdomens, and mites may look like black dots and brown clumps at the base of feathers. You can look up pictures online if you see anything and want to confirm.

It sounds like your food is fine. It sounds like there weren't any recent changes with food, but that can cause diarrhea.

I have read about some hens just living with those watery poops. Some people said that they tried giving pro-biotics to try and remedy it, but I never saw a message saying that it worked. It is probably worth a try. You can also still try the safeguard to see if that helps, too.