Watery, Light Green Droppings from 2.5 year-old EE hen

[1000Clucks]

My Easter Egger hen has had unusual-looking droppings for 2 or 3 days now--very watery and light green. Please see attached photo. The visible bits in there are from some scratch I had fed her the night before. Her behavior is otherwise normal: she is energetic, curious, personable, and is preening and walking around. I watched her for a while this morning to see if she was eating, but didn't see her do it. I held out some pellets to her and she attempted to eat, but seemed to struggle a bit with getting the pellets into her beak. Maybe I should try giving her some mash feed instead? She has been under stress in the last week or so--she was being bullied badly so I moved her into an adjoining run (she's just on the other side of the fence from the others, so she can see them, but they can't hurt her).
In summary: No other indications of illness, but her droppings are very unusual. I'm hoping someone in here has had experience with this and may have helpful suggestions.
Info that may be relevant: I'm ashamed to say that I forgot to give the hens grit for quite a while. When I finally remembered to put it out a few days ago, they ate a lot of it. So one theory I have is that maybe this hen just overindulged in the grit, and it's causing these unusual droppings as a result? Just a wild guess, really. I have no experience with this problem so I'm considering all possibilities. Many thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you take a sample to your vet for testing?

I would check her crop in the morning before she eats/drinks to make sure it's empty.
Does she lay eggs? Any problems with laying?

 

[1000Clucks]

two or three weeks ago, but the other older hen stopped as well, so I just figured it was a seasonal thing, for both of them. It got very cold recently here in PA, and the days are shorter, etc.

I just visited the EE a minute ago and her most recent droppings now have a foamy yellow look--that is new.

 

[1000Clucks]

Sorry, my earlier reply got truncated somehow. Will try to re-write: I will ask the local vet if I can take in a sample. And I'll check her crop in the morning--thank you for the advice! She stopped laying two or three weeks ago, but so did another older hen, so that seemed normal. I'll continue to monitor and see what the vet has to say. Thanks for your response!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

two or three weeks ago, but the other older hen stopped as well, so I just figured it was a seasonal thing, for both of them. It got very cold recently here in PA, and the days are shorter, etc.

I just visited the EE a minute ago and her most recent droppings now have a foamy yellow look--that is new.

Sorry, my earlier reply got truncated somehow. Will try to re-write: I will ask the local vet if I can take in a sample. And I'll check her crop in the morning--thank you for the advice! She stopped laying two or three weeks ago, but so did another older hen, so that seemed normal. I'll continue to monitor and see what the vet has to say. Thanks for your response!

Getting a fecal float to check for worms is a good idea.
Foamy yellow droppings could be worms, but sometimes poop can fool you too

 

[1000Clucks]

Getting a fecal float to check for worms is a good idea.
Foamy yellow droppings could be worms, but sometimes poop can fool you too

Will do ASAP. Thank you so much! I'll report back here with results to help possible future researchers...

 

[milogirly]

Will do ASAP. Thank you so much! I'll report back here with results to help possible future researchers...

I'm following this because my Easter Egger is doing the same thing.

 

[1000Clucks]

Hi, Here's my update so far: I did not end up taking a sample to the vet, because it looked slightly more normal the next day--still watery, but more of a normal color. And that next morning I felt her crop as soon as she got up, and it was empty. My main concern now is that she doesn't seem to be eating much at all. When I scraped down the board under her roost, there was only about a quarter cup of droppings for the entire night! That seems unusual, at least for my birds. This morning at about 9am when we felt her crop, it was distended, huge, and felt hard. Later today, it became clear that she had been gorging herself on GRIT--her grit feeder was almost empty. (FYI: Her food trough is full, and there's nothing wrong with the food.) This is very concerning for me, because I assume the grit will make her feel too full to eat, and I don't know how/when/if it will ever pass through her. Any thoughts on what to do? I'm afraid she's going to starve to death if I don't get that grit out of her! Is there something I can give her to make it pass through, like some kind of oil, to lubricate everything in there?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi, Here's my update so far: I did not end up taking a sample to the vet, because it looked slightly more normal the next day--still watery, but more of a normal color. And that next morning I felt her crop as soon as she got up, and it was empty. My main concern now is that she doesn't seem to be eating much at all. When I scraped down the board under her roost, there was only about a quarter cup of droppings for the entire night! That seems unusual, at least for my birds. This morning at about 9am when we felt her crop, it was distended, huge, and felt hard. Later today, it became clear that she had been gorging herself on GRIT--her grit feeder was almost empty. (FYI: Her food trough is full, and there's nothing wrong with the food.) This is very concerning for me, because I assume the grit will make her feel too full to eat, and I don't know how/when/if it will ever pass through her. Any thoughts on what to do? I'm afraid she's going to starve to death if I don't get that grit out of her! Is there something I can give her to make it pass through, like some kind of oil, to lubricate everything in there?

Just re-check the crop first thing in the morning before she eats or drinks. If it's empty, I would not worry about that part.

Checking throughout the day really does you no good. Remove the grit if you think that's all she eating and see if she will eat her food.
What type of food are you giving her?

 

[1000Clucks]

Just re-check the crop first thing in the morning before she eats or drinks. If it's empty, I would not worry about that part.

Checking throughout the day really does you no good. Remove the grit if you think that's all she eating and see if she will eat her food.
What type of food are you giving her?

Hi, thanks for your reply, I just saw it now. She had layer pellets in her feeder, but was not eating them at all. I did take away the grit once I realized she was eating too much of it. But her crop is totally full of grit and does not appear to be getting any smaller. That would seem to indicate that I need to call the vet, right?
Weird thing is that she still seems to feel fine, acts normal, is very interested in scratch when I go out to give them treats in the evening. Her droppings have returned to a normal color, but are very thin, as if they have a limited amount of space to pass through.
I decided to try giving her some grower crumble, since she seemed to be against the pellets for some reason. And if she's only eating a little bit of food every day, I figured a higher protein food was best.
I also read that coconut oil can be given to help the grit to move along, and I got her to eat some of that, but she quickly got tired of it.
The grit does not seem to be moving out of the crop. So...call the vet, or just wait and see how she feels?