Watery poop

[KellyG8]

Hi everyone! Tonight I went out to give my chickens a little scratch before bed. I spent a few minutes in the run to make sure everyone was doing well and noticed one of my girls had very watery/white poop. (Pictures below) She was eating her scratch and nothing else I can observe seems out of the ordinary. After this happened I stayed in a little bit and saw a couple other girls had "normal" poops. Should I be worried? This is my first winter with chickens and I just started giving them scratch before bed about a week ago because it's so cold here. Thanks for any help! Hoping to get my girl better.

 

[dragonthehunter]

I have had it happen to my girls before It was just something they ate

 

[Teila]

Howdy KellyG8

I have a couple of poop charts bookmarked which have come in handy many times:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/whats-scoop-on-chicken-poop-digestive.html

She may just have had a lot of water to drink but I would keep an eye on her to see if she continues to deposit watery poops.

 

[KellyG8]

You guys are life savers. I'm over here in a panic! My husband just informed me he added some electrolytes to their water yesterday, so I'm hoping she has just had a lot to drink. I'll keep you posted on how she's doing tomorrow night. Thanks again

 

[KellyG8]

An update: Went out this morning to open their door. I peeked inside to see that everyone was roosting and found this rubber egg underneath the chicken who had the watery poop. I've never had a rubber egg before and it's pretty rare that an egg gets laid outside their boxes. I've done a little reading (on my way to work) and had read that is can be completely normal or a sign of infection.

I'm wondering if the watery poop was caused by her straining to lay this egg. Any thoughts?

 

[KellyG8]

Another update

Came home from work around 3 and the hen with watery droppings and rubber egg was in the nesting box. When she came out, she hadn't produced an egg. I watched her eat, drink, and she behaved pretty typically. Ate some chopped tomato from me. Her droppings are all over the place here! I know it's a graphic picture, but you guys know so much more than me. I think the dark is a cecal poop? Looks a little red in the picture, but it's really dark brown.

I know there is a huge range of normal, I'm just finding it strange that things are so inconsistent during winter! Everyone's is a little more watery than what it use to be. It's been so cold, that I keep them in the run with pumpkins, lettuce, etc to keep them busy. Over our hot summer, they were outside getting into who knows what and dropping were firm, grey, and consistent.

Always learning!

 

[Teila]

Hi there KellyG8

They have trouble laying the soft shelled or rubbery eggs because they are flexible and the muscles are not able to grip and push on them as well as they would a hard shell.

So, yep, in my opinion and experience, the laying of a soft shelled egg can cause temporary issues with pooping.

That also looks like a caecal poop to me

 

[RedeemersRanch]

Wow! first time chicken owner here. I have been scanning through a lot here on BYC and have become rather worried about all the disease and parasites that are SO easy to get. Today I went out to the coop and one of my girls had an abnormal (as far as I knew) dropping and I about had a cow. I rushed in to see what BYC had to say about watery poop. I cant tell you how relieved I was to see these poop charts you've posted! Bookmarked to my computer for future reference!!! Thank you for sharing and may God Bless yall!